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“Campbell’s here?” Jennifer whispered. “I didn’t see him come in.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “He was carted in, in secret. He thinks he’s hot shit or something.”
“He kind of is,” I admitted.
“Ugh! Not y’all, too.”
I laughed. “I like Cosmere’s music. Campbell went to a different high school. I didn’t ever know him before he left. So, he just feels like a rockstar to me.”
“Same,” Jennifer added. “And their music is so, so good.”
Nora sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll introduce you.”
“Really?” I gushed.
“Rein in the excitement. His ego does not need to get any larger.”
I laughed. “I think I can manage.”
My eyes swept the room. There were a dozen people still putting up the final decorations for the room. And another dozen who were already here for the event, mostly Wrights in attendance to support their cousins. Emery with her pregnant belly standing with Heidi and Julia as they pointed out the decorations. Jensen and Morgan with their heads bowed. Landon, Austin, and Patrick were laughing near the dessert table. The event was friends and family only, and already, it was filling up.
“Have you seen my boyfriend?” I asked.
Nora nodded. “He’s in the back with my brothers.”
“Oh, well, good. Two birds with one stone.”
Nora showed us the way through to backstage, which was much smaller than I’d thought it would be. It was more like one large room with a private suite that Nora explained was going to be used for brides, but right now, it had been commandeered by Campbell. She rolled her eyes a lot at how much of a diva she thought he was. I only saw the love she felt about it all.
Jordan, Julian, and Hollin stood together, discussing the event. Jennifer snapped a few pictures, which she declared to be men hard at work. She winked at me, and I slunk forward to interrupt.
“Hey,” I said.
Jordan glanced over at me and something flickered in his face that I’d never seen before. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it almost looked like…dread?
I knew things had been weird between us since he’d found out about his mom, but I didn’t know what this was all about. Was it just more grief? I wished that he’d just talk to me.
“Hey, what do you think?” Julian asked, stepping in when Jordan didn’t say anything.
I swallowed back my fears. “It’s all so incredible. I never in a million years would have imagined that this barn could look like this. It used to be a piece of junk that I thought needed to be torn down.”
“We almost did,” Hollin said with a laugh.
“It was touch and go for a minute,” Julian admitted. “But Jor wanted to keep it. So, we kept it.”
I smiled up at my boyfriend. “I’m glad you did.”
“Yeah,” he said with a tip of his head. “Excuse me. I have to go check on something.”
Then Jordan turned on his heel and walked away. My eyes rounded and the guys tried not to look like they were shocked by his behavior. I gritted my teeth and dashed after him.
When we were far enough away from the rest of the group, I snagged him by the elbow. “Hey, you, wait a sec.”
“I’ll be right back,” Jordan said.
“Jordan, come on.”
He looked as if someone had kicked his puppy. I didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
“I haven’t heard from you all week.”
“I’ve been busy. I’m busy right now.”
“Okay. Can I come with you?”
“I’d rather you stay here. Shouldn’t be long.”
I huffed. “Jordan, what’s going on?”
He closed his eyes as if he were in pain before meeting my gaze again. “Can we just talk about all of this is over?”
I bit my lip. “Can you just tell me what’s wrong now?”
“After,” he insisted. “I’ll explain when this is over.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead and then strode away without allowing me a word in edge wise. I sighed heavily and shook my head. I tried to remember Sutton’s words. That I couldn’t help him fix anything. I just had to be here when he was ready. And clearly he wasn’t ready yet.
With another sigh, I turned back to the group. Everyone was looking anywhere but at me, trying to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping. Jennifer especially looked distraught. She took a step forward as if to comfort me, and I quickly plastered on a fake smile.
“Well, I think it looks spectacular,” I said. “Y’all did a great job.”
“And Nora did the interior work,” Hollin said hastily, grabbing his little sister and roughing up her hair.
She slapped his hand away and worked at smoothing the French twist. “Don’t be an ass.”
“I usually leave that for Campbell.”
And just then, the door to the bride’s suite opened, and out walked Campbell Abbey.
Despite my frustration with Jordan, I still went into complete and total fangirl mode at the sight of the lead signer of Cosmere. When I’d said that I wouldn’t help his ego, I’d really meant itI’d been following Cosmere since their big break two years ago. They had skyrocketed through the charts, hitting number one with “I See the Real You,” the first single off of their second album. And then subsequent number ones with the next four songs. They’d been on a worldwide tour the last year. And I couldn’t even believe he was here right now. It was surreal enough that he was from Lubbock.
