Unexpected Harmony

"Right, but there is supposed to be a bridal party dance, so you're going to have to dance with her."

"And?"

"I don't think you should be dancing with a newly divorced woman at a wedding when you're not married."

"What?!"

"You heard me." He shook his head and walked by her, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go take a shower."

"What about our conversation?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you again Michelle."

"Fine, then I'm leaving!"

"Be careful driving home," he said dismissively as he made his way to the shower.

After his shower, he returned downstairs, half expecting Michelle to still be there because that's what usually happened. To his surprise she was gone; he thought to himself, "Hmph, maybe I got through to her this time around. Or I just pissed her off." He shrugged his shoulders and set about making himself dinner.

As he settled down on the couch to eat, his phone vibrated twice, thinking it was Michelle, he didn't pick it up right away, but then a few minutes later, it vibrated again. With the third notification, he looked down and saw a number rather than a name. He opened the messages and found three texts, "Hey Bryce, this is Kat's friend Claire. Your Bridesmaid." "I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted last night." "You didn't deserve the wrath of divorced Claire."

He smiled and texted back, "Hey! Thank you for apologizing. I've never been in your situation, so I can only imagine what you're going through." "No hard feelings." "Did you make it home alright?"

Claire saw the replies and smiled, she responded, "I did, thanks for asking." "It definitely is tough, but I'm managing. My boys give me something to focus on along with the wedding." "So....about that entrance."

"Well good, so what are you thinking about the entrance?"

"I will do that. YouTube here I come!"

Bryce smiled and sent back a smiley emoji and then texted, "Sounds good, send me what you find when you have a chance."

Periodically that night and over the next month, they chatted via text about the wedding, the rehearsal, then the conversations eventually led to other things about their lives and work, even adding each other on Facebook and Instagram. About three weeks before the wedding, Claire had texted him asking a question and didn't receive a response which was unlike him. After an entire day of no response, Claire texted Katherine, "Ummm, is everything okay with Bryce?" "I texted him about our entrance yesterday and haven't gotten a response?"

She got a few message bubbles popping up before disappearing before Katherine finally responded, "He and Michelle broke up two days ago."

"Oh wow!"

"Yeah there was a huge blowup. I guess she got really accusatory about you since you added each other on Facebook and Insta, some girl he works with, and also about a mom of a kid he tutors, so he told her they were done."

"Me?"

"Don't give yourself too much credit ;-), I think you were the final straw. After defending you, she snapped." "This had been building for a few months according to Steve and he finally had enough."

"Wow, poor guy."

"Yeah, even though he initiated it, they had been together for a while so he's a little mopey."

"I'd say. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem girl."

Claire sat on the information for an hour or two, unsure if she should say something or not. While she wouldn't necessarily call her and Bryce friends, she knew he was hurting, and she did know what that felt like. Around 8:30 after finally getting Jack to bed, she saw she had a text from Bryce, "The first one looks good, we can do that, especially since the guys have superhero socks."

She smiled, "Sounds good to me. How are you? Been a couple of days."

"Been better, Michelle and I broke up."

":-( I'm sorry to hear that. Want to talk about it?"

"Not really, it was a long time coming."

"Doesn't make it easier."

"Yeah."

"Well if you want to talk about it, I kinda know what you're going through."

"Thanks, I may take you up on that later. But first I'm just going to kill my feelings with bourbon."

She frowned, "Well don't drink too much. I need a dance partner in 2 weeks and I'm counting on you. :-)"

Bryce found himself cracking a slight smile, "Will do, you're not getting rid of me that easy."

"I wouldn't get rid of you; I'd end up having to dance with Dave and we don't want that."

"He might, but not me." They texted a little more that evening, and while he never opened up much about what happened, the little bit he said helped distract him, process some things, and most importantly, not get too drunk.

Over the next two weeks, he found himself texting Claire whenever he was feeling down, and she always responded with words of encouragement, talking about the wedding, her life, his life in general, and things she knew that he liked. He found himself enjoying their text conversations and learning more about her and her sons and their texts soon took on a tone of just friends talking, something that surprised both of them.

