“Well, I’m not sure I need to hear all that,” Momma said. “From either of you. But I would like to hear how y’all’ve been doin’. How’re things?”
“They’re…” I trailed off, shaking my head. It felt wrong saying everything was fine when the custody was still up in the air, June was about to start therapy, and Asher still didn’t have a job. Not to mention our entire relationship was a farce. “Things are hard, but we’re figurin’ them out.”
“I have no doubt you two are.” Momma smiled and swept my hair behind my shoulder. “Y’all always were so good together. I know you and Nash have been friends longer, but you and Asher…” She shook her head. “Well, y’all just had a spark, you know? I’ve always thought so.”
“Me, too,” Gran said. “And that’s certainly something that can’t be faked.”
I snapped my gaze to Gran, where our eyes locked. I studied my grandma, trying to suss out if I was reading more into it than I should, because it’d felt an awful lot like my gran had picked those exact words for a reason.
“Me three,” Avery said, sorting through a makeup carrier that rivaled my camera bag. “I thought you guys were together for the longest time. Figured Will just wasn’t in on it when she told me it wasn’t true.”
I glanced down, busying myself with swapping out my lenses. “Yeah, well…”
Will cleared her throat. “I, um, I hope my askin’ him to play today didn’t add any stress.”
Relieved that I didn’t have to wade any further into that, I met my sister’s gaze and shook my head. “No, not at all. He’s playin’ y’all something new he just wrote.”
“Oh, he’s still been writin’?” Will asked, her brows raised.
“He’s been sneakin’ in a bit of it when he can. Why do you sound surprised?”
“I didn’t realize he was still doin’ that, is all.”
“’Course he is. Why wouldn’t he be?”
“Well, I just…” Will glanced at everyone else before meeting my gaze again. “I guess I just assumed with the kids and all that he’d have to find something a little more practical.”
Funny how it sounded so different coming from my sister’s mouth than it had coming from my daddy’s. I knew Will was just looking out for us. Experience told me Daddy was just trying to control us.
Ever since that day we’d gone to my parents’, the whole practicality thing had been weighing on Asher a hell of a lot, which meant it had been weighing on me. He loved music like I loved photography, and I couldn’t imagine what kind of life I’d have if I had to give it up. His guitar was as much an extension of himself as my camera was to me. But the facts didn’t look great for pursuing a music career in a town with a population a fraction of one of the stadiums Asher had played on tour.
Mac cleared her throat and tipped her chin toward the camera clutched in my hand. “You know we’ve got somebody to do that, right?”
I blinked and glanced down, snapping myself out of my thoughts and the worries that would most definitely still be there to greet me tomorrow. With a shrug, I said, “Somebody who’s not gonna do it as well as I am.”
Rory rolled her eyes. “Maybe instead of worryin’ about makin’ sure we’re gonna get the perfect pictures, you should focus on gettin’ dressed so you don’t walk down the aisle in that.”
I glanced down at myself and then met my sister’s gaze with a raised eyebrow. “What, you don’t like my shorts and tank top? Are they not appropriate wedding attire?”
“Why do you insist on bein’ such a pain in my butt all the time? Would it kill you to be ready early so you don’t get Will all anxious for nothing?”
“Seems to me Will isn’t the one gettin’ all worked up,” I said from the balcony, snapping an overhead shot of the reception site set up below. “And relax. All I need to do is slip the dress over my head. Considerin’ you still need to pull the stick out of your ass before you walk down the aisle, I figure I’ll be ready ahead of you anyway.”
Mac huffed a laugh at the same time our momma said, “Aurora and Natalie, that’s enough. As if your sister doesn’t have enough to worry about today, now she’s got you two squabblin’ in her ear.”
Will waved her off and met our gazes in the mirror. “Honestly, Momma, I’ve tuned them out…haven’t heard a word they’ve said.” She closed her eyes and blew out a slow breath. “Can’t focus on them when it feels like I’m gonna throw up.”
“Throw up? Are you pregnant?” I asked sarcastically, since every woman of a certain age—read fifteen to fifty—couldn’t say she wasn’t feeling well without being accused of pregnancy.
“Would you shut up?” Mac said, slapping my arm. “She’s not pregnant. She’s just nervous.”
“Actually,” Will said, her hands pressed to her stomach as she looked at each of us in turn. “I don’t know if it’s nerves or the pregnancy. It could be either.”
There was a moment of shocked silence before everyone erupted at once, swarming around Will where she still sat at the vanity. It was a chaos of hugs and happy tears, everyone working hard not to ruin the makeup we’d spent hours applying.
“You brat,” Rory said. “When Daddy asked Finn the other week at Sunday supper, he said y’all use protection!”
“Yeah, and condoms are only ninety-eight percent effective, genius.” Mac rolled her eyes.
