I cringed, thinking about Anton’s reaction to the news of his mother’s love life, and Lacy put her forehead in her hands. She seemed to be trying to find the motivation to get herself through this weekend.
I wanted to tell Lacy that I would fix things, that I would drag Bella and Patty and the priest out to the backside of the property and keep them locked up until after the wedding, but I’d learned—was still learning—that I couldn’t promise happiness or peace of mind or even a good eventual outcome. I could only be there for whatever came next.
“Regardless of the background noise this weekend, you’re gonna be surrounded by people who love you. Not only do you have your family, you have me and Aunt DeeDee, Savilla, and Jemma.” I listed the two other bridesmaids off on my fingers. “The three of us will form a little triangular shield around you this weekend. Patty Swanson and friends will not pass without our say-so.” I winked at Lacy. “Aunt DeeDee and Charlie can be our bodyguards—a kind of first line of defense.”
Lacy managed a smile. “I’m glad you’re my friend, Dakota Green.”
“Ditto,” I said, putting my forehead against hers before taking a tiny bottle of gin I’d grabbed from the storage room and waving it in front of her. “Now let’s get smiley so we can greet the bridal party and get you as drunk as you want.”
“I’m not sure The Rose has enough liquor for this wedding.”
“Then we’ll find some more.”
SEVEN
The Carriage House was almost unrecognizable in its new modern splendor. The groomsmen and bridesmaids were meeting here for a celebratory glass of champagne before going our separate ways, and I hoped it would serve as a good distraction for Lacy.
Savilla had hired workers to clean out the space and scrub it from top to bottom. The walls gleamed, and the cement floor had been painted a shimmery gold, glazed, and then covered with ivory rugs that looked soft enough to fall asleep on. She’d installed thousands of small circular bulbs that hung from the high ceiling, and just for that night, she opened the floor-to-ceiling door that had once been used to allow carriages and vehicles in and out. From inside the doorway, the mountain view was framed like a giant landscape painting.
I noticed that even in her jacket, Lacy shivered as we entered, but I was pretty sure it was from the nonsense she’d just witnessed. Perhaps the room, already buzzing with the excitement of the evening ahead, would help calm her nerves and remind her of the other, more sane people excited to celebrate her nuptials.
My heart did a little flip when we walked in and I saw Charlie, his head turned halfway to the door as if he was on the lookout for me. Unaware of the drama of the past hour, he winked at me assoon as I stepped inside, and then I noticed his eyes trail along my body. Heat traveled up my neck.
“You want a drink?” I asked Lacy, trying to set aside my own desires.
“Sure,” she said, her voice strained, even though I could tell she was trying to rally.
“I’ll be right back with libations,” I said with a playful smile.
I tried to readjust my own expectations for the evening as I approached the table holding rows of filled glasses and the ice buckets of champagne—which just happened to be right next to Charlie. My heart beat more rapidly and I could practically feel my cheeks glowing as a wide grin spread across my face. I was so stinking happy to see him, and if it hadn’t been my best friend’s bachelorette party, I would have pulled him into a room and had my way with him right then. The look he was giving me said he would like to do the same.
I’d never had this kind of craving for another person. Something about Charlie’s arms around me let me lay down my worries about what came next. Shyly, I’d told him as much after I’d arrived in town for the holidays two weeks ago, when he’d picked me up at the airport.
“I feel like I can finally breathe when I’m with you,” I’d mused aloud in a moment of vulnerability, as he’d driven us toward the highway for the hour and a half drive to Aubergine. “Like, something unknots in my stomach.”
“So, you’re saying you like me?” Charlie had teased, raising an eyebrow playfully as he glanced at me.
I must’ve been caught off guard by his cheeky smile because in that moment I’d laughed and, without thinking, declared, “Likeyou? Iloveyou!”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth I’d wished that I could rewind to ten seconds earlier. I would’ve made a joke, maybe some kind of innuendo about how I likedeverypart of him. Alas, it was too late. My real feelings had sprung out of my mouth and into the car to sit with us for the rest of the drive.
Gone was Charlie’s amused expression as he used his blinker and veered past a slow eighteen-wheeler. In an instant, he’d turned inward, and I’d had no idea what was going on in his head.
My feelings for Charlie had been growing fast, and knowing an offer for the fellowship was coming had really made me consider our future together. Though it went against all of my feminist tendencies, Charlie was a factor in my decision. He’d already told me back in October that he was all in. At first I’d been taken aback, but over the next weeks, a realization had dawned: I was all in too.
I’d stepped a toe into a couple of relationships in the past, but I’d never given my heart and soul to anyone. Maybe it was because I’d never seen Aunt DeeDee or my mother in an actual long-term relationship. Sure, Aunt DeeDee had kept a few men at arm’s length, but Momma had never let a man so much as cross our threshold. The times she’d gone on a date—which I could count on one hand—she’d either met the guy at a restaurant or made him honk in the driveaway like a teenage boy. She’d told me once that she never wanted to bother me with a potential new father without a long vetting process first. Apparently, no one had made the cut.
In the car on the way home from the airport, I’d tried to backtrack, even if it was disingenuous, even if I did actually love this man. “I didn’t mean to imply that I…”
“I love you too,” Charlie had said, cutting me off before I could take back my words.
“You can’t love me,” I’d said too quickly, my eyes wide with fear.
Not only would it make my decision about where to live much more complicated, it would also mean that Charlie and I were serious.
“Why not?” Charlie had chuckled. “You love me, so I get to love you back.”
I hadn’t known how to answer that. He was right. I did love him, but I hadn’t meant for him to know that… at least not yet.