****

On the Friday afternoon of the wedding weekend, Bryce was walking out of a meeting when he got a text from Claire, "IT'S HERE!!!!!"

He laughed, "What is here?"

"The wedding weekend silly."

He shook his head and responded, "Oh is that this weekend?"

"Yes! What time are you getting into town?"

"I'm getting to the hotel around 4. Got some final stuff to wrap up in the next hour before I head over. What about you?"

"I'm already here. Got in about 2."

"Nice! You staying at the Marriott too?"

"Yep, all the bridesmaids are sharing Katherine and Steve's suite tonight."

"Cool, then you get another room for Saturday night."

"Nah."

"I don't think Steve and Katherine want company Saturday night ;-) Getting home to the boys?"

"Lol, not that, I'm going to drive home Saturday night to save some money. The boys are with my ex this weekend."

"Aren't you 2 hours farther than me, in the other direction, so 3 and half hour's total from the venue?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you stay the night? You're gonna be tired and the reception won't be over until 11."

"I'll be fine. I gotta run, see you in a little bit."

****

Bryce got checked into the hotel and made his way to the room on the 4th floor; opening the door, he dropped his head as he saw the king size bed, a fresh reminder that he had broken up with Michelle. He set his stuff down on the bed, then sat beside it, letting out a sigh, and thought to himself, "Suck it up, you made the decision, and it was the right one. Don't let that keep you down while Steve is getting married."

He got up and began to put his things away, hanging his suit in the closet, moving his suitcase to the recliner in the corner, unzipping it, and settling in for the weekend. At 5:15, his phone vibrated with a text from Dave, "Hey man, we are in the lobby, you ready to go?"

"Coming down in a minute." He hurriedly changed from his work clothes to a pair of slacks and a polo, before making his way down to the lobby, meeting Dave, Justin and his wife. They made their way to Dave's Yukon and after plugging the address into the GPS, made the 10-minute drive to the venue.

They pulled off the main road and made their way down a long-paved driveway before pulling into a gravel parking lot. Once they got out, they made their way up a walkway towards a giant tent that served as the reception hall. They found Steve, Katherine, and the wedding coordinator directing the set up; they all said hello and were given their orders. Dave, Justin, and Bryce were all assigned to move cookies, cakes, and the alcohol into the kitchen, which was located on the side of the mountain above the tent.

After unloading everything, Steve and Katherine gave them a tour while they waited for the bridesmaids to arrive. There was a building above them, a bit further up the mountain from the kitchen that held the bathrooms and also the bridal get ready room. Below the tent was a small cabin that was for the groomsmen to get ready in. Bryce noticed it was much smaller than the bridal room, "We are all like twice your size, why do we get the smaller room?"

All the guys nodded in agreement, but from the tent they heard, "You're not going to spend all day here like we are."

They turned, looking up the hill seeing that it was Sara, Katherine's matron of honor who had spoken and the rest of the bridesmaids standing beside her shaking their heads. After a round of laughs, the wedding coordinator directed everyone to the sidewalk behind the men's cabin for the rehearsal to begin. Claire walked up to Bryce, smiling and resting her hand on his shoulder with a smile, "Hey there partner, how you doing."

"Hey, I'm doing okay." He reached his arm around her waist, pulling her into a soft hug. She squeezed him around the shoulder and smiled, expecting things to be a bit awkward after their first in person interaction the month prior.

"I'm glad to hear that, can't have you being all mopey like Eeyore."

He gave her a sideways glance and said "Eeyore?"

"From Winnie the Pooh!"

He laughed, "I'm doing much better than a month ago."

Just as the coordinator was instructing the groomsmen on their entrance, Claire leaned over and whispered so no one else could hear, "I'm really glad you're here and are okay."

She smiled just as the coordinator said, "Bryce, get walking!"

"Yes ma'am!" The rest of the bridal party laughed as Bryce slowly made his way down the walkway, between the 150 chairs, and then turned right in front of the archway. As he turned, he saw Justin, then Dave, and finally Sean following him down the aisle and taking their positions beside him. Next came Steve and his mom walking in, then Katherine's parents, after seating her mom, her father returned to the men's cabin. With them seated, the music changed, and the bridesmaids began to process down the aisle, led by Claire.

