Reggie gazed at me blankly. I looked to my boyfriend for some support and was horrified to find him trying to shush four of our snickering friends. I tried to regroup.

“Then by the power vested in me by the AKC I now pronounce you man and wife. Reggie, you may kiss the bride.”

Now the dogs looked completely bored and even slightly embarrassed. I pulled out a butter knife that had a generous heap of peanut butter on it and held it between them. Once the two went for it the crowd broke into applause.

I breathed as sigh of relief. I was happy to be rid of my duties as doggie minister. My landlord Kitty had recently taken a trip to Europe and had asked me to help out at her doggie daycare program. This was my final obligation as her temporary event coordinator.

The dogs clumsily made their way back up the aisle, relentlessly smacking their mouths. If they could speak I was sure they would have asked for glasses of milk. Once I’d made sure they were reunited with their families I walked over to my boyfriend.

“Hey, babe,” I said, bending over for a kiss.

“Hey,” he said. “Mikey missed you.” My American Eskimo puppy was struggling to jump from Jake’s lap and up into my arms.

I took him and held him up high. “Hello, Mikey! I’m sorry but I don’t think we’re ever going to make an honest man out of you like Reggie became today.”

Mikey tried to lick my face.

“Sara, you were great!” Melissa interrupted us.

“Yeah, Sara. A natural. You could really make a career out of this,” Melissa’s fiancé Byron said sarcastically.

“Shut up, Byron,” Swoosh ordered, obviously prodded by his girlfriend Ronni.

“No, it’s okay. Byron can make fun all he wants. He doesn’t have much time, though. I tipped off his fan club that he’d be here today,” I said sweetly.

Alarm on Byron’s face.

Byron, Swoosh and Jake were all members of the Los Angeles Celebrities, one of the city’s professional basketball teams. And really it was only a matter of time before they were approached by fans. We were on a public beach. But I’d never tell Byron’s fan club where he was. That wouldn’t be fair to Melissa who was currently on the cover of Sensation magazine as an up and coming model. The sweetest girl I’d ever met, I’d never do anything to make a situation more difficult for her.

“Did you really?” Ronni asked, looking around nervously like the fans would be charging up the beach with grenades.

“Yes,” I said, winking pointedly at her.

Jake put his arms around my waist and pulled Mikey and me onto his lap. “No you didn’t.”

“Ok, I didn’t,” I acquiesced.

“We were just going to get going anyway. I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Byron said and offered Melissa his arm.

“Me neither,” Swoosh agreed.

That didn’t surprise me. The dog wedding was attended by humans and canines alike and it was becoming more and more chaotic by the second.

“Aww,” Ronni whined while twirling her red hair on her finger. “I want to see what the reception is like. It’s going to be good, huh?” she asked me.

“If ridiculous is good then definitely,” I answered.

“Bye guys,” Byron said and led Melissa off.

“So shall we pay our respects to the happy couple?” I asked Jake.

He was about to respond when a fan appeared. This was a little boy with a pad of paper and a pen. He was extremely excited to see Jake.

“Jake Dalton?” he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

“That’s me,” Jake said. “What’s your name?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he yelled, “MOM!”

The slightly overweight bottle blond nearly flew over. “What’s wrong, honey?”

He pointed at Jake. She was momentarily overcome as well.

“Come on!” Swoosh broke in. “What about me?”

At that the kid looked up and saw him, and then burst into tears and buried his head in his mom’s armpit.

“Sorry,” Swoosh offered.

I couldn’t help giggling. Ronni whacked me on the arm.

“You’re his favorite athlete,” the woman told Jake over her son’s cries. “He just loves you. But he’s extremely shy.” She gently moved the boy around until he was facing Jake again. He had a big booger coming out of his nose.

I quickly got a napkin out of my purse and handed it to the mother, pointing at the problematic area on the boy’s face.

“Thanks,” she said, and wiped it off. “Wilson, why don’t you ask Mr. Dalton for his autograph?”

Mr. Dalton! That was hilarious. Good for use in the bedroom if we ever played Naughty Jane Austen Novel.

The boy couldn’t speak and instead handed his paper and pen over. Jake took a long time signing it.

“There,” Jake said, handing it over. “It’s a picture of you and me playing basketball. See?”

We all bent over to see. None of us knew Jake could draw. Oh. He couldn’t. It was a nice effort, though.

“Thank you, Mr. Dalton,” Wilson said and then abruptly looked away when he almost made eye contact with Swoosh.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Wilson’s mom led him away, mouthing “thanks” to Jake over her shoulder.

He waved at her.

