Judging by the scowl he directed my way, he had a lot more he wanted to say.
You and me both, asshole.
June cleared her throat, reminding me that other people were with us.
“Um, so tomorrow,” she began, “Mike and I are finalizing details with the wedding coordinator. I was hoping you all could help show people around as they trickle in. Most of wedding guests are staying at hotels nearby, but they may want to come and see the place.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. I’d planned a chill day of laying on the beach or maybe going for a hike. It wouldn’t be a big deal to greet their friends and our family.
“Oh, and your dance lesson,” Mike said, as the waiter placed our appetizers in the middle of the table.
I blinked. “Dance lesson?”
“Didn’t we tell you?” June asked.
“Yeah, we thought it’d be a good way for you and Gene to get a chance to know each other and hopefully be more comfortable during the wedding party dance.”
Jamison’s eyebrows were higher on his forehead than I thought I had ever seen them. “I have a dance lesson tomorrow?”
“It’s only like forty-five minutes, we figured you wouldn’t mind.” Gesturing toward me, June added, “I mean, seriously, look how pretty your partner is.”
My cheeks burned instantly, and I hoped no one could see me blush in the dark lighting. I was going to kill June. She didn’t have to be so embarrassing.
Just when I thought the silence was going to swallow me whole, Jamison rumbled, “Good point.”
Chapter 5
Jamison
Idecided to walk the cement path between the resort and the beach back to The Brontë—the broody Brontë, as I’d heard it referred to. It fit. I felt broody as hell.
The sky was a black expanse over the ocean, the dark waves washed up on the pale sand. I had the strangest urge to take my shoes off and put my feet in the water. But there was no reason to, other than some random inclination. Stopping, I shoved my hands in my pockets and breathed in the brine on the wind whipping my hair across my forehead and my shirt against my stomach.
“Hey,” Mike called, jogging to my side.
I gave him a half-smile, but it faded when I saw the crease between his eyebrows. It seemed I’d pissed off more than just Sadie today. “What’s up?”
“You tell me. Are you okay?”
Scoffing, I said, “Why?”
“You seem off. I didn’t expect you to be the chattiest person at the table, but—”
“I’m tired. My flight was so fucking early this morning. Gonna call it a night.”
He nodded slowly. “So, you’re good?”
“I will be tomorrow.”
Scraping the toe of his shoe on the sand-covered cement, he spoke down to the ground. “Mom seems to be doing okay.”
“Yeah, just normal Mom stuff. She seems good.”
“It’s hard not having Dad here, right?” A flash of memory superseded over the grown man in front of me, replaced by his nineteen-year-old self, hunched and small, as we waited in the family room of the hospital to receive the worst news.
I breathed in a deep breath and waited for the wash of grief to settle to something I could behave normally through while it shifted inside of me. “These big life events are always hard.”
It was an understatement. At my law school graduation, I’d had to go completely numb in order to make it through the day. But just like then, I wouldn’t breakdown. I would be the solid footing Mom and Mike needed, and they’d never know how the weight of it buried me.
