We sit with chicken wings and fries and pizza—the only food Bridget could get delivered for so many people on such short notice—around the tables that were supposed to be placed under the tent for the wedding. Every time the door opens, the wind sends paper plates and plastic cups flying. Bridget’s very expensive rug is undoubtedly ruined thanks to all the red wine now soaking into it.
But Kelsey, gorgeous in a mauve silk dress, is lit up with joy, sitting in Hawk’s lap so we can squeeze around one table.
“I’d like to toast Easton,” Hawk says, holding his plastic cup aloft. “Because if she hadn’t forced Kelsey to go down to that hotel bar in Paris, I’d probably have never spoken to her.”
“How did she manage that?” Elijah asks with a quarter smile.
Kelsey beams at me from across the table. “We made this bet as teens and the winner got to ‘call in a favor’ when the time wasright. So I got to Paris and Easton said I had to get dolled up and go down to the hotel bar and flirt. She didn’t explicitly say Ihadto hook up, but it was her preference. So anyway, I was sitting at the bar when Hawk came into the hotel, and he wassojealous.”
“Furious,” he confirms, “but who could blame me? I’d just flown twelve hours to see this girl after speaking to her every single day for over ayearand she was at the bar with some other guy.”
“You and I weren’t dating!” Kelsey cries, but she’s laughing at the same time. “We hadn’t even met.”
“Irrelevant,” Hawk says with a grin, pulling her head to his shoulder. “But anyway...I hadn’t even been sure I was going to talk to her. This is humiliating, but I’d considered just sitting in the lobby to watch her walk to the conference and then leaving.”
Aiden laughs. “He actually called me from the plane because he was freaking out, too scared to meet her. He was gonna tell the pilot to turn around.”
“So anyway,” Hawk says, giving Aiden a stern look, “I say the credit goes to Easton, or maybe to Elijah, since he’s the reason she lost the bet.”
Elijah, beside me, raises a brow. “How didImake you lose a bet?”
I blow out a breath. Suddenly my face is a thousand degrees. “Kelsey bet that we’d be married by the time I was twenty-five. I said we wouldn’t.”
“I had no idea what a douche Elijah would turn out to be,” Kelsey says cheerfully, toasting her brother. “Thanks for that, Elijah.”
Elijah has always been a master at schooling his features, but his displeasure in this moment couldn’t be clearer: his smile is tight and does not extend to his eyes. “Happy to help.”
I rise from the table to throw away my trash, but Elijah remains by my side. “Can’t believe you bet against me.”
I shrug. “I thought my odds of it working out were best if I insisted it wouldn’t happen. Let the gods know you want something and they’ll spit in your face. Isn’t there an expression along those lines?”
“Man plans and God laughs,” he says softly. “It’s slightly less malicious than your version.”
I didn’t even allow myself to plan, though, and God laughed anyway. It seems pretty malicious to me.
I wanted to be a doctor, and return to Oak Bluff a triumph. None of it worked out exactly the way I wanted. More than any of that, I wanted Elijah, and he’s still what I want most, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen either.
Why won’t he ask me to visit? Why won’t he mention what happens after this weekend ends?
“I’m flying back to Boston on Sunday,” I say, swallowing a burst of nerves. “It’ll be weird not to see you anymore.”
He nods. “Yeah, it’ll be an adjustment.”
Notwhen will I see you again?NotI’m not ready for it to end.
It’ll be an adjustment.
I go straight to my room before everyone down here witnesses me bursting into tears.
34
EASTON
Iwake in the middle of the night to whispering voices. Kelsey is sitting on the floor. A male hand has slid beneath the door, and she’s holding it.
I can’t hear his words—only hers.I love you so much. I can’t wait to be your wife.
My eyes sting. The way they love each other hurts. It makes me realize what I don’t have and probably neverwillhave.