“So instead of monsters, I guess these days kids are afraid they have a Swoosh Park in their closets,” I joked.

“I’m friendly. I’m good looking. What’s the problem?” Swoosh asked.

“Let’s just write that off as an isolated incident,” Ronni suggested.

“Done. So can we get out of here?” he asked her. “How bad do you want to stay for the party?”

“You don’t have to stay. Sara can take me home.”

“Do you mind if I head out too?” Jake asked me.

Of course I did. “Not if I can see you later.”

He gave me a kiss that bordered on inappropriate. “Sure you can.”

I held out the dog. “Baby-sit for me?”

He only hesitated a second before agreeing.

The guys took off together, leaving Ronni and me Jake’s rather large SUV. That was going to be an adventure to park later on.

“Let’s go make sure the bride and groom got loaded into their carriage okay,” I suggested.

Ever since I’d heard of putting the dogs in a horse-drawn carriage I was dying to see it. I figured any self-respecting dog would bark his head off at the horses, which would be doubly funny in wedding clothes. Reggie had a tuxedo shirt on. His wife was attired in a white dress with a super long train that her owner insisted was inspired by Vera Wang. Unfortunately they had already left by the time we got over to the street.

“Do you really want to go to the party?” I asked Ronni.

“I at least want to see it.”

“How about we drive by and then we get lunch?”

“Deal.”

Ronni and I were friends before any of this stuff with the Celebrities started up since she was the assistant gym director where I taught classes. Lately I’d hardly seen her because she’d always been busy with Swoosh and I was always with Jake or we were busy taking care of the things we’d let slide while our guys were in town. It would be nice to catch up with her.

Once Ronni saw the wedding reception she was glad we weren’t staying. Caterers were walking around filling up people’s wine glasses and carrying silver trays of food. Most people were trying to maintain some sense of decorum but the dogs, the dressed up dogs wandering around and randomly humping and fighting over dropped food, made the scene too preposterous to bear. Scarlett and Reggie sat on a fluffy white bench above the melee, occasionally barking.

“Is there going to be dancing?” Ronni asked me.

“I don’t even want to know,” I said and drove on.




I took Ronni to Saddleback Ranch because I’d been craving their soup and it was sort of close to where our boyfriends lived. Plus, it had valet parking so I wouldn’t have to handle the Navigator on my own. How did those soccer moms do it?

“So what’s new with you and Swoosh?” I asked Ronni once we were seated with our iced teas.

“Not much. I’ve probably been spending more time with Melissa lately,” she answered.

I cocked my head inquisitively at her.

“For the wedding,” she explained.

“Oh!” Better her than me. Ronni was happy to help whereas the very thought made me ready for a nap.

The big day was approaching fast. There were four more weeks until Melissa officially accepted Byron as her one and only. They were an ideal couple, complementing each other perfectly. Melissa was kind and thoughtful, full of grace. Byron was rough around the edges but a ton of fun. And he was totally gone on Melissa. I didn’t know him before but I thought it safe to assume that she made him a better person.

“Plus we’re still working on my routines and stuff,” Ronni continued.

“That’s right! You’re a Celeb Girl!”

Ronni ducked her head, embarrassed. “Not really. I’m backup girl number twenty or something. But if the redhead goes down, I’m in!”

At the Christmas Day game Ronni and Melissa had made cameos as cheerleaders for the Celebs. They looked great doing it. Melissa had an edge because she’d been a professional cheerleader before—that’s how she’d met Byron. Ronni had been a cheerleader in high school. Odds were with Melissa’s help she’d be pro at the start of the next season. I’d sort of wanted to do the same, mostly for the floor seats to all the home games. Shaking my stuff seemed fun too, but after some of Melissa’s tutelage we’d nonverbally agreed to cut our losses. I wasn’t exactly a natural like Ronni.

“So what’s going on with you and Jake?” Ronni asked as our food arrived.

I grinned. Jake was my favorite subject, besides Mikey. “We’ve been lying low. Hanging out with the puppy. Nothing too interesting.”

“Please,” Ronni snorted. “Anything involving Jake Dalton is at least a little interesting.”

I grinned some more. Ronni had never been one to dance around the fact that Jake was smoking hot and most any girl would love to be with him, possibly her included. He was also a truly nice and thoughtful person. He got me Mikey for Christmas.

What made our relationship most intriguing was that it started in the midst of the season that he had strictly said would be girlfriend-free. Somehow I went from being his maid to being his lover and after a tumultuous few months of dating or whatever it was, he’d finally overturned his rule. This wasn’t to say the following day he issued a press release explaining his decision. He wasn’t overly verbose about me, but if anyone asked he wasn’t going to lie. And best of all, he wasn’t going to hide it in public. We were free to go out to dinner and do all those normal things couples do.

