Chapter Sixteen
I don’t get more than twenty feet before a warm, familiar voice calls my name.
I turn to see Jenson standing by the long table of hors d'oeuvres.
He nods hello when I reach him, and his green eyes flash with mischief. His sexy scruff is still covering his square jaw, and his blond hair is combed back neatly. He’s wearing dress pants and a collared shirt with the sleeves partially rolled up. Holy hell, he looks hot.
“Hey, J,” I say softly.
“Olive.” He takes a step like he’s going to touch me, but then he doesn’t.
We stand in silence for a moment as the tide of people grows around the table of food. Jenson tilts his head for me to follow him, and we walk toward the restroom hallway, stopping once we’re alone.
There isn’t a soul within ten feet of us, and all attention is focused on either the food or the stage where Dad is already standing at the podium and clearly close to speaking.
“I miss you,” I say so softly I barely hear myself.
But Jenson’s eyes fill with pain. “I know what you mean.”
“Right this second,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “I miss you. I didn’t miss my ex-husband when I was away from him. I didn’t ever miss anyone the way I miss you, J.”
“You’re killing me, Olive.” He glances out toward the hall and then back to me.
I suck in a breath. “My brother was just reminding me of my penchant for spilling shit when I drink. Are you ever going to fill me in on whatever crap I told you the other night?”
“Let’s wait till this dinner is over. It will be easier.”
“Why? Was it that bad?”
He just starts walking back into the center of the hall. “You worry too much,” he says over his shoulder.
I sigh and follow him.
We haven’t made it five feet before Sheldon calls out to us. As we reach him, he hands me his phone, and I spend the next fifteen minutes chatting with Cara and trying to calm her down about seating for the reception.
As soon as I give the phone back to Sheldon, Mom waves from the front table where she, Cindy, and Dee are sitting together. The table is set up with benches for seating. Daphne rushes toward us, saying that Amy and Alec both got poison ivy and Todd’s at home with them.
Before I can respond, Sheldon puts away his phone and picks me up.
“What the heck?” I say, mincing my language in front of Mom and Cindy. “Please put me down.”
“Little sister.” He hugs me tightly before letting me go. “Cara says you helped her so much with seating chart ideas. Saved my damn ass.”
I nod. “Well, great. She had it pretty well covered already.”
“She’s so much calmer,” Sheldon says. “I was pretty useless.” He turns to Jenson. “Whenever Cara got upset, I told her not to invite so many people to the reception. That didn’t go over well.”
Daphne makes a face at Sheldon. “Of course that didn’t go over well,” she says. “A woman planning her wedding needs a solution that makes sense, not a cop-out plan.”
Sheldon jumps to his own defense, and within five minutes he and Daphne are in a full-on argument.
Mom intercedes by reminding them the cameras are around. “My goodness, you two fight worse now than when you were kids,” she says.
Sheldon turns to me. “See, Olive, this is why I like you. We don’t fight as soon as you walk in the door.”
I shake my head at him. “Don’t put me in the middle, or I will start fighting with you.”
Jenson claps Sheldon on the back. “Two sisters, man. You should know by now not to try to make them choose sides.”