She glanced over and smiled at Bryce, causing him to return the smile. He also noticed her dress; it was a dark green with short sleeves, a v-neck and fell to just below her knees, showing off her curves and even a subtle amount of cleavage. As she turned to her spot, he subtly shook his head, telling himself, "Stop staring at her, she doesn't hate you right now."

As the rest of the bridesmaids took up their spots, the music changed again, and Katherine began the walk down the aisle with her father. Once she reached the front, there was an abbreviated version of the ceremony run through, making sure Sean and Sara knew when they were reading their poems. After the ceremony was run through, the officiant pronounced them hitched to the laughter of everyone present and they began to process up the aisle.

As Justin approached the center of the aisle, he took Lori's arm and made their way up the aisle, leaving just Claire and Bryce. As he walked towards the center, he smiled and she sort of danced her way towards him, making him laugh. As they reached the center, she snaked her arm through his and bumped her hip into his and said, "I knew I could get you to laugh."

He shook his head, and they made their way back to where everyone else was standing. The next few minutes were filled with small talk and Claire asked, "So you good with our entrance."

"Of course."

"You're not gonna drop me?"

"Of course not. I've been hitting the gym a lot the last month."

Claire feigned shock, "Are you calling me fat?" Bryce suddenly didn't know what to say, fearing he had offended her, he began to stumble over words, trying to apologize when she burst into laughter, "I'm kidding!"

"Jesus, don't do that, I'm kinda sensitive right now."

Still smiling and chuckling she replied, "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." She had noticed he looked a bit thinner in the face, and his blue polo fit him well. Knowing how she felt when complimented after the divorce, she smiled, "You look a bit more trim, and I like this blue on you."

Bryce blushed and said, "Thanks, your dress is pretty."

She smiled, but before she could reply, they were told to run through the ceremony again because of a small tweak Katherine wanted. They spent the next 15 minutes running the ceremony two more times before everyone was happy. After they processed the last time, Steve said, "Alright, does everyone have the address for Smitty's?" Everyone nodded, made their way to their vehicles and headed to the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.

Smitty's was a local restaurant owned by Katherine's cousin, who had prepared the pasta bar dinner for them. Everyone arrived and made their way inside, finding tables scattered around the main dining room, the group of groomsmen found a table in the corner with Justin remarking, "We will sit in the corner like the bad kids we are."

Bryce laughed, "Mind if Dave and I are the third and fourth wheel?"

"Of course not!" he replied as they sat down and gave the waiter their drink orders.

Ten minutes or so had passed when Katherine walked in, and made eye contact with them, "Boys, come carry gifts!" The three jumped up and made their way to her car, grabbing all of the bridal party gift bags, and ferrying them into the room, setting them on a spare table. As they turned back to their table, they found Claire sitting and talking to Justin's wife Heather.

Justin smirked, "Looks like your lady friend is joining us."

"Not funny dude, she's the only other single person here besides Dave and me."

Dave laughed, "Yeah, but I'm not the one she's been talking to all night."

Bryce shoved Dave towards the table, "Well if you weren't such a weirdo, she might talk to you too."

"I'm not weird, I'm eccentric."

They all laughed and sat back down, and Claire smiled, "Hope you don't mind me joining you all.

Heather laughed, "Of course not, I needed another woman to talk to with these three brutes."

The guys protested, but after their laughter died down, the table fell into comfortable conversation. The guys reliving and joking about the antics of the bachelor party while the girls rolled their eyes and Claire told Heather about the bachelorette party in wine country.

Once dinner was served, they all moved to the buffet line, filling their plates and returning to the table to eat, then with dinner over, Katherine and Steve handed out the gifts. When Bryce opened his bag, he found a pair of socks for the wedding, a toiletries bag with his initials, a flask set, and a bottle of Knob Creek 18. He looked to Steve, "Dude, this is too much."

Steve grinned, "Nah, it is perfect. Thanks for being here."

As he put everything back into the bag, Claire put her hand on his knee, purely for stability when she leaned over and said, "You're going to share that tomorrow right?"

