“Yeah, well, that’s what friends are for.” Jesse pulls a face. “Say what time is this thing going down?”
“You mean my wedding?” A damn shotgun wedding in Vegas, at that. Could I be any more of a cliche?
He shrugs. “Right, what time does it start?”
“In half an hour.”
He winces. “And how long do you think it’s going to take?”
Annoyance flares inside me. “Why? Do you have somewhere else you need to be?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
The flicker of annoyance bursts into a full flame. “What the fuck, man?”
“I know, that sounds bad. But it’s this charity thing my sister is doing. I tried telling her that it was your wedding night, but you know how Jane is.” He rolls his eyes. “Long story short, I told her I’d make an appearance so she’d get off my back.”
I wince on his behalf and the annoyance disappears. I do, in fact, know how his sister can be.
“I guess that explains why she sent a card and gift instead of coming to the wedding,” I say.
“Yeah, well, good news is, as luck would have it, this charity thing is happening in another ballroom here at the resort.”
“That is lucky.” I nearly sigh in relief. “So you can still stand up with me?”
“Of course, man. I just might have to split my time between the reception and her shindig.”
“That’s fine by me.” To be honest, I wouldn’t mind splitting my time between the reception and any place else. Of course, I can’t admit that. Not even to Jesse. “Which room is it in?”
“The one across the atrium.”
I whistle low. “You really can bounce back and forth without anyone knowing.”
“That’s the plan.” He pulls out his phone and groans. “Speaking of, it sounds like I need to bounce over to Jane’s deal. She says it’s an emergency. I’ll be back in time.”
“I’m not worried.” Jesse is a man of his word. If he says he’ll be here, then he’ll be here.
Whether or not he agrees with what I’m doing.
“Want me to grab you anything while I’m gone?” he asks. “Shot of tequila? Getaway car? The number of a good attorney.”
“I already have one of those.” I chuckle. “I’m good. I might take a little walk.”
“Good idea. Blow off some steam. And if you decide to just keep walking straight out the door and grab the first flight to anywhere, I’m here to run cover.”
“Ha ha,” I say, laced with sarcasm. “I’ll see you back here in half an hour.”
“It’s your funeral.” He makes a production of grimacing. “I mean, it’s your wedding.”
“Go save your sister.” I all but push him out the door, following him out.
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I set off. I have no destination in mind. But this level of the casino and resort iscentered around a large atrium where a man could walk around in circles if he wanted.
Not wanting to be around the people who are undoubtedly milling about the area waiting to attend my wedding or Jane’s thing, I set off first down the narrow hallway that houses courtesy suites and greenrooms like the one where I got ready.
CeCe is in one of these rooms, though I can’t remember which one. I left most of the wedding plans to her and my assistant. CeCe didn’t seem to mind my lack of involvement in the planning. She said as long as I showed up on time with the marriage certificate, that’s all she needed from me.
I’m choosing to take that as a good sign for our future together.
