Emily was still standing there gaping like a fish at the tattooed men who would soon be in her wedding party when Daniel's pickup truck trundled up the driveway.
"That must be the groom!" one of the tattooed men said, turning on the spot.
The pickup truck slowed to a stop and Daniel hopped out with a spring in his step that was unfamiliar to Emily. She watched, stunned, as the three men bowled down the porch steps and tackled Daniel.
They'd better not bruise his face, she thought, wincing at the rough-and-tumble of old friends reunited.
Finally, Daniel's face reemerged from the rabble of denim and leather. He was pink-cheeked, grinning widely. By now, Roy had opened up the passenger side door and was halfway out. To Emily's surprise, he was also smiling.
"Well, look, haven't you three grown up," Roy said, laughing.
"Is that Roy?" the first man said.
"I said this was the place!" the second yelled, smacking the third across the chest.
"It was decades ago," the third argued back. "How am I supposed to remember?"
"Because it was the best vacation we ever had!" the first exclaimed.
Roy emerged fully now and extended his hand. "Stuart?"
The man nodded. "Yes. And you remember Clyde and Evan?" He gestured first to the man with the scraggly ginger beard, then to the shorter, overweight man.
"How could I forget that weekend when Daniel invited you all over for fishing?" Roy replied.
"That was great," Evan added. "I don't think we've all been in the same place since that weekend, you know."
"So you're his best men, I presume?" Roy queried.
Stuart beamed widely. "Of course we are. It's only fitting that Daniel's oldest school friends should be in the wedding party."
"Even if it has been over a decade since we all got together," Evan added.
"Have you met my daughter Emily?" Roy said, gesturing to where Emily continued to watch on in disbelief. "I'd never have guessed Daniel would grow up to marry my little princess one day!"
Now it was the three friends' turn to look shocked. They glanced at Emily on the doorstep, mouths open. But rather than appear embarrassed by their mistake, Emily realized they were relishing it. They were clearly the types of men to enjoy embarrassing others. She inwardly cringed.
"That's the missus?" Clyde exclaimed. "Well, why didn't she say so?"
He laughed and ran up the porch steps toward Emily. When he reached her he swept her into a bear hug. Predictably, he smelled of stale sweat.
Emily tried to maintain her composure. But really she was panicking inside. She didn't want to judge Daniel too much on his choice of companionship, especially if they were old school friends-kindergarteners tend to pick their friends at random after all-but she just couldn't reconcile the four of them together. This was the closest she'd been to Daniel's bad-boy past. A glimpse of the boy he'd once been and could easily have become had he not left Maine for Tennessee when he did. She should be grateful that he'd chosen these three really, when the other option was Tennessee friends who knew Sheila.
Just then, Chantelle hopped down from the truck and gave a cursory glance in the direction of the three men. She wasn't fazed, however. She was used to random people coming to the inn and had certainly come across hillbilly types in her earlier years in Tennessee.
"Papa Roy, can we start on the greenhouse, please?" she asked.
"Of course," Roy said. Then, turning his attention to Stuart, Clyde, and Evan, he added, as polite as ever, "If you gentlemen will excuse me."
Roy and Chantelle busied themselves with unloading the pickup of all the items they'd purchased.
"Let me give you the tour," Daniel said to his friends.
He led them past Emily and into the B&B.
She watched them go, still stunned, still unable to reconcile Daniel with these three burly men. She turned to follow them inside, in time to see Amy and Jayne walking down the staircase.
Stuart whistled at the two women and Emily grimaced. Neither of her friends was the type to let that kind of thing fly. Not even Jayne, who usually loved male attention. Terrified it was all about to kick off, Emily rushed in to intervene in advance.
"Amy, Jayne," she called out. "Did you settle into your rooms okay?"
Amy flicked her narrowed eyes away from Stuart and to her friend. "Yes. Thanks, Em. But we have to get to work. There are tons of errands to run."
"Really?" Emily said with a groan. She felt like all she'd been doing for weeks was planning the wedding. Could there really be that much more to do? But on the other hand, leaving the inn was probably a good idea. The least amount of time spent with Daniel's friends the better. "Okay," she accepted. "Let's get out of here."
She rushed her friends out the door before Daniel had a chance to introduce his friends. Out the corner of her eye she caught sight of his expression. He seemed annoyed by her behavior, by her rudeness at not allowing everyone to become acquainted. But she couldn't help it. If he'd prepared her in some way maybe it would have been different. At the very least she could have told him to make sure they didn't catcall her friends, and warn her friends to expect some rube-like behavior. But just like always, Daniel had kept her in the dark about some of the more unsavory elements of his past. And once again, the blank spaces of his past niggled at her, making her doubt the very foundation their relationship stood upon.
*
Emily and her friends drove to the next town over in order to go to a perfume boutique that Amy had been wanting to visit for years.
"They make the fragrance specifically for you," Amy explained as she drove. "A bespoke scent for a unique lady."
