Page 7 of More Than My Hometown

“Oh, look, here’s Em!” Mama says.

I twist, my heart rate speeding up. Not only at the idea of seeing my friend and cousin in her bridesmaid dress, but because we’re quickly running out of Hayes brothers. Three have already walked down the aisle, and one is the groom, leaving two. Only one of which I care about.

Ewan Hayes.

I blink, and there he is. Same as his brothers, he’s an older version of himself—the same ruggedly handsome blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who preferred to be out in nature than confined to a classroom. Staring at him now though, there is something different about him. Something off. Ewan has always been mysterious in his own way—preferring to keep to himself and only speaking when he really has something to say—but this goes beyond that. It’s like something is missing.

My heart stops, my breath catching as they pass us, wondering if he saw me. If his body is going to betray him the same way mine is right now, skin heating up and brain starting to short-circuit because all he can think about is what it will be like to have our arms around each other again. To be Ewan and Maisey again. To find out what forever feels like.

If he even wants to be Ewan and Maisey again. Things didn’t exactly end all sunshiny between us. No, not end. We didn’t end. We simply followed our independent dreams for a while. That’s all.

But we have a pact. Sealed in ketchup.

Pausing briefly at the top of the aisle, Ewan turns toward us and winks. My insides leap, stunned beyond belief at that move. A wink. A wink.

That is until I see Emily return the gesture, and I realize he was not looking over at me at all. He was winking at her.

Ewan was winking at Emily.

“Aren’t they cute?” Mama whispers.

“Ewan and Em?” I choke out.

“They’ve been…hanging out…” Grandma adds.

Hanging out? Em’s been hanging out with Ewan…holy shit…

“That’s her word for it at least. I don’t know if that’s code for something.”

“Mama!”

My father’s reaction fades into the distance as the room starts to spin. Everything I thought I knew mere seconds ago crashes down around me. This is not how this was supposed to go. At all.

Ewan Hayes might not be single after all.

So much for our ketchup pact.