Welcome to week three of our participation in Sneak Peek Sunday, a romance writer blog hop. Follow the link back to see what other authors are working on this week (please note that participating authors write in all genres and at all heat levels).

This week you’re getting a preview from a short story of ours that’s going to appear in the wedding-themed anthology They Do, out from Torquere Press on June 18. Torquere would also like us to remind you that we’re still in the editorial process, so this is not final copy; errors are our own.

“Lake Effect” is set in Rochester, NY. I grew up there, Racheline has spent a lot of time there, and it’s where our two protagonists, Kyle and Daniel, have returned (at their mothers’ insistence!) to get married.

The weekend is full of disasters. After a rehearsal dinner where Kyle gets into an argument with his mother about his career plans; a bachelor party where their officiant (who is also Kyle’s brother and Daniel’s best friend) nearly gets into a fist-fight with one of Kyle’s high school bullies; and a morning where absolutely no one is where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there, the would-be happy couple struggle to get ready minutes before they’re scheduled to walk down the aisle (Kyle may be younger and smaller but he is so not being given away by anyone).

“This is fucked up,” Daniel says, after he’s finally stopped tripping over his trousers and actually manages to pull them on properly.

“What?” Kyle asks, futzing with the buttons of his left cuff which aren’t but seem too large for the button holes.  He feels like a lab animal that’s been given a particularly cruel puzzle to solve.

“We’re getting married. I have a pounding headache and feel like I’m about to throw up, and not because of nerves.  I’m not excited.  I don’t think you’re excited.  Our parents are definitely not excited. Your brother is kind of an asshole –”

“He’s your best friend”

“And I just want to know when we can take a nap?” Daniel finishes plaintively. It’s classic Daniel to go from 60 to zero, the sane adult until he can’t cope at all.

Kyle frowns and hops up on the counter in front of the mirror. He says nothing for a moment, just to see if it’s going to collapse first.  It’s been that kind of weekend.  “Do you not want to do this?”  He wonders if it’s normal to consider calling the whole thing off this many times in the 48 hours before the big event.