My phone buzzed. A text from Jake. Want to have a bonfire tonight with everyone?

YES, I sent back.

A bonfire on the beach in the middle of January. What a California thing to do.

“Jake?” Ronni asked.

“Yup!” I told her what was going on.

She was excited. It didn’t take a lot to excite Ronni.




When Jake said everyone, I thought he meant the six of us. I’d forgotten that Melissa’s younger sister Vanessa had moved to LA since Christmas. I’d been there when she’d met the Celebs’ star rookie, Allen Binnam.

Eighteen year old Allen would always have a special place in my heart. He had such good intentions and such good manners. He was seven feet tall and hell-bent on being perceived as a man. Problem was, he had a baby face and was still a kid. When his mom coerced him into getting a college degree at my alma mater, I became his tutor. We were now close friends.

But he and Vanessa, they were something else entirely. I saw the sparks fly between them when they first met. Vanessa almost didn’t get herself an apartment because she’d been spending so much time at Allen’s. Melissa and Byron had swiftly stepped in and taken care of that.

Allen let Byron and Swoosh take the reins on the bonfire, claiming that if anyone was going to go up in flames trying to start a fire it would be them. Jake had done the grunt work, piling up the wood just so. He’d practically grown up on the beach so he was used to it. He’d handed the lighter fluid to Byron and stepped back.

“Byron, it’s important to me that you have eyebrows at the wedding,” Melissa said, looking worriedly from the match in Swoosh’s hand to the bottle in Byron’s.

“Don’t worry,” he told her impatiently.

Byron poured some of the liquid over the wood and Swoosh threw the match in just a second before Byron backed away. It almost looked like Melissa had had reason to worry. Thankfully only Byron’s shirt had been singed.

I sighed. Boys will be boys.

Melissa shrieked and ran up to Byron, yelling at him to stop, drop and roll. He got her into a bear hug until she calmed down.

“Next time we’ll just let Jake handle it,” Ronni said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Swoosh demanded.

“That Jake would do it right,” Ronni answered.

Swoosh gave an exasperated sigh and stalked off.

I sidled up to Ronni. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she said, staring deep into the fire. “We’re having some problems.”

“You want to talk about it?”

She looked up at me. “No. Not right now. I better go after him.”

“Okay,” I said, unconvincingly.

She took off.

I went back to Jake who handed me a beer. “You trying to get me liquored up so you can have your way with me later?” I asked him.

“I don’t think you’d need the liquor,” he returned.

I playfully shoved him in the chest. He was right but it still sort of surprised me when he made comments like that. He wasn’t the kind of guy who was overly impressed with himself.

We sat down on a blanket, facing the fire and the ocean. He put his arm around me and I leaned up against him.

“So what do you want to do about the wedding?” Jake asked.

“Huh?” As far as I knew we were going and Jake had already bought the present.

“I mean, do you want to stay up in Santa Barbara for the weekend? If you do, we should make reservations.”

Melissa and Byron were getting married at the Four Seasons in Montecito over All-Star weekend. I grew up about an hour north of there.

“Could I take you to meet my parents while we’re up there?” I asked him.

“I guess.”

“Then let’s do it.”

My elation quickly turned to guilt. Jake always paid for me. I knew that it was only a matter of time before that became a problem for our relationship. I did not want to be the girl who sponged off her rich boyfriend. I should be able to provide for myself.

Jake quickly picked up on my changed body language. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Sara,” he said warningly.

“It’s stupid.”

“What?”

“I’m sort of embarrassed for you to see where I grew up.”

That wasn’t true at all. I just didn’t want to tell him what was really bothering me. He’d brush it off because for him it wasn’t a problem. It was only a problem for me because it made me feel completely inadequate.

“Is this trip going to be like Sweet Home Alabama?” he asked.

I was incredulous. “You’ve seen that movie?”

“Yeah. I see a lot of movies when we’re traveling.”

“Did you like it?”

“It wasn’t bad.”

So adorable! “No, it’s not going to be like that,” I said. “I’m probably worried about nothing.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. And if it’s not, I can just take you cow-tipping and you’ll have such a good time you won’t remember anything else.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Yeah. I’m kidding,” I said vaguely so he couldn’t be entirely sure.

“Time for s’mores!” Byron announced.

He got out the coat hangers and Melissa got out a bag of food. My conversation with Jake was forgotten for the evening.

Copyright 2008 by Rachel Bird