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“Oh mygosh!” I squealed enthusiastically, jumping to my feet.“You’reMatt? I’ve heard so much about you.”
He gave me a quick hug and said, “Haveyou seen your brother?”
“He was here a second ago,”Deena put in. “Have a seat, we can make room.”
“I need to find Scott,” hesaid with an apologetic wince. “I’ve got a surprise forhim.”
“More surprises?” Deena wasaflutter with excitement. “Better than the honeymoon?”
“I think you’ll all bepleased.” He winked at her. “But I have to find Scott, first.Charlotte, do you mind—”
“Helping you look? Not atall.” I abandoned my breakfast and followed him before anyone atthe table could stop me. When we were a suitable distance from thescene of my mortification, I whispered, “Thank you!”
“Noproblem.” He grimaced. “I met Deena yesterday afternoon. She’s alovely woman but a little… overbearing.”
“Oh, ha ha.” I rolled myeyes, but he did get a smile out of me.
It was the first good lookI’d had at his face in daylight. And he had freckles across hisperfect nose. Subtle ones I hadn’t noticed in the low light on therooftop.
“There he is.” Matt said,grabbing my hand to pull me along.
I jerked my arm back, hoping no onesaw. “Remember?” I asked tersely, through my clenchedjaw.
“Fuck, sorry,” he said underhis breath.
My eyes darted around the room. Mom andDad were too far away to have noticed the slipup, and Scottwas—“Look, he’s over there.”
Following the direction of my pointedfinger, Matt raised a hand and waved to Scott, who stood a fewtables away.
“Hey, man. Where’s yourfiancée? I have a surprise for her outside,” Matt called tohim.
“I can find her. She can’thave gone too far,” Scott replied.
“Get her and meet meoutside,” Matt told him, then turned to me and said, “You’ll wantto see this too.”
A suspicious, foreboding feeling grewin my chest. I followed Matt out of the dockside restaurant, to thebeach. A crowd of interested wedding guests and unaffiliatedtourists stood on the grass, laughing and taking photos. And in themiddle of the group was…
“Daisy?” Lauren shrieked,racing across the grass to the enormous grizzly bear sittinghappily on her haunches, munching watermelon. As in, a whole,gigantic watermelon that she handled like a candy bar. Laurenlaunched herself at the beast and hugged her tight around the neck,but Daisy was clearly too drugged to concentrate on anything buther snack. The animal’s two handlers joined in on the bear hug.Their khaki uniforms were clearly emblazoned with the bear preservelogos, so I assumed they knew the bride.
“No way.” Scott stepped upbeside us and clapped Matt on the back. “You’re fucking kiddingme.”
“Look!” Lauren called backto Scott, as if he could have somehow missed the probablythousand-pound animal sitting right in front of him. “They broughtmy maid-of-honor!”
I echoed my brother’sstatement, but not his enthusiasm. “You’re fucking kiddingme.”
“She wanted her bear here,”Matt said, watching as Scott went over to join Lauren andDaisy.
My jaw dropped.
Matt continued, with a gesture towardthe restaurant, “There’s a linen storage room in the hallway, nearthe restrooms. Meet me there, but don’t follow me.”
Heat flooded my face, andmy heart pounded in my throat, hard enough to choke me.
He turned to walk away, whistling, buthe paused to say, “What do you think is harder to arrange? Athreesome, or flying a grizzly bear from Montana to SouthCarolina?”
I didn’t have an answer.
“I guess we’ll see,” hemused cheerfully, then took up his whistling again as he walkedaway.