Page 50 of Fear of Love (Falling #3)

LYDIA

S ix days had passed since I talked to or saw Landon. I wanted to reach out, but I knew I needed to give him time. I needed to give myself time, too. Tasha’s advice stuck with me, and I needed to sort through it.

I spent the last three days helping with the wedding, which kept my mind off of Landon.

After I talked with the girls, I ended up sending all my employees an email telling them to take the rest of the week off.

I needed a few days to get my head on straight and figure things out without being at work.

It was now Saturday morning, and I was in one of the rooms at Graydon Hall Manor helping Josie get ready to marry the love of her life. The day her and all of us had been waiting for the last three months was finally here.

Graydon Hall Manor was specular, and the most perfect place for them to get married. The Victorian-style mansion was huge. It had fifteen rooms, and that didn’t include a ballroom for events. Outside was a stunning garden where the ceremony would take place.

Staring out one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, I could see workers from the venue getting the chairs situated for guests.

There were four hours until it would start, and there was still a lot to do.

Ironically, Josie was calm while Tasha was buzzing around trying to make sure everything was perfect.

“This place is incredible,” Mila said from beside me, taking the words right out of my mouth.

“Seriously.” I looked over my shoulder at Josie, who was sitting there getting her makeup done. “You guys chose well.”

“You’ve seen the tent where we’re having the reception, right?” she asked.

“Yes! The trees they built the tent around are huge.” Mila all but swooned. “This place is a dream.”

“It really is. I knew it was perfect the moment we came here. Plus, there’s plenty of privacy,” Josie gushed.

In the last four days, the coverage on Josie and Wyatt’s wedding increased tenfold. Paparazzi were set up outside their apartment yesterday to see if they could get a glimpse of the bride-to-be.

When she and Evelyn went to get her wedding dress, they were followed, and within minutes, pictures of them were plastered all over social media. So now everyone knew the wedding was close, but they didn’t know it was happening today. We were all hoping it would stay that way.

“Okay, everything is on track.” Tasha walked into the room, Evelyn on her heels.

“The guys are in Wyatt’s room getting ready.

The finishing touches on the seats and arch are getting done,” she listed off as she slumped in a chair.

Like the rest of us, she was in her white robe and slippers we had put on when we arrived hours ago.

The mention of the guys had my heart contracting in my chest. Landon was here. I wanted nothing more than to go find him and talk but right now wasn’t the time. My best friend was getting married. I’d focus on that later.

“I also have the cake in the fridge downstairs ready for you and Wyatt,” Evelyn said with a soft smile as she walked over to Josie, putting her hand on her shoulder and looking at her soon-to-be daughter-in-law through the mirror while the makeup artist continued. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

After many cake tastings Josie and Wyatt decided instead of getting one made somewhere, why not have Evelyn make it. She’s known for her delicious chocolate cake, a cake that the guys go feral over, so it made sense to have it.

While Josie and Wyatt would eat Evelyn’s cake, the guests would get a separate one.

“I’m good.” Josie smiled at her. “Thank you for making our cake.”

“I’m honored you wanted me to.” Through the mirror, I could see Evelyn’s eyes getting misty. “Although, you might have to fight the boys off from eating it first.” Josie’s laugh was watery.

“Thank you for everything, Evelyn.”

I knew Josie and Wyatt’s mom were close, but I was sure they were both helping fill a void in each other’s lives. Evelyn becoming the mother Josie never had, and Josie becoming the daughter Evelyn always longed for.

“You’re family now.”

I looked away from the pair as they murmured to each other. Wyatt and his brothers had no clue how lucky they were to have a mom as great as Evelyn.

As my hand throbbed in its cast, I went over to take a pain pill so I could make it through the rest of the day.

I’d slowly gotten a little better at using my left hand and just the fingertips of my right, but it was still a bitch to twist the lid off the bottle.

Not having Landon there to help me, I started leaving the lid half screwed, but I couldn’t do that when I threw them in my purse this morning, too afraid they’d spill out.

As I struggled to open it, someone came up beside me, extending their hand.

“Need some help?” Tasha asked.

I handed over the bottle with a sigh. “Why do they make pill bottles so hard to open with one hand?” I muttered.

