“Loveyou too. Give your parents my love when you head over for dinnerlater.” Stella’s parents are having their Thanksgiving dinner todaybecause they’re going out of town tomorrow.
“Willdo.” She taps her rainbow-colored nails on the CD case, herexpression morphing into the picture of innocence. “Should I passyour love along to Wesley too?”
Right, Wesley.Even though I knew he was back in town, I didn’t think about himbeing at Thanksgiving for some reason. The last twenty-four hourshave left my head spinning.
“Ofcourse,” I say, aiming for a tone as guileless as her expression.“Feel free to invite him to tomorrow’s Thanksgiving too. I know myparents would love to see him.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Oh,Evelyn, there you are.”
Damn. I plaster on a smile and turnto face my mom, relieved to see she’s alone. In the hour sinceguests have been arriving for Thanksgiving dinner, Mom has forcedme into conversations with two single thirty-something men,extolled my virtues to a man who was recently divorced and isapparently ready to start dating again, and promised a fourth manI’d sit next to him at dinner. Needing a break from my mother, herstring of potential ‘suitors’, and the noise of more attendees thanI’d expected, I managed to escape and slip into the back hall. Ishould have known Mom would find me within minutes.
“Whyare you hiding out back here when you should be mingling withguests?” she asks. “Ned Goldberg was telling me how much he enjoyedtalking to you and that he’d like to get to know youbetter.”
“Ohjoy,” I mutter.
“What’sthat?”
My phone buzzes inmy hand with the text I’ve been impatiently waiting for. Mysalvation has arrived. “I said ‘oh joy’, the girls are here. I’llgo meet them at the door. Excuse me, Mom. Don’t hide out back herefor too long.”
The sound of hersputtering follows me down the hall. At events like this, where Ihave to be ‘on’ nearly every second, forced into conversation withpeople I rarely have anything in common with, and feeling like I’mabout to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, I take my kickswhere I can get them. Immature? Probably. And yet, occasionallyneedling my mom seems like a better alternative to exploding at herand demanding she back off.
I hurry to thedoor and throw it open as the girls approach. Like the amazingfriends they are, they offered to be here from the beginning, but Iwanted to spare them as much boredom as possible, so I suggestedthey arrive closer to dinnertime. They’ll do their share ofchatting with strangers in less than a week at my birthday partyanyway.
I’m about to usherthem inside when I notice the handsome man standing behind Hollie.The old-fashioned lamps above the door shine on his dark auburnhair, making me think of the beautiful autumnal floral arrangementsMom had me pick up yesterday.
“Evie,this is Fergus MacKinnon,” Hollie says. “Fergus, this is EvieHathaway.”
Fergus stepsforward with a smile and shakes my hand. “Pleasure to meet you,Evie.” Despite knowing he was Scottish, I’m delighted to hear hisaccent. “Hollie speaks of you often, and you made quite animpression on my cousin Hugh when you worked togetherrecently.”
“Well,that’s nice to hear. I’m glad you could come tonight. Any friend ofHollie’s is a friend of ours.”
Heleans in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial level as he says,“I hear you might need me to be a buffer of sorts between your mumand her matchmaking attempts. I’m happy to be of service.” It’sonly when he squeezes my fingers that I realize our hands are stillclasped. And am I…blushing?
The rapidclick-clack of approaching high heels brings me back to the presenta second before my mom says, “Evelyn, don’t leave our guestsstanding on the doorstep! Oh, hello there.” Without looking, I knowher gaze has settled on Fergus. Looks like I’m not the only onewho’s affected by the handsome Scot. Wait ’til she hears himspeak.
Fergus winks at meas he moves past me to introduce himself to my mom, giving her awarm handshake and offering her a gift bag I hadn’t noticed before.“I figured a woman such as yourself would be well stocked withwine, so I brought a bottle of Drambuie for you and Mr. Hathaway.It was always a favorite of my mum’s.”
While Mom gushesover Fergus’s thoughtfulness, I turn to Hollie and grip hershoulders, planting a kiss on her cheek. “You’re a genius and I oweyou.”
I hug Stella andLouisa next. Louisa looks pale, despite the small smile she givesme; parties like this have always set off her anxiety, althoughshe’s come a long way over the years. She used to avoid largegatherings altogether because they distressed her so much she’dbecome physically ill.
Ilinger over our hug as the others greet my mom with embraces oftheir own. “If you need to escape at any point, we’ll allunderstand,” I say quietly into her ear. “You can head up to mybedroom or into the media room. Both places will be quiet and noone will disturb you there. Feel free to grab one of us for companyif you want. Actually, feel free to grabme, whether you want company ornot.”
I barely hearLouisa’s answering laugh as a shadow moves outside the still-openfront door. A second later, Wesley steps into the light, lookinglike a dream come true in dark trousers and an eggplant-coloreddress shirt that’s open at the collar.
“Buttercup,” he says. “Sorry I’m late.”
I blink andrealize Louisa is no longer in my arms, and I’m somehow standing infront of Wesley. I didn’t know if he was coming; Stella told meearlier that he was non-committal about attending. I can’t help thewild grin that overtakes my face at the sight of him.
Despite havingfeelings for Wesley for more years than I can count, I don’tremember ever being this affected by him. I haven’t been able toget him off my mind since the other night when we ran into eachother downtown. Seeing him again has reminded me of all the thingsI forced myself to forget, like how heart-stoppingly beautiful hissmile is, how sexy his voice is, how his hands look strong andcapable and…gah, I need to stop.
I grab his handand pull him inside. It’s something I’ve done a million timesbefore, so I’m sure he’d never guess it’s because I’m desperate totouch him, even if it’s as innocent as holding his hand for thebriefest of moments. “You’re right on time. Welcome back toHathaway Manor, Wesley. It’s been way too long.”
*****
Mom was so takenwith Fergus, she arranged for us to sit next to each other atdinner. When Ned Goldberg attempted to slide into the seat on myother side, Wesley headed him off with a request to sit beside his‘long lost best friend’ so we could catch up. Apparently even Nedwasn’t immune to Wesley’s puppy dog eyes, which means I ended upfeeling like the very lucky filling in an unlikely Thanksgivingsandwich between a hot Scot and my first love.
