Jasmin: Daniela knows it was fake. She heard your brother when we were on the way to the restroom. It’s best if you leave. I’ll talk to you tomorrow at the wedding. Tonight I need to try to smooth things over with her.
Parker: Where are you?
Jasmin: We’ll talk tomorrow.
It’s sweet he wants to take care of me when all I want to do is make things right with my sister. The hurt in her eyes is almost more than what I’ll feel if I lose Parker for good.
Twenty-Three
Parker
Of course, my brother would ruin everything. The sad thing is, it’s not the brother I thought it would be.
“Thanks a lot Phillip.” I shove past him toward the host stand. “Can I talk to your manager really fast?”
The guy behind the stand hurries off to grab Mrs. Cavasos. I’m doing everything in my power not to hit my brother as he walks by me and out the door.
She comes from the back and gives me a quick hug. “Hi Parker. It’s good to see you.”
“You too. Do you still happen to have my card on file?”
“I think so.” She crosses her arms and studies me. “What’s wrong?”
She doesn’t need to know all the details. “I have to leave, but can you make sure the bride to be and her family are taken care of with that card info? Not the whole table, but the back side against the wall.”
“Yes, I can. If there are any issues I’ll give you a call.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cavasos.” I give her a quick hug then head out to my truck.
As much as I want to console Jasmin, I know when she needs her space. I’ll call her later. Or maybe I should wait until she reaches out to me. I don’t want to make things worse.
I don’t bother turning on the radio on the way to the winery, and I think this is the fastest I’ve ever gotten here from town. Good thing there weren’t any cops out tonight.
My sister is struggling with a ladder as I make my way up the hill to see what she needs help with. Phillip could have handled this instead of wasting gas to blow up my entire world.
“Get down, Piper.” I hold the ladder steady as she climbs down. “What happened?”
Now that she’s on the ground she glares at the canopy. “A huge gust of wind came through and knocked the top rail out of its place. I almost had it, but I’m not quite tall enough.”
“Hold the ladder in place. I’ll reconnect it.” I wait until she has a firm grasp and begin my ascent.
“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the rehearsal dinner with Jasmin.”
I find the connecting pieces and push them together. There probably needs to be a clamp added to secure it. That’s something I’ll worry about after the inquisition with my sister. She’s probably going to attack me after she hears all of it.
Climbing down the ladder, I begin to answer. The way I see it if I’m closer to the ground I won’t have as far to fall if she gets mad and pushes the ladder over.
“I was supposed to be. But Phillip came in and ruined everything.”
“How did he ruin things?” Her eyebrow arches up and I know I’m in trouble. “Besides, I told him I had it. If I couldn’t get it locked back into place, I was going to call Beau to help me. Now spill.”
I don’t want to do this. She’ll be pissed, but I need to explain myself.
“He may have come into the restaurant and demanded that I come fix this.” She taps her foot. She knows it’s not the whole story. “And Daniela may have overhead him when he griped at me for being there in the first place since me and Jasmin have been fake dating this whole time.”
“You’ve been WHAT?” She pushes my shoulder. Hard enough I almost fall into the canopy pole.
“Calm down, Piper. It’s not as bad as it seems. She needed a plus one for the wedding, and I wanted to prove to you that I’m more than a screw up. That I can take things seriously.”