He glanced at her hand and smirked, "I suppose I could."

She smiled, "Good."

The rest of dinner wound down and the bridesmaids announced they were going to a bar by the hotel for a few drinks and fun before turning in. They invited everyone, but Sean and his wife weren't staying at the hotel, Justin and Heather were going to turn in early, and Dave was going back home for the evening also. Bryce hesitated when they asked if he was coming, but after some encouragement from Katherine and some prodding by Claire, he finally relented and told them he would come down for a few drinks.

Bryce returned to his hotel room, changed out of his slacks and polo shirt, slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and walked through the parking lot to the small bar at the end. When he arrived, he didn't see anyone from the wedding party, so he texted Claire, but got no response; he scoffed, went ahead and ordered a beer, before making his way to a corner table, sipping his beer, and scrolling through the usual social media sites. Just as he was finishing his beer and standing up to leave he heard, "There he is!"

He looked up to see Claire, Katherine, the rest of the bridesmaids, along with Katherine's mother and aunt walking in. He half smiled and waved as they made their way to the bar; he joined them and told the bartender the two rounds for them was on him, adding another beer to the order for himself. The two older women all thanked him, while the younger women cheered, ordering their drinks and making their way to a large booth in the corner near where he had been sitting.

Over the next hour, the women all had more drinks, while Bryce paced himself with his beers. Even with the playful banter about him needing to drink more, he kept himself to three beers and after seeing it was nearing midnight, he thought to himself, "One more and I'm heading to bed." The women discovered a karaoke machine in the corner and after getting the bartender to turn it on, they all turned their focus to the stage and the people on it.

Bryce smiled, seeing them all having fun, rose to get his final beer, and pay his tab. Luckily the girls had been gentle on him, and the total tab was only $75. As he turned to return to his table, he found Claire sitting in the seat across from his; as he made his way over to her and sat back down, she smiled, "Want some company?"

"Sure, but shouldn't you be getting ready to sing again?"

Claire looked at the stage where Katherine's mom and aunt were singing "I Want to Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston; she laughed, "I already sang, it can be someone else's turn for a while."

"I saw, you're not half bad."

Claire laughed but didn't reply; Bryce turned his attention back towards the stage where people were dancing and singing along. A few moments of silence passed when Claire spoke, "How are you doing?"

He took a drink, "I'm doing good, how are you?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I'm talking about."

He sighed and took another drink, "I'm okay...it was for the best, but it's still a major adjustment." Claire took a sip of her wine and nodded; he looked at her and continued, "I suppose you want to know what happened?"

"Only if you want to talk about it. Katherine gave me a cliff notes version."

He signed again, "Well she was pretty mad about the wedding and Katherine's insistence on you and I dancing together, especially when she found out you were recently divorced."

"What's that got to do with it?"

"She thinks you're on the prowl for a new man."

Claire laughed and shook her head, "Wow."

"But there's more. I work with a woman named Jennifer, she and I got hired at the same time, our offices are right next to each other, and she thinks that we had a thing for each other."

"Do you?"

"Nope! Jen is happily married, great guy named Hank, we are just good friends. Hell, Michelle was at their wedding with me. She got mad when I referred to Jen as my work wife because she tells me what to do."

"You're kidding?"

"About which part?"

"The work wife thing."

"Nope, she got really mad at that part, said it wasn't appropriate. And you know how I talked about helping with the First Tee Golf program when you were being an ice queen to me?"

"Ouch, I guess I deserved that."

He smirked, "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyways, there was a mom who was a bit flirty, but I always kept things focused on her son. Well Michelle told me I should stop working with the program. Add it all together and you got the nasty blow up a few weeks ago and I told her to pack her shit and get out."

"Wow."

Bruce finished his beer, "Wow indeed."

"So you never answered my question, are you doing alright?"

He smiled at her, "Yeah, I'm getting there. I know there is someone out there for me; that will trust me and not accuse me of cheating on her simply because I talk to women." Claire nodded as Bryce continued, "It can be a bit discouraging at times; I don't think online dating is for me, especially at 34, and meeting people is tough."

"Tell me about it, most guys don't want anything to do with a single mom with two hellions."