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Chapter Three
Izzy wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. She'd go willingly, like a human sacrifice. Toss herself into the volcano and sing on the way down if that’s what it took to get this moment to be a bad dream.
Anything to get away from the stares of the Babes, Amelia, and her sister-in-law, as well as local celeb and professional matchmaker Marsali Jones, all of whom watched her like hawks.
Her sisters had also lingered behind to pitch in for baby shower cleanup and entered the room from wherever they'd been chatting with the last of the guests, but now the combined stares left Isabel wishing Everett had timed his arrival to…well, never.
Had he saidwife?
"Isabel, is everything all right?" her mama asked in an obvious attempt to get their handsome guest to repeat his whispered words louder for their benefit.
Isabel felt the heat of embarrassment rolling off her in sweaty, unladylike waves and wondered if her mother and the rest of those watching could see her mortification.
She didn't know how, didn't know why, but what had happened in Vegas hadnotstayed in Vegas and now stood in front of her in all six feet four inches of sexiness with a stare that made her knees weak even now—despite the bomb he'd just dropped.
Had he really said wife?
"Iz?" Amelia murmured, snapping Isabel out of the fear-laced fog shrouding her.
"Isabel, where are your manners?" her mother said.
"Yeah, sis, introduce us," Allie urged.
Knowing she had to get her act together fast, Isabel made the mistake of meeting Allie's gaze and found her eldest sister's shrewd eyes narrowed on her with all thecaught-youknowingness a sibling could possess.
Isabel's chest squeezed with the inability to breathe properly, and she actually seemed to have a small panic attack—because wouldn’t that just be the thing to happen next? Anxiety sucked and panic attacks were from the devil himself, but right now?
It might get her out of the room.
Not for the first time, Izzy regretted tattling on Allie so many times as a kid. Maybe if she hadn't, Allie would've run interference instead of adding to the chaos currently making her entire body sweat like an MMA fighter. "Um, yeah. Of course. This is, um, Everett."
Did her voice have to sound so...husky?
The night with Everett presented itself in adrenaline-fueled, detailed memories and images, but one thing was for certain, the marriagewasn'treal. She couldn't have messed up that much. Could she?
They.
Theycouldn't have messed up that badly. Because he had been there, too. All seventy-six inches of him. "Everett, th-this is my mother, Mary Elizabeth, my aunts Tessa, Cheryl, Adaline, and Rayna Jo. Best friend and mommy-to-be, Amelia, her sister-in-law, Marsali, and my sisters, Allie and Sophia."
The gorgeous man next to her chuckled softly and accepted her mother's outstretched hand, shaking it gently.
"Ladies. I thought my timing was off, but I can see now that it was perfect," Everett said, smiling at the group ogling him like a sweet treat.
"It's wonderful to meet you," her mama said, the sentiment echoed by the other Babes, who smiledwaaaytoo widely.
It was true that the man was as handsome as they came, not to mention charming, and obviously not a bum sleeping on the beach as part of his attempt to find himself.
You were twenty…and into musicians. You've grown up since then.
But in a fit of anger, her twenty-year-old self had still brought the beach bum to meet her parents and had paid him to sit through a torturous dinner after they'd attempted to set her up with someone they approved of—even though that someone had date raped a girl she'd known in high school. It just proved how no one really knew anyone. Not really. Lots of things happened behind closed doors that no one talked about.
"Likewise."
Once the Babes finished making a fuss over him and more handshakes were completed, an awkward silence settled over the room.
"Uh, Everett, Isabel didn't mention you'd be visiting us," her mother said, giving Isabel a stern glance.
"She didn't know," he said. "We met while we were in Vegas after Michael suggested I check out her showcase. With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching and because I had a meeting scheduled with Michael in New York next week, I thought I'd switch things up and come see the town they've told me so much about."