"Sounds…" Emily paused. She'd wanted to say unnecessary but caught herself at the last second. Instead she finished with a meek and unconvincing, "…fun."
"Everyone's doing it these days," Jayne added from the back seat. "It would be simply uncouth not to."
Clearly excited by the trip, Amy parked and then steered Emily by the shoulders into the store, bouncing with every step.
The lady at the counter greeted them with a warm smile. Emily was grateful when Amy took the lead. She didn't much feel like interacting. Her mind was still stuck on Daniel's friends.
"Here," Amy said, shoving a smelling strip under Emily's nose. "What do you think? Blood orange."
Emily crinkled her nose. "I don't think that's very me."
"No, I suppose not," Amy said. She bent her head down and began looking through the other options of smells.
"You seem distracted," Jayne said to Emily.
"Sorry," Emily replied. "I'm just…thinking."
"Not about fragrances, I assume," Jayne asked. "Come on, Em. You know you can tell me anything."
Emily shook her head. "I don't want to say. I don't want to sound like a bitch."
Jayne gave her a look. "Honestly, this is me you're talking to. I'm the Queen Bitch. I doubt anything you could say would even come close to sounding bitchy to my ears."
Just then, Amy rushed over and grabbed Emily's arms. She dabbed some perfume onto her wrist.
"Smell!" she exclaimed with excitement.
Emily sniffed. The fragrance was fresh and floral. "That's much better," she said.
Amy grinned. "Okay. I've got it. I've got the perfect smell to complement this." She rushed away again and bowed heads with the girl behind the counter as they sifted excitedly through the samples.
"So?" Jayne pressed Emily. She clearly wasn't going to let her drop it.
Emily sighed loudly. "It's just those guys at the inn."
"The boars who looked like they hadn't showered in a week?"
"Yup, those ones," Emily replied. She bit her lip. "Well, they're Daniel's friends. His best men."
"Oh dear God!" Jayne exclaimed with a theatrical gasp. "They're going to be in the photos?"
Emily felt her cheeks burn. Jayne's horrified response was making her feel worse.
"It's just the way that he keeps these things about his past from me," Emily explained. "Like I would never have imagined in a million years that his best friends would be like that."
"Me neither," Jayne replied. "I thought he'd have some hunky lumberjack types."
Emily sank her head into her hands. "I wish I'd have let him ask his boss now," she replied glumly. "I'd prefer paint-stained hands over those three any day."
Amy came over with another scent stick, a look of concentration on her face. Without even speaking she grabbed Emily's arm and dabbed the new scent inside her wrist, on top of the first one. Amy sniffed. Frowned. Sniffed again. Then grinned.
"I think I've got it," she said.
Emily sniffed. "Yeah, that's nice," she replied in a lackluster voice.
"You don't like it?" Amy asked.
"It's not that," Jayne interrupted. "Emily met the groomsmen today."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Daniel's elusive friends?"
Jayne grabbed Amy's arm. "You'll never guess. It was those three in the foyer!"
Amy's eyes widened. "The ones I almost unleashed all hell upon?"
"The very same."
Amy looked at Emily then. "Oh, babe. I'm sorry."
Emily cringed again. Daniel's friends were oafs, but she was revealing a very nasty side of both her and her friends' personalities. She knew they were being judgmental and petty. But she couldn't help it.
"Look," Amy said, taking charge of the situation as she was often wont to do. "Why don't we finish up here now we've found the scent and head back to the inn? We can have some drinks, get everyone's tongues loosened up a bit. Then we'll get to the bottom of it for you. Find out the deal. Who they are, what they do. Find out any juicy gossip."
"It's the juicy gossip I'm worried about," Emily replied glumly. "I just don't understand how Daniel can be who he is with this mysterious past and these strange friends. None of it matches up. There's like young Daniel who hated his home life and was flunking school and almost ran away, the one who was friends with those three. Then there's Tennessee Daniel, the one who fathered a kid and beat a guy to a bloody pulp. Neither of them are my Daniel. It just freaks me out."
Amy rubbed her shoulder. "You're just getting wedding jitters. It's fine. Everyone has pasts."
"But not everyone hides them like Daniel does."
"He's just embarrassed," Jayne said. "I would be if those were my friends!" She cackled.
Emily wanted to let her friends lift her spirits but it just wasn't helping. The idea of all of them sitting around a table conversing, not to mention with alcohol added to the mix, didn't seem that appealing to her. But it was going to have to happen sooner or later. May as well get it over with.
"Okay, fine," Emily said. "Let's just get it out of the way."
Amy paid for the fragrance, exchanging business cards with the girl behind the counter, and they left the store. Emily's friends linked arms with her, supporting her, like always, through every step of her journey.
"I don't know what I'd do without you guys," Emily said as they strolled together back to Amy's car.
"I do," Amy said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "You'd smell a whole lot worse!"
