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“The end of an era,” Cass added. “Those were my favorite summers, though they were my mama’s worst. I probably should have come home from Oxford, but...” She shrugged. “Chance of a lifetime summer vacations in Europe or spend the summers with my mother? I love the woman, but an aristocratic British estate will win every time.”
Davis chuckled. “At least your parents wanted you to come home. Mine were more than happy to ship me off to Eton and leave me there. Dad was more worried about his legacy at the school than he ever was about me. In fact, I only came back to America twice through all of secondary school.”
“Ugh. I hate them,” Cass noted, scowling into her wine glass before taking a drink.
“They’re paying for the wedding,” he countered with a sad sort of smile.
“I appreciate them, but I hate them.”
“The only thing that would have made university better was if Henry had been with us,” I said.
“Ah, but Cambridge was the college of every great-grandad I’ve ever had. And as we all know, the legacy must remain intact.” He blustered a bit, imitating his father. “Anyway, we didn’t lack for time spent together, did we?”
“No, we didn’t,” Cass said.
I smiled at her. “How lucky was I to have you as my roommate first year?”
“It wasn’t luck—it was fate,” she insisted.
Davis groaned and rolled his eyes, but he was smiling a little too.
“What? It was and you know it. I was put with Jessa, Jessa introduced you to me, and you only knew her because of Henry. That’s too much coincidence to be a coincidence.”
“You’re right. I love you.” Davis leaned over and kissed her cheek, petting her hair.
She laughed. “Thank you for patronizing me, and I love you too. And now here we are, ten years after our first summer. Davis and I are finally getting married, and if I remember right, you two might be next. Isn’t your little marriage arrangement about to come to term?”
Everyone laughed, but my cheeks were hot and my chest all fluttery at the mention.
Henry and I shared a secretive look, clinking our glasses together.
“It’s true, Bits,” Henry said, shifting to lean on the arm of his chair toward me. “Or did you forget?”
“How could I forget you, Bobs?” I leaned on the chair arm closer to him.
“I really don’t know. I’ve been told I’m quite unforgettable. But I had to be sure. Can’t trifle about when marriage is at stake, can we?”
Cass was so excited at the sight us, she looked ready to burst. “Maybe we should have waited a year, Davis? I would have loved a double wedding.”
And just like that, everyone was laughing, and the moment slipped away.
“Well, I’m glad we’re all finally here,” Cass said as we settled back in. “Spending the day cleaning my cousin’s dirty house was at the bottom of the list of things I’d rather die than do.
“Thank you for your sacrifice,” I said. “I hate that it was you and not me, but I think I’ve been traumatized enough for one day.”
Which I said too soon. Because in through the door walked Remy Winfield pushing a dolly of wine cases, and I decided it was quite possible that my day might never be over.
6
a little cheese with that
REMY
Jessa was the first thing I saw when I walked in the front door of The Filly.
Somehow, she looked shocked to see me, which was baffling. In a town of this size, there was no getting away from anybody.
Cass just rolled her eyes, and I jerked a chin at their table before heading to the bar. The Filly and the adjacent bar, The Horseshoe, came as a pair, so when my boss instructed me to order a metric shit-ton of wine to accommodate all the fancy attendees of Cass’s wedding, I double checked he meant me. I knew as much about wine as I did about babysitting or knitting. Or cleaning, if you asked my mother. So the best I could do was pick something halfway down the price chart and hope for the best.
