“That was the backup plan, but havin’ it where we’re gonna end up anyway makes more sense. I called Rafe. He was cool.”
“So we don’t go to—”
JJ pointed a finger at Brantley, cutting him off. “Don’t make this confusing.”
He chuckled, holding up both hands as a sign of surrender.
“Last but not least, you two have to go your separate ways tonight,” JJ told Brantley and Reese.
“Uh… we decided not to do that.”
JJ was poised to argue, but she simply took a deep breath and waited for Brantley to explain. After all, this was their wedding. Her job wasn’t to change it to her liking. It was to make it perfect forthem.
“We’ll get ready together, and we’ll arrive together. And we’d like to wait at the altar as the guests arrive. Maybe have a cocktail hour beforehand. We want this to be a casual thing. No formalities. And preferably minimal het traditions.”
“Het means heterosexual,” Iris said, although JJ wasn’t sure who she was talking to.
“Yes, Mom,” Brantley told her with a chuckle.
JJ looked at Reese, ensuring he was okay with it.
He smiled. “Unless you insist on not lettin’ him see me in my tux before I’m skippin’ down the aisle toward him.”
A laugh bubbled up inside her as she imagined Reese doing just that. She appreciated that he was keeping this light despite the fact she was almost positive something was bothering him. JJ assumed it had nothing to do with the wedding because he knew she would beat him to a pulp if there were any hiccups.
JJ grabbed her iPad to make a note. “Cocktail hour prior to wedding ceremony. Check. Grooms at altar. Check.” She looked up at Brantley. “What about me and Z? Where should we be?”
“You”—Brantley pointed at her—“should walk Tesha down the aisle.”
“I like that idea.” She could walk Tesha and the rings down the aisle. “I can then pass her off to Z.” With the rings.
Z was too busy stuffing his face to pay attention. Or at least that was what she thought, but he paused to look over. “I’ll take her from there and secure the rings.”
Reese winced again, and JJknewthere was something he wasn’t saying.
“Alright then,” she said, eyeing him closely in an attempt to get him to break.
He didn’t.
“That’s all I’ve got,” she said gleefully. “Tomorrow’s gonna be perfect.” She clapped her hands together. “And if it’s not, I’m gonna put the hurt on whoever screws it up.”
Laughter followed, but JJ noticed a hint of fear ringing in it.
Good. Her job here was done.
***
Several hours later…
Reese was a nervous wreck. He knew it showed, too. He also knew that JJ was going to figure out that they’d lost the rings, and she was going to lose her shit. When she did that, she would go into labor, and then he’d be responsible for her having premature babies, never mind that she’d be out of commission as Brantley’s best woman.
“Relax,” Brantley crooned, grabbing his hand and squeezing tightly. “If it makes you feel any better, I heard your sister’s already here.”
Reese smiled. That did make him feel better. He hadn’t seen Jensyn in … it’d been too damn long. She’d opted to attend college in California, but according to her, the state had grown on her because she’d stayed there after she finished her degree. She was a psychiatrist, had some big, fancy practice in LA, and spent her days dealing with rich people’s problems.
At least, that’s what she had told him. To be fair, Reese didn’t really know what Jensyn did. He’d never visited her in California because she’d never invited him. Z knew about as much as Reese did because they rarely talked. Reese wasn’t sure what had happened there, but his mother had mentioned—once, and not directly to him—that they’d had a falling out, but she hadn’t gone into detail. Z wouldn’t talk about it, and since Reese rarely talked to Jensyn, he didn’t risk ruining what little relationship they had by digging for details.
However, he was glad she was coming to the wedding. It wouldn’t be the same without his family here. Both the one he was born into and the one who’d taken him in as one of their own.
