He opened his mouth, then shut it. I could hear the gears in his mind grinding. “I get it,” he said, “but we’re only doing this once. I want you to have people who are there for you.”
“I’ll have my dad … and Wesley.” My curmudgeonly grandfather had taken up ownership of a lot of real estate in my heart. “He’s fond of you, but he’ll totally be there for me.”
Galen smirked.
“And I’ll have Lilac and Aurora. Of course, they’ll be there for you too. In fact, if they had to choose between us, they would choose you.”
“That’s not true.” He shook his head. “Lilac adores you.”
“What about Aurora?”
He shrugged. “Aurora favors me one day and you the next. That’s simply the way she rolls.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my cheek. “Lilac is going to be my maid of honor. You’re having Booker stand up for you, right?”
Galen looked thrown by the question. “Um … .”
“He’s your best friend,” I reminded him.
“Stop saying that. We’re mortal enemies.”
Nobody — not even Booker and Galen — still believed that, but I didn’t bother correcting him this time. “We should coordinate Booker’s outfit with a dress for Lilac. It will make for pretty photos. You know … because I’ll be wearing a white dress.”
Galen’s eyes gleamed. “I’m very excited for the white dress.”
“I find that weird, but whatever gets your motor revving.” I tapped his phone. “What else are you looking at?”
“I was thinking about food.”
I opened my mouth but he cut me off.
“We’re getting a seafood bar, Hadley,” Galen said. “We’re having steak, too. That way we’ll both be happy.”
“Fine. Just make sure there are crab legs.”
“I can’t wait to see you make a mess of yourself at a wedding reception with crab legs.” His smile told me he meant it.
Something occurred to me. “Will you be speaking with your mother again by then?”
“If I’m not, she’ll fake forgive me for the ceremony. There’s no way she’s missing out on the attention associated with being the mother of the groom.”
“And, what, she’ll go back to being mad after the ceremony?”
“If she’s dedicated enough,” Galen confirmed.
All I could do was shake my head. “She needs to get over herself. She can’t control you.”
“She will never give up trying.” Galen moved to place his phone on the nightstand, his eyes gleaming with lascivious intent as he started to roll toward me. I knew exactly what he had on his mind. It was on my mind too. His phone dinged with an incoming message.
“Hold that thought,” he growled.
I laughed and nodded. Talk of the wedding inevitably got him going.
Galen glanced at his phone and all of the light vacated his eyes.
“What is it?” I demanded, abandoning all thoughts of a little morning delight.
“I need you to stay calm,” Galen replied.
