“You sure you don’t want to take me as your wingman?” he suggested.
“No way. If she’s there, I don’t need you scaring her away.”
“I’m so proud of you,” he said, wiggling his shoulders excitedly. “It’s like my little pup is all grown up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get out of here. I have a lot of work to do if I want to make it out of here in time for the wedding.”
He stood in front of the desk, staring down at me like he was some superior life-form. “Yeah, yeah. All right. I can take a hint. But if you change your mind, send me a text.”
“Will do,” I said with an eye roll as I watched him walk out the door.
There was no way I was going to text him, but one thing was for sure: The prospect of seeing her again made attending the wedding a lot more appealing.
Five
Tegan
“No, Mom. It ended upturning out okay. I had the sheet cake as backup, just like you taught me,” I said while lying in bed eating popcorn, my phone resting on my tits.
After the disaster that was this morning, I’d spent the rest of the day trying to decompress before the wedding. That meant rotting in bed, binge-watching my favorite TV show, and eating snacks.
“And what about the guy who helped you clean up the cake?” she asked. “You said he was cute.”
Oh man, I fucked up. I should have left out that detail in my text message to her.
“He was so hot, Mom. This big, buff wolven. He owns that gym on Main Street, Leviathan Fitness.”
“Oh, a wolven. My friend’s niece dates a wolven over in Rock Harbor. She says he’s adorable, and a true gentleman, too. Did you get this guy’s number, honey?” I could hear the hope in her voice. If anyone was aware of the ticking of my biological clock, itwas my mother. She started pestering me about having children the moment I turned twenty-five.
“No. I didn’t even get his name. Or tell him mine,” I groaned, and pulled a pillow over my head.
“Tegan, honey, you said he owns the gym. Why don’t you just go down there?”
“I don’t want to seem like some crazed stalker.”
“You’re going to have to do something if you want to see this guy again.”
I sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Tegan—”
“So do you need a ride to the wedding?” I asked, steering the conversation away from my nonexistent love life.
I loved my mother dearly, but when it came to alcohol, especially cheap wine, she was known to overindulge. There was no way I was letting her drive herself.
“Nope. Your brother is my chauffeur for the evening.”
Shit.
My older brother, Reece, was the head park ranger of the Briar Glenn Parks Department, working closely with the mayor. Of course he wouldn’t miss the wedding.
“Lovely,” I huffed.
“Tegan,” she admonished, like only a mother could. “The two of you are family. You’re going to have to work things out at some point.”
Since our father’s death, Reece had taken over the role of the Rollins family paterfamilias. As far as I was concerned, he’d taken things a little too seriously, turning into a completely overbearing dick.
“All right, well, I’m gonna go,” I said, totally ignoring what she’d just said. I’d work things out with Reece when he pulled his head out of his ass, and that wasn’t happening anytime soon. “I have to get in the shower and start getting ready.”
