Page 47 of Chasing Clouds

After about an hour, Camille’s nerves settle and she ventures away from me. I keep tabs on where she is, but with Missy always hovering close, I know she’s fine.

“She’s too pretty for you,” Bryan says as he comes to stand next to me. We’ve moved outside to the lanai; it’s too nice out to be inside anymore. He hands me a fresh beer and I scowl at him.

“What the hell?” I already know she’s too pretty for me—she’s a lot of things better than me—but I don’t need it thrown in my face.

He claps me on the shoulder and laughs. “Well, look at her.” He waves his other hand her way just as she throws her head back and laughs. Her blonde hair skims across the skin on her back, and I’m wishing it were my hand touching her.

“I am looking at her—I look at her every day.”

“Yeah, I bet you do.” He gives me a sly grin.

Next to Billy, Bryan is one of the best and kindest guys I know. We go way back to college days, before he became a Heisman contender and then the winner. With everything he does, he strives for perfection, and that makes him such a good quarterback and leader for our team. We all work harder because of him, and that makes us all better.

“Yeah, well, maybe you should get your mind out of the gutter and go get your own wife.”

His eyebrows rise as he looks at me then gives me a knowing smile.

Shit.

Just like Jack, Bryan knows me really well. He heard me say plenty of times that I was never getting married, and now here I am getting defensive because he’s looking at her, all but beating my chest to declare her mine.

What is happening to me?

Raising the bottle to my mouth, I slam back half of it.

“Nah, I think I’m good.” He stares at her a little longer and then says, “She kind of looks like someone I know, at least with the hair and her face.”

“Since when do you know people?” I turn and face him. Bryan’s reputation is probably the cleanest of anyone I know. He never goes out with women, too busy conditioning and playing football.

He chuckles. “I’ve known her for a long time, most of my life.”

“Hmm. Where is she now?” His smile drops and he starts peeling the label on his bottle.

“Back home.”

Bryan also never talks about where he’s from. All most of us know is that he’s from a small town in central Florida and his best friend is named James. They grew up together and played football together until Bryan went pro.

“And the mystery is solved,” I declare, throwing him a smug expression to rile him up.

“What mystery?” He eyes me like I’m about to cross into forbidden territory.

“Why you keep yourself so unattached.”

“Hardly.” He frowns. “And just because you’ve now found yourself in marital bliss, that doesn’t mean the rest of us need to.”

He looks away from me and out toward the water. I study the lines in his face. As his wide receiver, I’m able to read his body language really well, and it’s funny how I never saw it before. Some guys like Jack are single because the idea of settling down with one person is unfathomable—too many fish in the sea to taste—but Bryan is a loyal guy, the most loyal I know. He’s a one-woman kind of guy, and with all the success he’s had, I’m surprised he isn’t sharing it with someone . . . or maybe he is and we just don’t know it.

“Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say.” I end the conversation to lighten the mood.

“Hey, Reid, Camille, come over here and let’s have a toast,” Jack calls out as he moves around the patio and gathers everyone together under the paper lanterns hanging beyond the pool.

Camille walks straight to me and I can’t tear my eyes away. Damn. That dress, those heels, relaxed and smiling—if I didn’t know any better I would say she’s making me nervous by the way my heart is racing right now, and I’ve never been nervous around girls. She stops right in front of me and the two of us stare at each other, just long enough that someone clears their throat. I wrap my arm around her shoulders, she slides in next to me, and we face my friends.

At the reception, I felt awkward, but mostly indifferent because I didn’t know any of those people, but here, in front of my friends and their loved ones as they’re all smiling at us, something warm and soft makes its way through my chest.

“If everyone would raise their glass . . .” Jack holds his up in the air and smiles at Camille and me. “I think I speak for all of us when I say congratulations. Sometimes the best surprises are the unexpected ones, and, Camille, you were really unexpected.”

The group laughs.