“It’s a lot,” she confessed, and I chuckled. She wasn’t wrong. Even for me this was a lot. And I wasn’t the one everyone wanted a piece of.
“I think the worst of it is over. Now everyone’s just eating then they’ll be heading out,” I suggested.
“Have you eaten yet?” Grace asked, concerned.
“Not yet.”
“Come on. We’re here. We might as well eat and enjoy the party.”
Even though she almost sounded resigned to the fact that she was at a party, Grace took my hand, stopped by the cooler, and grabbed a couple more beers before leading me onto the porch to the line of tables buried under the mountains of food.
While we waited our turn, we chatted with people and laughed. Everyone was relaxed and in a good mood. Sawyer was, in true Sawyer style, keeping everyone entertained with hisoverly exaggerated stories of his brilliance only for his partner, Ruth, to be rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
I filled my plate before following Grace to an empty table at the end of the porch.
“Oh my god. I can’t believe how many people are here!” Grace whispered to me.
“I don’t even know most of them,” I confessed.
“Thank fuck. I thought I was the only one. I keep saying thank you for coming but I don’t know anyone’s name!”
Grace shoved a forkful of macaroni in her mouth, and I grinned at her. My girl was handling it like a trooper. Under the table, I set my hand on her thigh, and we took a moment to eat.
It really was beautiful here. Kellie hadn’t been wrong when she’d said it would make a beautiful place for a wedding, but thinking about Grace in a white dress walking down the aisle was certainly putting the horse before the cart. My first step was to convince her to stay before I could think about sliding a ring on her finger.
“Are you two hiding?” Georgia asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
She looked flustered and exhausted. No doubt she’d been pulling double duty running the B&B and working to pull this off.
“Just eating,” I told her as I picked up a wing and bit into it, groaning as the smoky barbecue flavor hit my tongue.
“Eating and hiding,” Gabriella added as she took another seat. “But I’ll allow it.”
“Gee, thanks,” Grace garbled as she reached for her drink.
For a few minutes, everyone focused on their food and not all the things that needed to be said. There’d be time for that. But for now, we eat.
“Grace?” A voice called her name from behind me, and I turned to find a serious-looking man in an ugly three-piece suit holding a limp bunch of flowers.
Grace’s mouth fell open. “Ben? What the fuck are you doing here?”
Chapter twenty-three
Grace
This couldn’t be happening.
Ben was standing beside the railing holding the most pathetic bunch of flowers I’d seen in a long time. Looking like I kicked his puppy.
“Ben? What the fuck are you doing here?”
The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to think.
“That’s Ben?” Cole asked beside me as he took my hand in his, holding on as if his life depended on it. Or maybe it was Ben’s life that depended on Cole holding me back.
“You weren’t answering my calls.” Ben shrugged, shifting his weight from side to side and looking awkward.
He must’ve been sweating his balls off in that suit. I was wearing a pair of linen shorts and a tank, and I was still hot. So, standing there in his fancy pants three-piece suit that probably cost more than today’s meal for half the town, he had to be melting. But his comfort wasn’t my problem. His presence on the other hand …
