Page 28 of Gin and Bear It

“Sure,” I say.

“I’ll email you a list of departments. Think of what you might want to start with.” I hear him typing furiously on his end of the line. “Come in on Monday at ten.”

“Can’t. We’re getting married Monday.”

“Who’s getting married?” He stops typing.

“Jada and I.”

Yet another infuriatingly long pause, aside from who I assume is Bubba letting out a soft boof in the background.

“Jada. And you. Married. Monday?” JD asks. I don’t know what to say, so I stay quiet. “That isn’t my problem. I’m guessing you aren’t going on a honeymoon.”

“No.” It hadn’t even crossed my mind, not that I’d want to spend money on that kind of thing. What would we even do, anyway?

“So…let’s say Wednesday. At ten. Be there on time.” He hangs up, and moments later, my phone buzzes with an email from JD.

After glancing at it quickly, I mark the email as unread, feeling uneasy. That wasn’t friendly, but it wasn’t a battle. JD wasn’t trying to shut me down or put me through the wringer, at least not yet. JD from ten years ago would have. He took every moment he could to remind me that I’m basically spare parts. Now he’s giving me options when he could just put me anywhere and not have to deal with me.

I used to think I understood what JD was about, but now I’m seeing that I don’t know him at all.

And somehow, that makes the idea of working at the family company even more stressful. What will I walk into next week?

I hear Jada sneeze and murmur something to Pip. The walls here are incredibly thin, which only worsens the ache in my gut. I can’t escape Jada.

I have to figure out how to live with my wife.

NINE

JADA

My walls are way too thin.

I can hear everything Ash does. I can hear him clearing his throat, talking on the phone to who I assume is JD based on their conversation, then to someone else. Maybe his bandmate?

I can’t ignore him. And I neglected to tell him about Waylon’s invite to dinner. Waylon must have told Bianca immediately, who told Rose—Rose lives on the other side of their duplex with Wes. They immediately blew up my phone and I gave them the same spiel that I’d been giving everyone else.

Were they hurt? Rose seemed more upset than Bianca did, but they were both confused. I tried to seem excited, so they gave me a pass. I’ll see how they really feel when we have dinner tonight.

I blow out a breath. I need to tell Ash now instead of squirreling away in here.

Eventually I throw myself out of bed, Pip on my heels. I find Ash on the couch, frowning at his laptop screen. At some point he changed clothes into what looks like a red silk robe, no shirt, and shorts. He has more tattoos on his chest, which is nicely sculpted without looking like he’s tried to achieve that look.

I can’t believe he can pull off a silk robe. How am I supposed to live with seeing his bare chest all the time?

“I thought the rule was clothes on unless you’re in the bathroom,” I blurt.

He looks down at his bare chest. “A robe is an item of clothing. And I’m in shorts.”

He’s technically right. Ugh.

“Whatever, we have somewhere to be for dinner,” I say.

“What? Already?” he asks. Pip hops up on the arm of the couch and looks at the spot above the ceiling.

“Yeah. Waylon asked if we wanted to come to dinner. Wes is cooking. It’s a normal thing. A thing a fiancé would be expected to go to.”

Ash looks up at the spot Pip is staring at, more out of exasperation than curiosity.