“I am. Keeping it short and sweet like Evie requested.”
“Good. Nothing good comes from a long-winded wedding toast.”
“It’ll be the quickest toast of all time. I swear.”
“Good.” Miss Leona reached up and gently stroked his cheek. “Deep breaths,” she said. Jesse had to force himself not to flinch away. He’d made one mistake. He wasn’t out of control. But apparently that didn’t matter anymore.
“I should get back inside. We still have some male bonding to do before the photographer gets here.”
“I’m here!”
Jesse looked up as the photographer, Stephy, and her assistant came power walking down the hall.
“It’s go time,” Jesse said. He managed to pull up a smile, as he pulled open the door to the suite.
“Mrs. Lovell, since you’re here, I’d love to get some photos with you and your grandsons.”
“Absolutely.”
Jesse held the door open and ushered the ladies inside. He tried not to let what his grandmother had said get under his skin, even though it started making slow, silent progress as the morning went on. He decided as they made their way down to the site of the ceremony to focus on other things instead, like possibly texting Lily-Grace later, and in the long term, taking A New Way Forward up on their offer and leaving all of this, and Charming, behind.
* * *
Jesse made his way to the other side of the massive white tent and carefully sank down into the white-and-gold chair beside his mother. He sat back and finally gave in to the urge to loosen up his tie. He’d been on the dance floor the last hour straight, sharing the spotlight with Amanda, who had to have been some sort of dance-battle champion in a former life. She almost danced as well as Jesse. Almost.
It’d been a good day, a great day. The vows Evie and Zach exchanged were thoughtful and full of love as well as the biting humor that drew them to each other since they were kids. Jesse managed to hold back the tears, but it was a pretty close call.
By the time they saidI do,Jesse’s focus was right where it should be. On Zach and Evie, and how happy his whole family was together, celebrating this day. He and Sam had nailed their best man speeches. Jesse came with the heartfelt notes and Sam with the humor. Blaire somehow managed to combine the two, talking about her friendship with Evie, her accident, her recovery, and how Evie had somehow managed to hide the Pleasants and the magic of Charming from her.
Jesse ignored the twinge in the back of his neck, the work that he’d put into enhancing the illusion of Big Rock Ranch and the pretty picture his family painted when they were all together. The good with the bad. He knew he couldn’t change it, or them, but as Blaire raised her glass, Jesse knew he had some decisions to make soon. Not now, but soon.
“You know what people have been telling me all night?” his mother said. She’d been running around all night, mixing and mingling, on and off the dance floor. Her baby was married to a beautiful, successful woman and the ceremony had gone off without a hitch. Regina Pleasant was on cloud nine and not a single strand of her hair was out of place.
“What’s that, Mom?”
“Everyone has been telling me how lovely your speech was and just how handsome you are.”
“I’m a man of many talents. And I appreciate the contributions your DNA made to my face.”
“Of course. I am so happy to do my part—Umph, I need a drink.”
“You want me to grab something for you from the bar?” Jesse asked, already halfway out of his seat.
“Oh no, honey. I need to do another lap anyway. Catch your breath and maybe stop moving long enough for some of these single ladies to shoot their shot ”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” His mom winked at him and headed off to the other side of the dance floor where his dad was talking to Evie’s agent, Nicole. Jesse looked around the room and tried to see what single ladies his mother was talking about, but as far as he knew all the age appropriate women in attendance were currently standing with their dates, in most cases their actual husbands or wives. He shook off his mother’s comments and grabbed the full pitcher of ice water from the center of the table and poured himself a glass. He took a deep sip, realizing just how thirsty he was, when Amanda came over and plopped down in the chair beside him with a dramatic huff.
She dabbed her face with a folded napkin she had clutched in her hand. “I have bad news or good news. No, bad news,” Amanda said. She looked over at him, gauging his reaction.
Jesse couldn’t stop his eyebrow from going up. “Which is it?”
“Not great news. There is a woman at your ... eleven o’clock. Green dress.” Jess looked over and saw the woman in question swaying to a Pointer Sisters song blaring through the DJ’s sound system. She was nursing a glass of champagne.
“Yes, that’s Fabien. She’s one of the producers on Evie’s documentary.” They’d wrapped taping on her journey to open her restaurant, Thyme, months ago, but the editing process trudged on.
“Yeah. So she and pink dress over there and black dress standing beside her, they have a bet going to see who can get you back to their hotel room tonight. I heard them talking about it a few minutes ago.”
