Faces I hadn’t seen in months. Faces I definitely wasn’t supposed to see for another couple of weeks.
“Seth!”
Before I could fully process what I was seeing, Lynn leaned across the counter and wrapped both arms around me.
The register dug into my hip as she tried to shake me from side to side.
“Lynn,” I managed.
Beside her, Glen folded his arms and grinned. “I was starting to wonder how long you planned on ignoring us.”
I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. My brain had apparently decided the situation was too much and quietly stopped working altogether.
Janine appeared beside me, thankfully picking up on my complete inability to function. She gave my shoulder a light pat as she passed, like she was gently restarting me.
“Hi,” she said brightly. “Are you Seth’s friends?”
The question seemed to kick something back into place.
I cleared my throat. “This is Glen.”
I almost said my ex’s brother. The words had almost reached the edge of my tongue before I caught myself.
I continued, “He’s the groom’s brother. And this is Lynn. Their cousin. We all went to college together.”
“Nice to meet you,” Janine said easily.
“You too,” Lynn replied with a bright smile.
Janine’s attention drifted toward the espresso machine. “Can I get either of you something? Coffee? Tea? Seth’s buying. It’s on the house.”
I shot her a quick warning glance.Please don’t extend this conversation longer than necessary.
Lynn laughed. “Oh, we already like you.”
“Most people do,” Janine said cheerfully.
I stared at her, but Janine didn’t even look my way.
With no help coming from that direction, I dragged my attention back to Lynn and Glen, both of whom still looked entirely too comfortable standing in my café like they hadn’t just completely derailed my evening.
“So,” I said carefully. “What are you guys doing here?”
I tried to sound pleasantly surprised instead of what I was actually thinking, which waswhat the hell are you guys even doing here.
Neither of them seemed offended, which I took as a small victory.
“We’re on our way to Seabrook Estate,” Lynn said.
The name alone made my stomach tighten.
“We figured we’d head up early and help out,” she continued. “Auntie Gabby’s already there doing a final walkthrough with the event planner, going over table setups, flowers, guest rooms, all of that. You know how she gets.”
“We had a couple hours to kill,” Glen added easily. “And since a certain someone hasn’t been answering most of our calls, we decided to come find him ourselves.”
Despite everything, I found myself smiling a little. Some things really didn’t change.
“We figured we’d steal you for dinner,” Lynn continued. “Assuming you’re not stuck here all night.”
