Read Online Meg's Best Man: A Montana Weekend Novella by Cynthia Bruner - Free Book Online Page A

sitting with Joshua.
    “Leah’s fine,” Gage said, without looking behind him to see what she was looking at. “You’ve been looking like a nervous mother hen.”
    “I have not!” Had she? Meg hoped Leah hadn’t noticed.
    “So how does she look to you?”
    Leah was smiling, and Joshua reached up gently to lift a strand of hair from her face. “Happy,” Meg said. “Josh, too.”
    “I think your work here is done,” Gage said with a smile. “All that’s left to do is walk down the aisle without tripping.”
    She laughed. “Oh, sure, plant that idea in my mind. And it’s not as easy as it seems!”
    “From what I’ve seen, you could dance down it very well.”
    “Wouldn’t that be classy? No, I’ll walk down, high heels and all. The skirt on that dress is so skinny I’ll have to take itty bitty steps, so there’s no chance I’ll be going too fast, either. And I may have to arrange the bride’s train or swat a bee. Or fan Leah’s face if she faints. Or bounce the hordes of rejected women who will be weeping in the back as Joshua is taken off the market. It’s a very complicated job, being the maid of honor.”
    “Yes, but I’m the one who has to catch Joshua if he faints. I also have to pin the flower to my lapel without bleeding on anything, and I have to entertain—”
    “The hordes of rejected women?”
    He shook his head firmly. “I’ll leave that to a younger and much more foolish man.” He was lost in thought for a moment before adding, “I was going to say, entertain the maid of honor.” He gestured to the deck, where they turned two chairs toward the meadow and sat down. Off to their right, near the edge of the meadow, Joshua and Caleb now seemed to be arguing about the fire pit while Uncle Jacob ignored them both and poured on some gasoline.
    “You won’t have to be entertaining the maid of honor, your job as valet will be finished.”
    “No. It’s in the job description; I looked it up at the Montana Wedding Job Services website. It specifically says I have to walk the maid of honor back down the aisle and keep her from either tripping or dancing too much. I have to dance my first dance with her, and just to make sure I did it right, at least the next six or seven dances, until she gets used to taking tiny little steps in her very snazzy, very green dress. That’s unless they play the Chicken Dance, because then you’ll have to fend for yourself. I am an expert, and no one can defeat me.”
    “I bet Aunt Sonya could give you a run for your money.”
    “Bring it on, Aunt Sonya.”
    Whoosh . Meg felt the percussion of the gasoline fireball as the fire was lit fifteen yards away. A column of fire rose, turned to a ball of black smoke, and drifted up into the dark blue sky. Jacob nodded once at his handiwork, apparently pleased. Meg couldn’t be sure from here, but he seemed to still have his eyebrows. Gage applauded, and a smattering of other people applauded as well.
    Meg was thinking about what Gage had said. She was also thinking about what Leah had said about his having a checkered past, and if she were to guess, that past had a lot to do with women. She decided she should let it drop, that there was no reason to get involved, but then the words slipped out of her mouth. “I’m glad to hear you’re not young and foolish. Although you’re not exactly old. You have to be about my age, and I’m not quite sure I can claim to be completely grown up.”
    He gave her an appraising look. That look said he knew exactly what she was really asking about—the hordes of women. “Well, when I started college I was pretty normal, not too smart, not too dumb. Then instead of growing up, I just got stupid. About the time I moved in with Joshua I started growing up again, and I’ve had a lot of catching up to do. I’m not wise, but I’m not going to be foolish anymore. At least in some areas of my life.” He put his feet up on the railing and let those words hang in the air for a