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“Marlow, I actually hoped we could have a minute. How are you doing?” he says, pausing at the door of the bar.
“I’m doing well. What’s up?”
“I was just going to ask if you have someone pulling some strings for you in Texas. I’ve never seen a divorce case move faster than this seems to be going. Of course it’s not final yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is by next month.”
“Really? That’s great. I’d hoped since neither of us was contesting anything, it would go fast, but next month would be shocking. Thanks for whatever you’re doing to move it along.”
“I’ve done my best, but I don’t think it’s me. Maybe they’re having a slow season, maybe someone there is pushing for it to go faster too, or I could be wrong about all of this and it will go longer…I should’ve just said things are looking good so far, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
I smile at him. “I’ll try to remain cautiously optimistic.”
“Good plan.” He smiles and opens the door for me and we walk inside.
Sofie stands and holds her arms out when I get close, hugging me. Over her shoulder, I see Wyatt talking animatedly with Theo, but as soon as he sees me, he stops in mid-sentence and stares at me.
I take a deep breath and when Sofie and I separate, I hug Scarlett and then Holly and April. Theo and Jamison say hello and Callum nods at me. I wait to see what Wyatt will do and Theo says something before he has to.
“I’m so glad you’re all here. Thanks for making this work with such short notice. We wanted to start the ball rolling with the wedding. We have a few dates to throw out there and thought it would be easiest if we just got together and went for it.”
Theo and Sofie are glowing. It’s hard not to smile whenever I see the two of them together. Jamison and Scarlett too…I’ve had to fan myself several times with the way he looks at her.
The waitress comes up and takes our drinks and apps order and when she walks away, Theo clears his throat.
“Attention, everyone,” he says, chuckling. “Let’s set a wedding date.”
He sets a sheet of paper on the table with a few dates written on it, all of them right around the corner, and we quickly agree on the third Saturday next month. There are weddings and Halloween festivities surrounding the date on either side, but that Saturday works for everyone.
“Well, that was easy,” Scarlett says. “And now, we have a proposal for the two of you.” She slides her hands together in excitement. “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk about it with you yet,” she says to me and Holly and April, “but my brothers and I were talking about it…” She holds up her hands in front of her and her eyes go wide. “Picture this: all of us, in Vegas, for your bachelor and bachelorette parties. Since the two of you don’t want to spend the night away from each other…and I don’t really want to spend the night away from Jamison either…” She gives him an adoring look and his look back at her is scorching hot.
I fan my face with the drink menu while she continues.
“We could take the lodge’s charter helicopter, maybe even both, depending on the schedule. If not, it’d take two trips back and forth, but that’s doable. I’ve already okayed the possibility with our pilot George. We could go for two nights…” She pulls out her massive planner and opens it up, pointing at the weekend before the wedding. “And still have time to rest for the wedding. Or we could even do the Monday and Tuesday of the wedding week.”
There’s a pause as we wait to see if she’s throwing any other dates out. When she doesn’t, answers start coming.
“I love this idea,” Theo says.
“Me too,” Sofie says, dancing in her seat. “I’ll need to make sure Aunt Hilary and Abby can take care of the horses, but they enjoy doing it, so it should be okay.”
“That weekend would probably be better for me than that particular Monday and Tuesday,” Sutton says. “As long as Grinny is okay to watch Owen.”
“Either should work for me,” Wyatt says. “Emma wanted to work that weekend and the next, so I’d cover a few weekends for her this month, so I’m set.”
All I can think about is what the cost of the hotel might be, but it shouldn’t be bad with all of us girls staying together…well, I guess it would only be three of us…and then I don’t know why I’m even considering it.
I can’t leave Dakota.
“And we’ll cover everything,” Scarlett adds, pointing between herself and her brothers. “It’s part of our gift to you guys.”
“Wow, that’s…thank you,” Theo says, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “But let us help. There are a lot of us.”
“Absolutely not,” she says. “Back me up,” she says to the rest of her brothers.
“Yeah, we’ve got this,” Wyatt says. “You’ve gone easy on us as far as wedding expenses go. It’s at your place, we don’t have to wear a tux…I think we can splurge on a trip to Vegas for you.”
“I’ve never spent the night away from Dakota,” I admit.
The table goes quiet and I wish I’d waited to bring it up with Sofie one-on-one.
