AllFreeNovel
Share Us
You definitely won’t hear me complaining.
You might hear me screaming Shane’s name a few times, though.
Even Before All the Weddings…
But let’s back up just a second. Because even before our dual wedding planning can get into full swing, something else happens that deserves a mention.
The text that touches it all off comes from who else but Arthur Weggers a few weeks after Tobuary’s wedding, and it says, Be in my office at 9 a.m. tomorrow for the reading of Preston’s letter.
After a fitful night’s sleep (and lots of speculation about what’s in store for Preston), Shane and I are late to the meeting. We were doing okay until he suggested we shower together “for efficiency.”
Yeah. No.
Unless languid, steamy, or thorough are the new synonyms for efficient, nope.
We get ourselves to Weggers’s office at 9:05. I’m expecting a lecture on promptness, but it turns out we’re not the only ones who are late. Quinn and Sonya arrive three minutes after us, sheepish, muttering excuses about breakfast taking a long time to cook. Something about a Maillard reaction gone wrong.
From the high flush on Sonya’s cheeks, I’m betting on a totally different brand of chemistry…
“Where’s Rhys?” Sonya asks, looking around. “Wait, and where’s Pres?”
We’ve all, of course, noticed the New York brothers’ absences…but since other people were still trickling in, no one commented on it.
“They’ll be here,” Weggers says confidently.
But as the moments tick by, we all start to shift nervously in our seats. Beside me, Shane is growing downright twitchy, checking his phone, his watch, his phone, his watch. Hanna has sent four or five texts to the group chat, and every time—even though I’ve watched her key in the notes—I jump when my phone buzzes.
“What happens if he doesn’t show up?” she asks, biting her lip.
“I can’t read the letter unless he’s here,” Weggers says.
“Okay…” Hanna says slowly. “But what if it says something like, you have twenty-four hours to, I don’t know, wrap every building on the Hott Springs Eternal site in Valentine’s Day wrapping paper?—”
“That would be very frivolous,” Weggers says primly.
“Right,” Quinn growls. “And Grandfather would never do something frivolous to torment us.”
“Let’s not deal in hypotheticals,” Weggers says. “Of course Preston will comply with my instructions?—”
Simultaneously, all our phones buzz.
A work thing came up, Preston has texted. Rhys and I won’t be able to make it.
I look around the room at all the confused faces. Weggers’s might be the most confused of all.
Oh. This is going to be interesting.
