the next few minutes the church filled up. Two men walked down to the front of the church; one of them was obviously the groom and the other the best man, Jared thought.
A wedding.
A room full of hope, with everyone wishing the bride and groom happiness until the end of their days. But how often did that hope turn sour? How many people did he know who’d actually stayed together, apart from his parents and two of his siblings? Not that many.
The organist started to play the wedding march, and the bride walked in on her father’s arm, looking gorgeous and deliriously happy. Behind her, carrying the long train and a bouquet of deep red roses—to match her knee-length dress and incredibly high-heeled shoes—was Bailey.
Jared had never seen her wearing make-up before, not even on that morning when they’d trained together and she’d come to breakfast in a suit. It was barely there—mainly mascara and a hint of lipstick, from what he could tell—but it served to show him that she was jaw-droppingly beautiful and didn’t need anything to enhance her looks. Right now, she looked incredibly glamorous, a million miles away from the slightly scruffy doctor he was used to—the one who walked around the football pitch in tracksuit pants and a hoodie.
He caught her eye as she walked by and she actually winked at him.
And all the blood in his body rushed south.
Oh, help. They hadn’t set any ground rules, so this might just be one of his biggest mistakes ever. God. He really should’ve agreed it with her beforehand. At the very least they should’ve agreed on no touching and no holding hands. And yet he was supposed to be her fake boyfriend. Everyone would expect him to hold her hand, put his arm round her, gaze at her adoringly, maybe even kiss her …
The idea of kissing her sent him into such a flat spin that he was barely aware of the marriage ceremony. But then the registers were signed and the bride and groom walked down the aisle, all smiles.
The usher handed him a box of bird-friendly confetti on the way out. Jared lined up on the side of the path to the church with everyone else and waited until the photographer directed them all to throw confetti over the happy couple.
He took a couple of photos on his phone and managed to catch one of Bailey with her head tipped back, laughing. The kind of picture that would make a rainy morning feel full of sunshine.
She came over to him while the bride and groom were being photographed on their own. ‘Hey. Thanks for coming.’
‘Pleasure.’ And, actually, it was now. ‘You, um, look very nice.’
‘Thank you. So do you. I’ve never seen you in a proper suit before.’ She grinned. ‘I would say a suit “suits” you, but I need to find a better way of saying it.’
Funny, her easy manner put him at his ease, too. It suddenly didn’t matter that this was a wedding, and all the darkness associated with the end of his own marriage just faded away—because Bailey was there and she sparkled.
‘I’ll introduce you properly to everyone at the reception,’ she promised. ‘Sorry, I should have organised this a lot better so I was travelling with you or something.’
‘It’s fine. You’re the bridesmaid and you have things to do. I’ll see you at the reception.’
She gave him another of those incredibly sexy winks. ‘Ciao, bello.’
The Italian side of her was really coming out today. He’d never really seen this before; but then again she’d never flirted with him before, either.
Oddly, he found himself looking forward to the reception—and what he really wanted to do was dance with her. Which was crazy, because he didn’t even like dancing very much; but he had a feeling that Bailey did and that she’d be good at it.
He made his way to the hotel where the reception was being held, and joined the line-up of people waiting to kiss the bride and shake the groom’s hand. Bailey came and found him in the line. ‘Hey, there.’
‘Hey.’ How ridiculous was it that he should feel suddenly intimidated?
But Bailey took charge, making small talk until she could introduce him to the bride and groom. ‘Jared, this is Joni and Aaron. Joni and Aaron, this is Jared Fraser.’
‘Very pleased to meet you, Jared,’ Joni said with a smile. Jared caught the meaningful look she gave Bailey, and wondered just what Bailey had told her best friend about him. ‘Thanks for coming.’
‘Thanks for inviting me. It was a lovely service, and you look gorgeous,’ he said.
She kissed his cheek. ‘You’re too sweet. I knew Bailey was lying when she said you were grumpy.’
He laughed. ‘I can be.’ He gave Bailey a pointed look. ‘Though so can she.’
‘No way—she’s the endorphin queen,’ Joni said. ‘Bailey believes endorphins are the answer to absolutely everything.’
Jared went hot all over, thinking just how endorphins could be released and how much he’d like to do that with her. He really hoped nobody could read his thoughts. But he managed to pull himself together and shook Aaron’s hand. ‘Congratulations, both of you, and I hope you’ll be very happy together.’
They exchanged a glance, and he could see just how much they adored each other. So maybe Bailey was right and this would have a happy ending. Maybe he should start to believe in love again.
‘Righty.’ Bailey tucked her arm into his. ‘Let’s get this over with. Come and meet my lot. They’re the nicest family in the world, but I’m going to apologise in advance because they’re a bit—well—full on.’
‘Italian,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘Even though Dad’s English, living with my mum and the rest of us has kind of made him Italian.’
‘That’s nice,’ Jared said, and let her lead him over to her family.
‘Jared, this is my mother, Lucia, my brothers, Roberto and Giorgio—Rob and Gio for short—and my dad, Paul.’
Jared shook hands and kissed cheeks as expected, and then turned to Bailey. ‘How come you don’t have an Italian first name?’ he asked.
‘Because I was born on Christmas Eve, and in my family it’s tradition to watch It’s a Wonderful Life every single Christmas Eve—including the year I was born, because Mum had me at home. So she really had to call me Bailey, after George’s family.’
‘It could be worse,’ Lucia said with a grin. ‘I could have called you Clarence.’
‘Clarrie. Yes. That’s so me.’ Bailey flapped her hands in imitation of an angel’s wings and laughed.
‘She’s kept you very quiet, Jared,’ Lucia said.
‘Because we haven’t known each other very long, and I know what you’re like, Mamma,’ Bailey said. She switched into rapid Italian; clearly she was asking her mother not to interrogate him or embarrass her, Jared thought. Mischief prompted him to ask her if she realised that he spoke Italian,
