Sofie and the Movie Star: A Lovestruck Short Story (Lovestruck #3.5)(2)
Lizzie and I rolled our eyes in tandem. Maria had really come around in regards to Lizzie and Thomas’s relationship as of late, but there was no way she would let any opportunity pass her by to make her feelings known about Lizzie’s decision to get married in an Anglican church instead of a Catholic one.
I had to give Maria some credit. A year ago it would have been unheard of that she would even attend a protestant wedding, family member or not. As inflexible as she might still seem, she had come a long way. That was another thing I was grateful for—Lizzie standing up to her family and insisting on continuing her relationship with Thomas had the surprising effect of actually chilling everyone out. Of course, our family would always be annoyingly up in each other’s business, that was just a fact of life. But prior to Lizzie’s uncharacteristic rebellion it would have been unthinkable for any of my cousins to move away from home—across the ocean, no less. By sticking to her guns she had instituted at least some change in the way our family typically judged each other.
Just in time for me to become a single mother, I thought. How lucky for me.
“Has anyone seen my heels?” Laura, my other cousin, asked, rooting around on the floor by Lizzie’s feet.
“They’re next to your purse.” I pointed at the bag sitting on the counter only inches from Laura.
She made a face at me shaking her head. “I’m such a ditz. I swear to God, having a baby makes you lose your damn mind, Sof. Be warned.”
“Thank you.” I tried and failed to keep the sarcasm from my voice, but Laura didn’t seem to notice, instead responding to Callie’s inquiry about her new baby with a pleased expression as she whipped out her cell phone to show off the latest pictures.
Lizzie again met my eyes across the room, shaking her head in sympathy. It was impossible to get through a day in this family without someone offering up some well-meaning pregnancy advice. Having babies seemed to be what our family did best, and every single one of my cousins, my aunts, my mother, even my own sister, thought it was their sworn duty to make sure I heard every little tidbit of wisdom they had accumulated.
I had told Lizzie only yesterday that it might have been better if they had kept shunning me for being an unwed mother until I’d already had the baby. At least that way I could have done without the advice.
“Ladies,” Lizzie’s brother Samuel called, peeking his head through the open door. He had a hand clapped over his eyes. “Everyone decent?”
“Come in, you idiot,” Maria chided her little brother. “Do you think we would have left the door open if we weren’t decent?”
“Good point.” Sam dropped his hand and entered the room, giving us his trademark charming grin. I wondered, not for the first time, why the guys in our family didn’t get the same pressure to couple up and get married that we girls did. Sam, like my other cousins, was totally gorgeous with his dark hair and strong features. And, like my other cousins, he totally knew it. The Medina boys were players and no one batted an eye.
But then Sam’s gaze landed on Lizzie and my momentary annoyance dropped. His expression changed to something akin to awe as he took in his little—and favorite—sister in her wedding dress. “Wow, Lizzie,” he said, shaking his head. “You look beautiful.”
I saw my own expression mirrored in the faces of my relatives and stifled a laugh. I was one to complain about the boys getting off easy—here I was melting at him being sweet just like any of our aunties would do.
After Sam hugged Lizzie he turned to his mom. “The photographer is done taking shots of the groomsmen so he’s wondering if any of you are ready enough to head out for some pictures. It will save time after the ceremony.”
Since we were done with hair and makeup, it was decided that all of the members of the family would go to get some shots out of the way while Callie finished helping Lizzie to get ready. I left my cousin somewhat unwillingly, feeling again like I might cry. I was her maid of honor, shouldn’t I be staying with her? But my mood changed swiftly—another lovely side effect of being pregnant—once I gathered with the other girls for pictures. Lizzie’s new sister-in-law, Bryony, was waiting for us in the hallway. And she had news.
“Jackson Coles is here,” she whispered in my ear. “Can you believe it?”
“Seriously?” My heart rate sped up and I and immediately felt silly. Jackson Coles was one of Thomas’s co-stars in the Darkness movies. Like most of the other girls I knew, I’d had a crush on him pretty much forever, long before Lizzie ever met Thomas in real life. And how could anyone blame me? With his messy, golden hair, heart-stoppingly blue eyes, and wicked little smile, I doubted there was a single woman under the age of fifty on either side of the pond that didn’t find him exceedingly hot. Except, of course, for Lizzie, who was disappointingly immune to the charms of celebrities for someone who was about to marry one.
“I thought he was shooting a movie?” my cousin Laura asked, leaning across me to interrogate Bryony and rather proving my point; Laura was thirty, married, and had a kid, and she had still gone all breathless and red-faced at the thought of seeing Jackson tonight.
“I guess he got the day off,” Bryony said, eyes wide. Though her older brother was a legitimate movie star, she apparently wasn’t any cooler than us when it came to running into other celebs.
“Is he in a tux?” Laura asked hopefully.