Madison followed Phyllis’s disapproving glare. Carl stood in place in front of the altar, flanked by his best man, his older brother, Curtis. Their cousin Allen stood beside Curtis, and there was an obvious gap between Allen and the remaining three groomsmen.
Carl cleared his throat. “Umm, Jason’s on the phone. A call from a patient.”
Phyllis crossed her arms. “We’ll wait.”
Carl shook his head. “He warned it could take a while. He said he’s been a groomsman before, so he knows what to do.”
“Seriously?” BiBi threw up her hands. “Jason’s blowing off the rehearsal? I cannot believe this.”
“He’s not blowing it off,” Carl argued, dividing his wary attention between his fiancé and the wedding planner. “He’s a doctor. He had to take the call.”
“He’s off duty,” BiBi snapped back. “And he has partners who are supposed to be covering for him. If he couldn’t take time off for our wedding, he shouldn’t have agreed to be a groomsman.”
Justin started to rise from his seat with the other ushers. “Jason wouldn’t interrupt everything with a call unless it was important,” he insisted loyally. “You know he takes his responsibilities seriously—to his patients and to the commitments he makes to his friends.”
Phyllis clapped her hands imperiously. “We must move on,” she said firmly. “I’ll have to trust that the rest of you men will direct Jason into position when the time comes. Now, we must line up the processional, flower girl and ring bearer first, followed by the bridesmaids in the following order.”
Consulting her notebook, she barked names and each attendant moved quickly into position. Madison found herself standing between Hannah and Lucy. Corinna followed Lucy, after which BiBi would enter. Which made Madison the third bridesmaid. She would be walking out of the church with Jason, she realized abruptly. She didn’t know whether to be more pleased by the coincidence or concerned about the potential awkwardness.
She could still hear BiBi muttering behind her when the music started and they prepared to begin their evenly paced walk up the aisle. Over to the side, Justin still glowered in response to the criticism of his brother. Madison hoped the call was really important enough to warrant this tension. As unreasonable as BiBi had been at times that day, Madison could almost agree with her on this point. After all, Madison was also a doctor, and yet she allowed herself to turn off her phone occasionally when she was away from work. Even physicians were allowed to have a personal life, though not all of their patients always agreed with that sentiment.
Remembering BiBi’s comments about the complaints Jason’s last girlfriend had made about his overdeveloped commitment to his family and his practice, Madison told herself it was just as well she wasn’t expecting anything from him after this random weekend. From the day she’d entered medical school, she had vowed that her career would not completely rule her life, and she couldn’t imagine trying to have a relationship with someone who did live that way. Since Jason hadn’t made any big changes to salvage his relationship with his ex, either he liked his life exactly the way it was, or he didn’t want to add yet another commitment to his already demanding schedule.
Their wedding weekend fling must have been as relaxingly appealing for him as it was to her, she mused, pretending to hold a bouquet as she responded to a nod from Phyllis and began the measured walk up the aisle. Enjoy, have fun, then walk away unscathed and unfettered. Whatever Jason’s motivations, this was entirely the wrong time for her to add complications to her own life. Including, she thought with a glance over her shoulder, a clash with her longtime friend.
Phyllis ran them through the procession twice before she was satisfied. Once everyone was in place at the front of the church, she studied them critically before giving a nod. “Fine. Now, let’s rehearse the walk out. Bride and groom, you will turn toward your guests while the minister presents you as a married couple. Bride, retrieve your bouquet from your maid of honor…”
Corinna pretended to pass invisible flowers to her sister, who smiled a bit tightly.
“…and you begin your walk down the aisle, followed by the ring bearer and flower girl. Micah, offer your arm to Nicole the way I showed you earlier. Yes, that’s lovely. Now, follow the bride and groom to the exit. Not too fast. All right, best man, offer your arm to the maid of honor. Now, next couple. And the third…oh, dear. Well, Madison, you’ll just have to pretend.”
Stifling a wry smile, Madison fell into step behind Lucy and Allen. It wasn’t hard to pretend that J
ason was at her side. She could imagine him next to her in a variety of interesting poses. With only a bit more effort, she could almost feel him touching her again, making her pulse race in a manner that was probably unbecoming for a bridesmaid.
Jason waited for them in the church foyer, his expression penitent as he stepped toward BiBi. “I’m very sorry, BiBi. If the call hadn’t been important, I never would have…”
“It’s okay, Jason,” Carl said hastily. “It’s not like it’s hard to just walk out and stand there, especially since you’ve done this before.”
BiBi gave her fiancé a stern look. “Well, since you find everything so easy, there was really no reason for us to rehearse at all, was there?”
“Now, honey…”
“BiBi, I’m really sorry…”
BiBi shook her head at both men, drew a deep breath, then turned determinedly toward her wedding planner. “Was that rehearsal sufficient, Phyllis, or should we run through it all again now that everyone has joined us?”
Jason winced, and everyone else, like Madison, seemed to hold their breath, hoping Phyllis would call it enough. The flower girl was beginning to whine a little, plaintively informing her mother that she was hungry. The planner seemed tempted to begin again, but a glance at her watch had her shaking her head. “No, that will do.”
After a collective sigh of relief, the members of the wedding party began to gather their things in preparation for leaving the church. There was still a formal rehearsal dinner to be followed by the groom’s family’s gala, which meant yet another change of clothing.
Madison was beginning to wonder if BiBi would make it through the remainder of the day without suffering a meltdown. What on earth was going on with her friend? She’d seemed fine yesterday.
As the church cleared, Madison couldn’t help noticing that Corinna frowned at Jason before turning to be escorted from the church by Brandon. Was Corinna, too, irked with Jason about missing rehearsal? Maybe she was beginning to agree with his ex-girlfriend that as good-looking and charming as he was, it took too much effort to compete with all the other obligations in his life. Especially when Corinna had totally attentive Brandon there to compare to Jason.
Jason walked beside Madison as they descended the stairs to the sidewalk outside the church. Some of the wedding party had come in their own cars. Because it was such a beautiful day, Madison and a few others who were staying at the hotel had walked the few blocks to the rehearsal. Jason and his brother had already been at the church when she’d arrived.
“I think I’m in trouble,” Jason murmured, his tone both regretful and resigned.