Unfortunately for Jeremy as she had done after their first night together Alicia pulled away from him in what he assumed was an attempt to protect herself. He was pleased to find she still wanted to ride the train with him in the evenings and although he saw her rarely that week, mostly because she had largely ignored her friends the previous week and wanted to see them, they still got together for a few wild nights together in the time between the camping trip and the wedding. Jeremy even met her for lunch one afternoon.
He was noting a pattern forming, however. Every week they would grow closer and gain a bit of ground and then without fail the next Monday Alicia would tighten up and barely speak to him. As the wedding approached he hoped to finally put an end to this, but the only way would be for her to face her fears there and that was tough to ask.
The weekend of the wedding Jeremy planned to take a half day on Friday and meet Alicia at the airport for the flight to Colorado. Unfortunately for him a customer discovered a major glitch in one of the software products he had helped in designing. The glitch had virtually shut down an important client so everyone involved with the devolvement was called in for emergency overtime until the problem was resolved. So, after apologizing several times to Alicia and promising he'd be on the first flight to Denver as soon as he was done, Jeremy stayed at work.
It turned out to be a very long night and it wasn't until after 2 am before the team had resolved the issue. Jeremy immediately headed for the airport and managed to catch a red eye to Denver. He slept the whole flight and figuring he was too tired to drive and had nowhere to stay once he got there, he checked in at the airport hotel. He left Alicia a short voicemail updating her on what had happened and where he was, set the alarm, and crashed.
When he awoke the next morning the sun was up and a quick check of his watch revealed that he had slept through the alarm. In the next few minutes he was certain he set a speed record as he showered, shaved, dressed, and tore out of the airport rental car place. As he got close he began to get nervous calls from Alicia wondering where he was. He promised her he would be on time and kept driving.
Fortunately he made it. As she got in the car he muttered a quick apology about being late and missing the night before. She said nothing as he pulled out.
"You look great by the way," he said as he exited the hotel parking lot on his way to the church that was not too far away. She smiled.
"Thanks, so do you, and don't worry about yesterday. It happens and I certainly understand work emergencies. Did you guys get it fixed?" He explained briefly what had gone on and how long it had taken. "Wow, that really sounded bad. I'm glad you could make it. Thanks for going through the extra effort to get here; it means a lot."
Jeremy was glad she seemed in the mood to forgive him, not that yesterday had been his fault, but still. Truthfully he had only missed the rehearsal and he probably would have been intruding anyway. Still, he wished he could have been there for her. He asked her about it, and he could tell it had not gone well at all, though to try to ease his guilt she pretended it had not been that bad. Jeremy was not fooled though.
He dropped Alicia off at the front of the church and then parked the car. As he walked to the church he saw a group of guys huddled around something spread on a car hood. There was a lot of snickering and as he passed they all went quiet and proceeded to watch him closely as he walked by. He was not sure who they were, but he knew they were up to no good. He just hoped it involved the groom somehow.
When he raced up the front steps he saw Alicia talking to an older woman he figured was probably her mother. The older woman's back was turned but even so he could see they were of similar build, although Alicia was definitely taller by a few inches even without the heels she had on.
As Jeremy got closer he overheard what Alicia's mom was saying, "...and heels Alicia, how many times have I told you dear you can't wear those. It's not right to look down at your date, if you truly have one at all, which I'm starting to doubt. Work emergency indeed." Alicia smiled when she saw him and seeing this, her mother asked, "And what are you smiling at?"
"Mom, I'd like you to meet Jeremy, my date." She grinned a mile wide and Jeremy took that opportunity to move next to Alicia and put his arm around her, a move that made it very clear why Alicia had chosen to wear heels.
"My god you're tall, forget what I said Alicia. Jeremy, it's nice to meet you," she said moving away and clearly embarrassed.
"How much did you hear?" Alicia asked.
"Enough. It seems I was right on time."
The pair walked in together and once inside Alicia introduced Jeremy to most all of her family. By the time the ceremony started the only one he hadn't met was her brother. However, just before the ceremony was to start the group of guys from the parking lot came in and one made right for their row and sat between him and Alicia's sister-in-law, who glared at the new arrival.
"You with Alicia?" the man asked, which was something Jeremy thought would be fairly obvious, but he nodded anyway.
"Good to meet you. I'm Brad, her brother."
"I figured. I already met your wife; I'm Jeremy, nice to meet you." Then, just before the music for the processionals started, Brad leaned in and said, "Hey, find me after the ceremony. I got something I need to discuss with you."
Jeremy didn't like the sound of that, but nodded and the music soon started. The ceremony was unnecessarily fancy, and it was clear that the bride's family was trying to win approval from the groom's side, which from the little he'd seen of the two groups was obviously the richer of the two.. Not that Jeremy thought they needed to. Alicia's family was not loaded like Joe's was, but they were well enough off from what he had seen, and what's more they were a higher quality of people.
Fortunately for all the ceremony was rather short and the guests had soon moved on to the reception. True to his word, though, Jeremy met with Brad while Alicia was talking to her mom, sister, and Brad's wife about the ceremony. It seemed after the previous night and the lavish ceremony they were strangely beginning to agree with Alicia that Jane and Alicia's Aunt Kim had clearly gone too far this time. Jeremy had heard the muttering and couldn't help noting the satisfied grin on Alicia's face as her family finally came around to how horrible the couple had been to her.
Brad chuckled as he saw Jeremy watching Alicia, "She's enjoying herself a bit more about now eh?" Brad asked. "I'm glad. Poor Alicia; she got the wrong end of this deal and worse Aunt Kim convinced my wife, sister, and Mom that Alicia was overreacting, not sure how really. Not me, though. I saw the prick for what he was when he was dating Alicia. The day he dumped her was a huge sigh of relief for me. I just wish she hadn't gotten caught in the crosshairs. Best thing she did was take the job out east and get away from this mess. She took me too literally, though, working all the time. I wish I had a better connection for her. Alicia's a good worker and loyal too; shame she's stuck working for another selfish bitch that reminds me of my cousin, but she needed out fast so... "He paused, shaking his head, then continued, "My friend said she'd get the inside track on a promotion, and they were having real trouble getting anyone quality to work for her."
Brad paused, then looked at him, "I tell you, if it weren't for you Alicia might be in a real mess. She really cares for you, you know?"
"I know," Jeremy said, "I just wish she would show that more. I see flashes, but little more."