The Best Man — Laura Briggs

From the author of the best-selling The Wedding Caper and Late to the Wedding comes a full-length romance with love, loneliness, and the little lies that protect bigger secrets…

Novelist Michael Herriman is quiet, predictable, and caught in a comfortable shell that revolves around his work until a delayed flight leads to a chance encounter with a fellow passenger. Delicate and reserved, Kate responds to him with warmth, fanning the spark of attraction he feels. They share an impulsive afternoon exploring San Francisco, a day that ends with the two of them still strangers as they catch their separate flights…

… until Michael returns to Chicago and meets his best friend's new fiancé. Face to face with Kate and unsure of his own emotions, Michael finds himself roped into being the best man and stranded on a remote English manor for a whole week before the wedding. Unable to avoid Kate's presence or the growing connection between them, he begins to question whether the best man is the man who allows the love of his life to choose someone else.


Excerpt from The Best Man:

He felt the need to move, to escape, before this awkwardness consumed them. This was nothing like the moment in the airport, the two of them stranded in a crowd of strangers. In re-meeting, they were reduced to pitiful small talk as acquaintances whose past connection was made trivial by recent events.

Michael cleared his throat. “I�"I should apologize,” he said. “For not saying
something earlier at Sean's apartment. I was tongue-tied for a moment, as they say.”

She met his glance. “I was taken by surprise,” she said. “It seemed awkward, no?” With a faint laugh that sounded forced to the surface.

“Sean is�"” he began, before Kate interrupted.

“It seems like too much of coincidence, doesn't it?” she said. “My meeting you in the airport, on my way to meet Sean.”

“I suppose it wouldn't have mattered,” he said. “I mean�"if we had somehow known�"”

“When Sean asked me to come to Chicago, I knew it was ... I knew it was because of our relationship in Mexico. Although I didn't expect this, quite�"” Her eyes flickered in the direction of the guests milling around them.

“I didn't mention I was from here,” said Michael. “I didn't mention anything that was ... that was personal,” he continued, his fingers rubbing the glass between them. “Perhaps if I had...” he trailed off, momentarily, uncertain what to say. “Perhaps we would have realized this connection sooner, right?”

It seemed like a neutral statement for the occasion. The possibilities lingering in his mind since San Francisco dissipated with this statement, like a fog lifting from city.

“Perhaps it's best not to mention it at all,” said Kate. There was something more intense in her eyes as she met his own. “It might be best for everyone to just pretend it didn't happen. Less awkward than explaining why we didn't say anything. Even if it was harmless.”

“It was,” Michael echoed, surprised by the note of reassurance in his voice so incongruous with the thoughts he banished moments ago. “If we had said something at first, it would have seemed funny even.” He forced his tone to sound lighthearted, as if they were laughing over something. The look on Kate's face was closer to a blush than a flush of good humor.

“Maybe, like you said, it would be for the best to pretend,” he said, gently. “We'll just forget about the whole thing.”