She tackles me in a hug. “Thank you.”
“Em, it’s your wedding. Of course.”
“I know it’s an awful thing to ask—”
“It’s not. Awful would be asking me to monitor who your uncle’s flirting with.”
She laughs.
I laugh.
We both sound like desperate fools.
“Em. You’re marrying Chandler, and then after a week in Hawaii, you’re going toFiji. You’ve waited your whole life for this. Even the years when you were on a break in college. Waiting for that doofus to propose counts as double, right?”
She laughs again as she pulls out of the hug, and this time, she sounds more normal. “You’re the best, Laney. Truly.”
I smile at her. “Just wait until I ask you for a favor for my wedding.”
“Oh, god, tell me you’re not dating that banker your mother introduced you to last week.”
And this is why I love Emma. “No, but I’m starting to think about dating someone completely inappropriate just to freak them out,” I joke, even though it’s not as much of a joke as it would’ve been a year ago.
She looks at me.
Then at Theo.
Then back at me.
“No,” I say.
She snickers.
It’s still a little hysterical.
“Not yet, anyway,” I say quickly. “Maybe…later.Afterthey’ve signed the company over to me and can’t go back on it.”
Which is supposed to happen in the next five years so that they can retire and enjoy the rest of their lives.
I love my job. I love our mission and our purpose, and I’m so excited to continue expanding what I watched them build as I was growing up.
I just wish it didn’t come with quite so many expectations forallaspects of my life. It wasn’t like this when I was little.
But as Kingston Photo Gifts has expanded, my parents have gotten stiffer and pickier about everything. Mostly about who’sworthy. And believe me, some days I think they still question if I am.
I glance at Theo again.
Hedoesn’t have any expectations to live up to. And so he gets to go to a destination wedding in Hawaii and be a total screwball.
“What’s he doing right now?” I whisper to her. “Like, for real. Do I need some background on the costume?”
“The costume—it’s Theo.” She rolls her eyes. “He and Uncle Owen saw it in the window of a thrift store. Uncle Owen dared him to wear it. And like I said, the resort is a little short-staffed, so he decided to help pass out drinks. And itiskinda funny. Isn’t it?”
“You want me to make sure he doesn’t wear it to breakfast tomorrow?
“That would be amazing. But when you talk to him, don’t—”
“Em. I think I know how to handle your brother and at least whatnotto say.” Probably.
