The Best Laid Plans. Amy Vastine

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       CHAPTER THREE

      EMMA WENT STRAIGHT to Kendall’s house after work, hoping her sister would have an explanation for her fiancé’s distrust. Did Max really think she wasn’t going to plan a wedding with both him and Kendall in mind? He really thought he needed to send his best man to watch over her?

      She knocked but walked in before anyone could answer. “Anybody home?” she shouted from the foyer. Kendall’s house was Emma’s home away from home. It was a cozy little two-story that, thanks to Kendall, was always warm and inviting.

      Simon came running from the family room. “Aunt Emma, guess what?” His sock feet caused him to slide across the wooden floor when he tried to stop.

      She put her hands out to catch him before he ran into her. “What?”

      He smiled and she could see that one of his front teeth was growing in and one had just fallen out. The kid had a constant gap. “At school today, I got to say the Pledge of Allegiance over the intercom.”

      “You did?”

      Simon nodded proudly. “The principal said I did such a good job, I can do it every Monday if I want.”

      “That is so cool.” It was more than cool, but it was a rule not to freak out too much when Simon spoke in public. He suffered from an anxiety disorder called selective mutism, which made it difficult for him to speak to or in front of other people. He went to a therapeutic school that had been helping him immensely. Every day Kendall said she saw improvements.

      “Want to see what I drew at school? Mom said we can frame it.”

      “Of course I do.” Emma took his hand and was dragged back to the kitchen where Kendall was cleaning up dinner.

      “Hey, there,” Kendall said, drying the dishes. “If I knew you were coming over, I would have saved you a plate. You want me to heat something up?”

      Emma waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I ate on my break. I heard someone got to say the Pledge at school today.”

      Pride shone in Kendall’s eyes. “I heard that, too.”

      “Look at my picture,” Simon said, recapturing her attention and handing her his drawing. In colored pencil, he had sketched a heartwarming picture of his soon-to-be family. There were Max and Kendall, holding hands with each other and with their respective sons. Simon had paid careful attention to the details, even giving Max the five-o’clock shadow the man was so fond of. Her nephew was extremely talented for his young age and so much like his mother. Kendall had always been the most creative member of the family, painting masterpieces at Simon’s age. Emma’s artistic ability was limited to being able to stay within the lines of her coloring books.

      “This is a beautiful picture of your family, buddy. No wonder Mom wants to frame it.”

      Simon took the paper back. “I’m gonna take a picture with the iPad and send it to Max so he can see it now.”

      “Remember he’s at work,” Kendall called after him as he raced out of the room. “If he doesn’t text back, it’s because he’s busy. Don’t send a million texts!” She finished putting the last dish away and turned to her sister. “One night, he texted Max something like a hundred times. Most were just Max’s name over and over. Max got back to his office and saw all these texts from our house. He didn’t read back far enough to see it was just Simon, so he called here in a panic because he was worried something was wrong. I was putting Simon to bed and didn’t answer the phone. Max assumed the worst, left work, came here and scared the crap out of me by busting into the house screaming for me and Simon.”

      Emma laughed. “Whoops.”

      “Yeah.” Kendall chuckled, too. “At least I know he really cares, right?”

      “Speaking of Max caring, what’s up with him sending his best man to spy on my wedding planning?”

      “What?” Kendall seemed genuinely surprised.

      Emma took a seat at the kitchen table. “Charlie showed up at the hospital today and informed me Max asked him to be his best man and also asked him to talk to me about the wedding planning. Like he’s afraid I’m going to do something without checking with you two first.”

      “Honestly, I didn’t even know he was going to ask Charlie to be his best man.” Kendall sat down next to her. “I don’t think he’s spying on you.”

      “Why else would he ask Charlie to meet with me to go over the plans?”

      Kendall shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want you to feel like you had to do it all by yourself. Maybe he wants you to have a guy’s perspective when you start making plans. He never mentioned any of this to me, so I have no idea.”

      Whatever Max’s reasoning was, it meant nothing but trouble for Emma. What did Charlie know about planning a wedding? What “ideas” was he looking forward to sharing?

      Kendall and Max wanted to have a short engagement, which was why they’d been thinking about simply eloping at city hall. Emma had promised to come up with a church wedding that would stay small. She had no intentions of making this into some sort of monster wedding. Was that what Max thought?

      “I’ll run some of my ideas by Charlie tomorrow to make Max feel better, but after that, I don’t need the interference. Not if you want to get married over the Fourth of July.”

      “I don’t think Charlie is going to give you a hard time. Be nice to him.”

      “I’ll be nice.”

      “But not too nice. I think Charlie likes you a little. I’d hate for him to think you’re one of those nurses who dates paramedics.”

      “Actually, you’d be amazed by how many nurses date cops. I don’t know what it is, but the ladies in my ER love the Chicago PD.”

      “But not you, huh?” Kendall knew all about Emma’s life plan. Unlike Lucy, she didn’t usually treat Emma as if she was nuts for thinking she could map out her whole life. Kendall was the sister Emma could tell anything to and not feel she would be judged.

      “Nope, not me.” Emma rested her chin on her folded hands and stared off dreamily. “I have my heart set on the handsome new doctor starting next week.”

      “Oh, do tell.” Her sister leaned closer.

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