He was about to stick his hands in pockets, clench his fists there until Jayden and Emerson mercifully walked away, but Emerson—Em—reached out and snagged one before he could. He squeezed Luca’s fingers in his.
“Thank you. If she shows before we’re back, tell her I’ll be right there.”
Luca only nodded. Weakly squeezed back before he dropped Emerson’s hand.
And then Jayden and Emerson turned and walked back up the hill. Luca watched them go, shoulder to shoulder. Emerson was still in his farm clothes he’d worn to take care of the animals before dawn. But Jayden was dressed sharp: tailored dress pants that fit his ass like a dream, a patterned button-up shirt that was both professional and cool. The kind of clothes Luca didn’t even own.
He’d planned on wearing his nicest black jeans for the wedding. The same pair he’d worn last night to the rehearsal dinner, where Emerson had held his hand under the table, and the food had been so delicious and the company so warm, and Luca had felt like he was part of something. Something that wasn’t owned by his family. Something that didn’t make him feel like shit. Something that felt both new and old all at once, like it’d just been waiting for Luca to finally find it.
He rubbed a hand over his face and sat on the stoop of Emerson’s house to wait for Ben and Alexei’s wedding coordinator.
He supposed, after his third or fourth over-analysis of the interaction in as many minutes, he should be grateful for howEmerson had still touched him in front of Jayden without hesitation, how obvious he’d been about it. Even at the same time that he’d been looking at Jayden like he was everything he’d ever wanted.
But—whatwasit, exactly, that Emerson had been obvious about? What had he been communicating to Jayden when he’d squeezed Luca’s hand? What the hellwerethey?
Last night at the rehearsal dinner, they had felt like a couple.
Yesterday at the beach, they had damn near felt like a family.
On the walk up to the wildflower field in the dark just thirty minutes ago, Emerson had reached out and taken Luca’s hand. It had felt like they were facing this day—this day Emerson had been anticipating for so long—together.
And now, within the space of a few minutes, Luca knew nothing about anything.
But then a van drove up the drive. A short Black woman emerged from it, introduced herself as Morgan, and said, “Now help me with these signs.” And then Luca was driving signs advertising the Lebedev-Caravalho Wedding to the pull-off for the farm, to where the local road met the 101, and as soon as he returned Morgan gave him something else to do, and he was useful again, and he could almost pretend his chest wasn’t caving in.
Soon, a van with the chair rentals arrived, followed by the photographer and her assistants, and then Iris and Carolina Caravalho, Ben’s mother and sister, arrived at the same time as the florist, and even when Jayden and Emerson came into view again, there were suddenly enough people bustling around Short King Farms that Luca could almost always find a buffer.
In no time at all, in fact, the farm became a place—people everywhere, noise everywhere, signs and decorations and vehicles every which way—that Luca barely recognized. When thealarm on his phone went off, alerting him it was time to go to his cabin to ready it for Alexei, Luca felt relieved.
He’d just finished cleaning the cabin from its previous guests when there was a knock on the door.
“Hi,” Alexei said. “Is it okay that I have our dog?”
Luca reached out a hand for the Rottweiler to sniff. The dog had been sitting obediently at Alexei’s side between Alexei and a tall, equally blonde woman, but at Luca’s invitation it stood, snout sniffing Luca’s fingers, butt wiggling.
“Of course.”
“This is Delilah. And I’m Alexei, and this is my sister, Alina.”
Luca wiped his fingers on his pants and held out his hand. While he recognized Alexei from the rehearsal dinner last night, they hadn’t had a chance to be formally introduced.
“Luca. Nice to meet you all. Please, come in.”
As soon as he’d welcomed them into his home, he looked around at its sparseness, wondering if he should have made it more special, somehow. More romantic for Alexei for this moment.
“It’s kind of small,” he said, leaning down to pet Delilah more thoroughly. “The bathroom’s back there, next to the bed. If there’s anything else you need, I can?—”
“This is perfect.” Alexei had walked over to the glass door in the kitchen to look out at the view. Ben had an easy, affable charm to him, gorgeous dark hair and a great smile. The kind of guy Luca would’ve fallen into bed with easily. Alexei, on the other hand, was almost intimidatingly handsome.
While they looked completely different, there was something about his aura that reminded Luca of his dad: stoic, full of hidden depths. And just as with his dad, Luca instinctually wanted to please him.
“Thank you for offering this to us. I…everything’s been going great so far, but I appreciate the moment of quiet. And this view…”
Alina walked over to him. Rested a hand on his back, her head on his shoulder.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “This is the perfect place for you to get ready for your wedding.”
Alexei looked down at her and smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It is.”