“To make you feel inferior,” Tasha joked. She opened the bottle and handed over one pill.

“Thanks.” Swallowing it with some water, I glared at her hand. “Unfair you only slightly bruised your knuckles.” Tasha laughed and held hers up. The tops of her knuckles were a lighter purple color compared to my fractured ones.

“I took a defense class, and they teach you how to throw a punch without hurting yourself.”

“That would have been nice to know,” I grumbled. “Who knew a guy’s face was so fucking hard when you hit it.”

“For being such babies, they sure have hard bones.”

I laughed at that.

Hearing Josie and Mila chuckle, I looked over at them with a smile. Josie was radiating. She looked the happiest I’d ever seen her.

“Can you believe she’s getting married today?” I said softly. Beside me, Tasha shook her head.

“It feels like just yesterday we were at uni together talking about getting married,” Tasha murmured as she stared at her best friend. “Who would have thought getting stuck in an elevator would lead to marriage?”

“My luck, I would have been stuck alone or with some old pervert.” I snorted.

“Just proves everything happens for a reason.” I could feel Tasha’s eyes on me then. “If it wasn’t for that night, they wouldn’t have met. We wouldn’t have met Mila and Bryton. I wouldn’t have met Trevor. You wouldn’t have met Landon.”

“Smooth,” I commented, glancing over at her.

“Don’t know what you mean,” Tasha said innocently. “You are going to talk to him, right?”

“Yeah, after the wedding.” I nodded.

“Why not right now? The wedding doesn’t start for another few hours.”

“It’s Josie’s day.” I shook my head. “I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that.”

“Bullshit. The only thing Josie cares about right now is Wyatt being at the end of the aisle waiting for her. The rest is all background noise. Trust me, if it wasn’t for everything else, she’d already be down there marrying the guy.

” Tasha gave me a look that made most people feel like they were being scolded by a parent or school principal.

“Go talk to him right now. He’s downstairs.” My heart picked up at the thought of going to find him. Tasha wasn’t wrong. The wedding wasn’t set to start for a while. I could easily sneak out and go find him and be back with plenty of time to spare.

“What if…” I paused, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat. “What if he doesn’t accept my apology and things get weird and awkward?”

“Then good thing we have an open bar,” Tasha joked before she turned serious again. “It’s scary as hell putting your heart on the line, but you’ll never know unless you try.”

I was done holding myself back out of fear of getting hurt. The regret of not trying would hurt even more. I owed it to myself and to Landon to take that chance.

“You’re right.” I smiled at her, a sense of resolve straightening my spine.

“Of course I am.” She grinned. “Now, go get your man.”

I squeezed her arm before heading for the door. Just as I was about to open it, it flung open, forcing me to step back as multiple people walked through.

“Okay, let’s get some pictures of you getting ready and then of the bridesmaids.” Two photographers with huge cameras moved around the room as the woman in front of me clapped her hands.

About a week ago, People magazine reached out to Josie and said they wanted to do a whole piece on her and Wyatt’s wedding. The amount of money they offered was so astonishing that neither could turn it down.

The magazine sent multiple people to cover the wedding and take pictures and do interviews with all of us for the article. I wasn’t the least bit mad Josie and Wyatt agreed to them covering their wedding. My magazine was nothing compared to People’s.

The two of them knew that there were certain expectations for having their relationship so public.

They knew that with a wedding like this, they were going to have to post something about it.

At least this way they could do it on their own terms and have it done in a way that didn’t involve the paparazzi stealing pictures and posting them themselves.

“Bridesmaids, how about you all get together for a group picture?” The woman said.

I didn’t get a chance to protest before I was swept back into the center of the room. As everyone moved around to grab dresses, I looked at the door. As soon as I could, I was going to go find Landon and no one was going to stop me.

Two and a half hours later, I was being positioned to get my picture taken with Josie. I had on my bridesmaid dress as well as my hair and makeup done. All of us in the bridal party were corralled around each other as we smiled for the camera.

“You ladies are stunning,” the woman behind the camera said as she finally moved her camera away from her face and flipped through the photos. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I silently prayed we were done.