Bile rose in Jo’s throat. She’d promised herself not to think about Avery on the beaches of Santorini with a beautiful local destined for his bed. Instead, she’d focused on getting through this wedding with minimal contact with her family. Tomorrow, she’d worry about what came after.
Shaking off thoughts of Avery, she asked Viv, “What did Georgia want that got you all riled up?”
“She was bitchin’ about having to feed a big group of wedding crashers and wanted to know if we were gonna haveenough food. Don’t worry. I assured her we know what we’re doin’.”
“Mmm.” Jo had planned extra. In a small town, people thought nothing of crashing a wedding and expecting to be fed. “I’ll take a quick inventory.”
“Already did that.” Viv shooed her with a towel. “You get outta this hot kitchen before you melt. You need to look nice, so you can schmooze potential clients.”
Jo didn’t have the heart to tell her those attending Georgia’s wedding weren’t the caliber of clients she sought. These guests wouldn’t want to pay for quality any more than her family had.
Letty breezed in carrying an empty platter. “I can give someone a break in here. I’d rather bake than be groped. I think some of those guys are under the impression they’re at a strip club or something.”
Jo groaned. “I’m so sorry. I’ll go.”
“No, I will.” Brooke picked up the platter of apple rose puffs. “You go mingle. I saw Taylor Blevins eyeballing Georgia’s cake. She finally landed Beaux Grady. His parents will want a big to-do.”
The Grady’s ran one of the bigger ranches in the area, so landing Taylor as a client—or rather the Gradys—would add to her portfolio. On the other hand, Taylor was one of Georgia’s friends, so… “I’ll be sure to pimp your photography and then remind you Taylor was your idea when she’s driving both of us crazy.”
Jo slipped out of the kitchen with Brooke. They aahhhed in unison as they hit the cool night air. It lifted the loose strandsof hair off Jo’s neck and whispered over her bare shoulders like a lover. Unfortunately, her heels sank in the thick St. Augustine, soft from yesterday’s storm.
She glanced at Brooke. “I know. I should have worn flats.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Water’s leaking into my shoes.”
Damn Walt for refusing to spring for a plywood walkway from the kitchen to the tent. It was a lovely location, though, if one could get past the smell of sulfur. The lawns of the park were nestled beneath a canopy of thick pines, with a few magnolias sprinkled along the edge of the surrounding thicket.
The same couldn’t be said for the tent’s interior. Gawdy silver and lavender decorations littered every surface, every wall, everything.
Brooke slipped inside while Jo stopped at the opening and squatted to wipe the mud from her heels onto the grass.
“Hey.” A pair of boots stopped next to her.
Recognizing them, she glanced up at Chase in his crisp lavender shirt. He held out a hand, and she took it to rise. She hadn’t seen him since he left the hospital. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“I’m getting by.”
She knew what a lie looked like on Chase Murdoch, and that was a big one.
“I’m heading home. Still, a little tired.” He shoved both hands in his jeans pocket, the same way Avery had done the morning she’d left him. “I hoped to talk to you before I left.”
She angled a nod toward the community center. “No rest for the weary.”
He glanced at the building across the lawn, then toward the trees. “I’m, uh…” His gaze flicked to meet hers. “Jo, I’m so sorry for everything that happened to you. I never should have gotten involved with Giselle.”
“How did that even happen?” She’d been trying to put all the pieces together but couldn’t reconcile the two of them.
“I, uh, went to see you at work not long after we broke up. I wanted us to try again. She invited me into her office, said she wanted to get to know you better. We sorta connected, the chemistry and all, and…”
“I see.”
“I thought it was a one-off, but then she called me.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know she was a nut job until I tried to call it off with her. She accused me of still wanting you. Ranted about how much I texted you, and fuck, she came unglued when I told her I went by your apartment to check on you for Walt. Sorry, I know I shouldn’t talk about her like that, but goddamn, Jo, I was scared shitless when I realized she was the one fucking with you.”
“I don’t understand a lot of what happened, and the cops haven’t been very forthcoming. Why were you there?”
Chase’s shoulders hunched around his ears, then sagged. “Fucking cops kept picking me up the second I hit Houston. I think someone was following me, telling ’em when I went on a run for Dad.”
The PI Nick hired. It had to be.
