say that I’m really glad you’re not puffy-snot-crying on my wedding day?”
“Not at all. I mean, I don’t remember how I felt when I decided to get married, much less right before. But I think it’s completely reasonable to want this day to be completely about you.”
“I’m really glad you’re going to be my sister-in-law.” Hannah looked entirely sincere, which was different from how she usually was—cracking wise at everything. Bridget enjoyed her both ways but knew that she needed to listen to what she had to say now. “Even if Jack decides that I’m too much of a pain in the ass to tolerate, you’re never going to get rid of me.”
Bridget’s eyes welled up with tears, and she grabbed Hannah’s hand. “Well, for one thing, that’s never going to happen. My brother loves you more than he loved Power Rangers when he was a kid. And that’s saying something.” Hannah’s lower lip trembled. “For another, I already think of you like my sister.”
Sasha was wiping carefully under her smudged eye makeup. “You guys have to stop this. I can only get all smudged up during the ceremony.”
Hannah looked at her friend. “You might want to use waterproof. Perish the thought you got all smudged up in front of Father Patrick,” she said in a teasing tone.
Bridget was confused. “Patrick Dooley?”
“Yeah, Sasha has a little crush on him. She read this book about a kinky priest—”
“Shut up, Hannah. I will withhold mimosas for the rest of the day, and you will have to walk down the aisle and pledge the rest of your life to another fallible human completely sober,” Sasha said.
“You wouldn’t do that to me, and it’s harmless,” Hannah said. “I need more cheese.”
Bridget was still a little gobsmacked. “Patrick Dooley. Really?”
“You’ve never noticed that he’s a smoke show?” Hannah said it like she was calling the sky blue.
“But he took a vow of celibacy.” Bridget didn’t add the part about how he was like her brother, because he wasn’t like Sasha’s brother. And, hell, if she was into priests, she might be into brothers.
Sasha had apparently decided to give up on not talking about this, because she said, “That just makes it hotter.” She shook her head. “I never should have read that book by Sierra Simone.”
Bridget thought she might get her hands on that book and a priest costume for Matt.
She must have had a dreamy look on her face because Hannah said, “What happened with Matt?”
“He loves me.”
Both Sasha and Hannah stood up and did a little dance. “We knew it.”
“How the hell did you know anything?” Bridget didn’t understand how Hannah—a former deep skeptic on the topics of love and romance—could possibly suss out that Matt was in love with her. She’d spent no more than twenty-four hours with the guy.
“I knew it when he got up and did the dishes after dinner.”
“He’s just polite.” Bridget didn’t know why she was arguing, but she was a little embarrassed that she hadn’t figured this out for herself. Sort of like she’d been embarrassed when Chris had told her he wasn’t in love with her.
“Nah, a polite guy opens a door for you.” Hannah pointed at the man opening a door for another patron. “A guy who is in love with you wants to make sure he’s invited back into your home, so he pitches in. Matt did not grow up cleaning up after himself. It’s not automatic for him. It’s intentional.”
“Whatever.” Bridget’s stylist came over to get her shampooed. She might have been trying to sound nonchalant, but the idea that Matt loved her in a way that was plain for everyone to see kept the smile on her face the whole time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MATT WASN’T EXPECTING HIS mother to show up at his house with Naomi in tow. Even though he knew that Bridget was getting glamorous with her future sister-in-law, he’d hoped it was her. For longer than he wanted to admit to himself, he’d been hoping she walked through every open door the same way she’d walked into his heart.
Damn,