“Um, maybe?” She fidgeted with her fork, spearing a heap of lettuce with the tines. “With the whole bit about Claire being pregnant and Dean needing a kidney and all.”
Claire dropped her spoon with a clank. “You told her I’m pregnant?”
“You told her I need a kidney?” Dean smacked Brek’s shoulder. “Dude. Not cool.”
In his defense, he’d been trying to distract her from being so uptight.
“How’s the wedding planning coming along?” Brek made a solid attempt at changing the subject.
“I hired your sister to be our wedding planner.” Claire sat taller.
Operation Change the Subject worked—for now, at least.
Dean mouthed, “Not finished with you,” in his direction.
“She wasn’t even taking on new clients”—Claire turned to Velma—“because she’s about to have a baby. But she took us on. Isn’t that great?”
“You already hired a wedding planner?” Velma’s expression dropped, but she caught herself quickly. “Do Mom and Dad know you’re engaged?”
“I asked your dad before I popped the question. They’ve known for a while.” Dean looked at Claire like a man ready to hand over his dick for all eternity.
Claire glanced back at Dean like she was a woman ready to accept his dick for all eternity. “Dean swore them to secrecy. I told them we’d talk to you tonight.”
“Oh. Right. Of course you talked to them first. That makes sense.”
The way Velma said the words meant she didn’t believe it made sense at all.
“It’s all so exciting.” Velma tucked a chunk of hair behind her ear, revealing a single pearl earring.
Brek didn’t realize women still wore pearls. It was…retro. Different. Classy. “Aspen’s the best. She’ll take care of you.”
His sister threw good parties. He’d give her that.
“Do you have any idea when the big day will be?” Velma asked.
“First Saturday in August. It’s fast, but we don’t want to wait. And Brek’s sister is amazing. She says she can make it happen.” Claire picked at the carrots in her salad. “Which brings me to the other reason we wanted you two here.”
Shit. A quickie wedding. If Claire were really pregnant, he’d have shoved his foot firmly in his trap.
“We’d like to ask you two to stand up with us.” Dean reached for Claire’s hand. “It would mean a lot to us both.”
Thank fuck. Not pregnant. But, shit, they wanted him in the wedding. He didn’t do weddings. All that pretentiousness? No. The thought gave him the shakes. His little trip through Denver was a fast visit to see his family, say hey to his friends, and party with his buddy to celebrate his engagement. The visit was not meant to be a prelude to being forced to return and stand in front of a crowd dressed like a penguin.
“Velvet, I’d love it if you’d be my maid of honor.” Claire’s eyes danced with excitement. “Just like we talked about when we were kids.”
Velma’s lips parted. She opened her mouth and closed it. Pinched her lips together and opened them again.
Yeah, that’s about how he felt about the whole thing.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” she finally said.
Not the answer he’d been thinking.
“But what about Heather?” Velma asked.
“I’ll ask her to be a bridesmaid. You’re my sister. I want you right next to me.”
“Brek, you know the drill. I could ask Jase or Eli to be my best man, but they’d find a way to weasel out of it. Besides, Jase’ll handle the flowers and Eli’s going to have to deal with the catering.” Dean leaned back against his chair and held up his beer glass. “What do you say?”
