‘First-round draft pick. I saw. Congratulations, Mr Walsh, welcome to Canyon.’
I grin.Man, she makes me nervous. ‘Thank you, ma’am. Good to meet you.’
We shake hands. ‘What can I do for you gentlemen?’
‘We, uh,’ Briar begins, and behind Kathleen, Harmony appears. As she does so, Briar straightens. I wonder if Kathleen has heard the rumours about those two. ‘We were thinking that perhaps, you could let the squad socialise a little with the rest of the guests. Seems a little unfair to keep them all cooped up over here, don’t you think? I’m sure everyone would behave themselves.’
‘It is a wedding, after all,’ I add, and I feel all eyes on me and Hud.
Kathleen looks to Harmony, as though to confer. The girl with the corkscrew curls has come over and is holding her hands in a prayer position. Harmony gives a shrug, but her expression remains unreadable.
Kathleen clicks her tongue. After what seems like an eternity, she says, ‘I’ll allow it, but just this once.’ She raises her eyes, looking over the crowd of guests. ‘I’ll talk to Sam,’ she then mutters, more to herself. ‘And only because this is a wedding.’
Hudson gives a nod. ‘Thank you, Kathleen.’
‘It’s Ms Lafferty to you, Mr Briar.’
‘Ms Lafferty,’ Hud corrects himself, standing to one side, but a pleased smile is threatening to explode onto his lips.
‘Girls, you can mingle if you want,’ Harmony instructs and within a second the group breaks up, the girls all walking over to the main group. ‘Please remember to exercise CMC decorum.’
I glance at Hud. His eyes are fixed on Harmony. For the first time, I think I see the whisper of a smile on her lips, but I can’t hear their conversation as the girl with corkscrew curls is now standing squarely in my face.
‘Hi, I’m Jewel,’ she beams. ‘And this is my friend, Ren.’
My heart starts to pound. I grip my glass. So I guess it’s ‘Ren’ for short.
‘Hey, Jewel,’ I say, and she shakes me by the hand. ‘Hi, Ren.’
Serenity holds out her hand. I swear, when I shake it, it sends little lightning bolts racing up my spine. But something’s off, because she’s not making eye contact, and it hits me that she’s pretending not to know me. The disappointment hits me with the force of a high tackle. Before I know it, Serenity’s excusing herself, leaving me alone with Jewel.
This was not in the plan.
‘So, how you finding Canyon?’ Jewel asks me. ‘I’m new here myself.’
I turn my head. Serenity’s walking back across the lawn away from me. ‘Oh yeah? Um— where you from originally?’
‘Missouri. St Louis. It’s always been a dream of mine to qualify for the CMC.’
‘Why’s that?’
She gives a dramatic shrug, but she’s still grinning at me. ‘The prestige, I guess. CMC is the best cheer squad in the whole of the NFL.’
She’s cute. Her hair is a mass of spring coils and the way they bounce around distracts me a bit. But she’s still not who I wanna be talking to. I glance across at Hudson and Harmony. Hud’s removed his sunglasses, and I swear – the way he looks at her – I’ve never seen a guy more ga-ga for a woman in my life. It makes me happy that we were able to engineer this.
Jewel is still talking when I find myself sneaking glances across the lawn to my left, trying to see what happened to Serenity. That’s when I witness Sam Conway in her mother-of-the-bride outfit walking our way, the heels of her shoes sinking a fraction into the lawn with each step, and it’s only after a moment that I realize she’s making a beeline for me.
When she stops in front of us, Jewel hangs up whatever she was saying, mid-sentence. Her back goes straight but her grin remains fixed, and it’s obvious she’s kind of terrified.
‘Hello to you both,’ Samantha Conway breathes with an effortless smile that exudes inauthenticity. ‘Young lady, I wondered if I could borrow Jake for a second?’
‘Of course!’ Jewel beams at her and grants me a little wave as she skips off across the lawn. I wish I could tap out of this conversation and follow her, because my spidey-sense tells me where Jewel goes, Serenity will be.
I’ve met Sam Conway before, when I had my official welcome to the Mutineers following the draft. I had to hold up a signed shirt and have some photographs with Sam and her father. A former player himself, Hank Conway is, by all accounts, a decent man.
‘Thank you so much for coming,’ Samantha says. She has a stain of lipstick on her teeth. Up close, it seems like she’s indulged in a little Botox.
‘You’re welcome, ma’am, thank you for inviting me.’
