if not persistent.
“I saw her for a little while,” Jack said. “Her brother, Alex, is visiting.” That was the God’s truth, and it should stop their questions for a while.
“Tough luck,” Gabe said with a twinkle in his eye.
“Whatever.” He finished his coffee, set the mug in the sink, and reached for his hat. “I need to get back to work.”
“There’s one wedding detail to handle before you go,” Gabe said.
“What’s that?” Jack put on his hat in preparation for leaving as quickly as possible. Maybe he’d take a ride out to the north pasture and check the fence. Putting some distance between him and these wedding plans sounded good.
“I’d like it if you and Nick would share the job of best man. Would that work for you?”
“Sure. Be glad to.” Sharing the job would be a relief. He wouldn’t have to handle everything, and Nick was good at that sappy stuff.
“Excellent. Morgan’s going to have two maids of honor, so it’ll be balanced.”
Jack nodded, not really listening. “Great. Well, if that’s all, then—”
“You’ll probably want a heads-up on who the maids of honor will be.” Gabe had a gleam in his eye.
Jack hoped to hell Gabe wasn’t hoping to promote a romance between him and one of Morgan’s sisters. There might be several to choose from, because Morgan had come from a family of seven kids.
He turned to make his getaway. “You can fill me in on the particulars later.”
“I just thought you’d want to know that Morgan’s asking Josie.”
Jack froze. His brain froze, too. But when it thawed a couple of seconds later, horror poured out in torrents. No. He couldn’t be in a wedding with Josie. That was completely unacceptable.
Doing his best to cover his reaction, he turned back to Gabe. “I’m surprised.”
“You look more than surprised.” Gabe’s mouth twitched as if he dearly wanted to laugh. “You look like someone whacked you upside the head with a two-by-four.”
“Why Josie? I thought Morgan had a passel of sisters and brothers.”
“She does, but her sister Tyler’s the only one she wants in the wedding party. Morgan and Josie have hit it off. I’m guessing Morgan’s over there right now asking her. I figured you’d want to know, in case you’re talking to Josie at some point.”
Jack would rather not admit that he didn’t expect to talk with Josie … ever. Gabe must assume they were back on speaking terms and Josie’s brother had been the only obstacle to a happy reunion. This wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t know how to say that without revealing all his personal business in front of Sarah and Mary Lou.
Then he had a brilliant idea. “I thought you wanted to have this wedding on horseback.”
“We do. Morgan’s excited about it and it should make the planning a lot easier.”
“Then Morgan might want to pick a different maid of honor. Josie doesn’t ride.”
Gabe’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. She’s never been on a horse in her life. We talked about me teaching her, but we never got around to it.” Because they were so busy getting busy.
Sarah waved a hand. “Then that’s the solution. She won’t have to be an accomplished horsewoman for this, so you have plenty of time to teach her the basics before the wedding.”
Dear God, he’d only made things worse. “I can’t.”
Sarah’s gaze sharpened. “Of course you can.”
Panic made him sound desperate. “No, really, Sarah. I have enough to do managing things around here, and now there’s the best man stuff to think about. Riding lessons are out of the question.”
Sarah and Gabe exchanged a glance. Jack knew that glance. He’d given himself away by protesting too loudly about the riding lessons.
“I’m sure we can work out a time,” Sarah said. “After all, this is important.”
Jack saw no way around it. He’d have to come clean. “The thing is, Josie won’t want to take riding lessons from me.”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“Last night I mistook her brother for a new boyfriend and I … sort of … attacked him.”
Gabe and Sarah gasped and Mary Lou dropped a spoon on the stove with a loud clatter. All three of them stared at him as if he’d grown horns and a tail.
“He’s not hurt or anything. As Gabe knows, I’d had a … a couple of drinks, so my aim was off.”
Gabe’s muffled snort meant he was trying hard not to laugh.
Sarah, however, looked scandalized. “You assaulted Josie’s brother? I can’t believe you did that.”
“I can’t, either,” Mary Lou said. “That’s not like you, Jack.”
“It was a mistake.”
Gabe’s eyes were watering from his efforts to hold back his laughter. “No kidding.” He cleared his throat. “This does put a different spin on things.”
Jack sighed. “If Morgan has her heart set on Josie, then I’m sure the two of us can muddle through the wedding, but somebody else will have to teach her how to ride. Maybe one of the hands could do it.”
“Maybe.” Lips twitching, Gabe continued to assess him. “But are you sure you could handle that?”
“What do you mean? Of course I could. That’s what I’m saying, isn’t it? Get somebody else.”
“Yeah, but last night you thought you had a rival and decided to take him down.” Gabe looked as if he might be ready to burst out laughing. “I’d hate for you to go after one of our cowhands.”
“Oh, for crying out loud! Just because I screwed up one time, that doesn’t mean—”
“That you still consider Josie your woman? I think it does.” Gabe looked over at Sarah and Mary Lou. “What do you two think?”
“I think you need to make amends to Josie,” Sarah said. “And you should do that before the wedding, so we don’t have any unpleasantness spoiling Gabe and Morgan’s big day. Teaching her to ride would be the perfect opportunity.”
Mary Lou nodded. “Good idea.”
“She won’t go for it.” Jack felt the trap closing around him. He’d known he would pay for last night’s debacle, but he’d never dreamed it would be like this.
“She will if you present it the right way,” Sarah said. “Tell her as one adult to another that the two of you need to iron out your differences in private so that you don’t accidentally ruin Gabe and Morgan’s wedding.”
“You want me to approach her about this?” Jack couldn’t even contemplate it.
Sarah continued her devastatingly logical argument. “If you can’t do that, how do you expect to be able to make it through the wedding festivities? It’s not just the ceremony, you know. We’ll need a rehearsal the Friday afternoon before the wedding, and there will be a dinner on Friday night.”
“She’s right about this, bro.” Gabe’s voice held only a trace of pity. “You and Josie have to work through whatever’s bothering you before the wedding.”
Jack gave it one last shot. “I promise you that nothing will happen. You have my word on it.”
“I’m sure Josie would promise,