“Of course not!”
“So then shut the fuck up and tell me what your new plan is.”
She’s nothing but gratitude and relief as she looks at me. “I want to have a small wedding on the farm. The barn is perfect for it.”
“When you say small…”
“I mean everyone here, my family, and everyone in town who is like family to us. Nigel and Simone, obviously, Mickey, people like that, you know?”
“Sounds perfect for the two of you, what with the two of you only having enough friends combined to fill the first row.”
Wren laughs through her shock, pushing me so hard, I almost fall out of the booth again. In the corner of my eye, I see Bash rejoin the group and I feel my face become hot.
“Oh, and the most important part,” Wren continues, seemingly oblivious to my embarrassment. I turn my attention back to her. “I want to keep this a secret from Gus.”
Hold on. “Come again?”
“I know it sounds bad.”
“What, keeping the plans for your wedding a secret from the groom? No, no, not at all.”
“Alright, Ms. Sarcastic, listen to my explanation.”
I wait patiently. Her expression turns serious and I mirror it because it’s rare that you see Wren so somber.
“He’s been struggling with the planning, I think. Things tend to change so quickly that he never has time to adjust and he’s just been stressed all the time and nothing I do is lessening that. And, please believe me, Lee, when I say that I’ve triedeverything.”
“Thank you for that mental image.” I cringe as I force the thought of my bestie and her fiancé going at it in the study or something.
“Sorry. All I mean to say is that the man is miserable, and I want to take this weight off of his shoulders. I’ve already mentioned to him that I can just plan the whole thing and run certain decisions by him, and he’s said that while that would be a dream for him, he refuses to leave it all to me.”
That sounds like Gus—thoughtful and helpful.
“And you’re sure he wouldn’t be upset if you do this?”
Her silence says plenty.
“Babe, you need to talk to him if you’re not sure. Hell, at the very least, talk to his brothers and see what they think. In order for this plan to work, you’d need them in on it, anyway, so you may as well run it past them.”
I don’t miss the hint of disappointment before she tries to cover it with a shy smile.
“You’re right,” she says as she pushes a brown curl back. “I’ll definitely talk to them about it, and if they also think I should run it by Gus, then I will.”
“That’s my girl.” With a smile and one more hug, we go back to watching Bash and Sam argue over whether or not Bash is cheating at their game of pool.
ChapterTwenty-Two
FINN
I’ve pretended to scratch my face twenty times by now, each time taking a deep breath in and reveling in the memory of Oakleigh’s pleasure-filled expression as I brought her so close to the edge, I could feel her body tightening around my fingers, ready to fall over into a void of pleasure. But fucking Sebastian Finch had to come and ruin what would have been the most beautiful sight of my life. Never before have I wanted to be so violent. I could have decked him right in the jaw for depriving me of that moment.
Now, as we begin to start gathering our stuff, I’m in two minds. Do I try and find a moment alone with Oakleigh where we finish what we started, or do I simply wait to see if she brings it up first?
“You guys are coming back with us, right?” Wren asks, and it’s only when Oakleigh and I turn around that we see that she’s talking to us.
Fuck.
“Oh, um…well…” Oakleigh sputters.
