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“Well, I need to go find my mom before my husband does.” Daisy sighs, looking around before focusing on us. “We’ll have to catch up. Maybe all of us can get dinner sometime.”
“We’ll make that happen,” I say, then she looks at May and smiles before she walks off.
“So you two pretended to date when you were in high school?”
“Sophomore year, her mom and mine conspired to get us together, so we ended up going to prom.” I start leading us toward the bar. “That night, she confessed she had a boyfriend a couple of towns over that her family knew nothing about. We didn’t go out again after that, but I knew she told her parents we did, and I did the same with my mom so she would stop trying to hook me up with her friends’ daughters.”
“What, you didn’t like your mom hooking you up?” she teases, and I grin at her, then spot my mother and my sister heading our way.
“Fuck.”
“What?” She frowns as my mother closes in on us.
“Remember your promise,” I whisper, then kiss her cheek, and her body braces.
“Aiden.” My mom grabs my bicep as soon as she is close, then leans up to kiss my cheek, hissing there, “I expected you to be here in your father’s absence to help me greet the guests as they arrived.”
“I’m sure you and Bridgett were able to handle things.” I look at my sister. “Bridgett, Mom, I’d like you to meet May.” I look down at my girl and find a warm smile on her face. “Doll, my sister and mother.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” May says, covering my hand on her hip, and I loosen my grip there, not realizing how tightly I was holding her.
“Jennifer is here tonight,” Mom says without even sparing May a glance. “She’s anxious to catch up with you.”
“As you can see, I’m here with someone.” I grit my teeth, narrowing my eyes on my mother.
She gives me a look that states clearly that she couldn’t care less about May—or what I want, for that matter. “Yes, well, tonight is about business, not about fun.” She raises her chin. At that moment, a burst of loud laughter rings through the room, and I look over at the bar, finding my sister’s husband Conner and a group of his friends circled around the pretty young bartender who’s passing them all shots.
“I see Conner is enjoying himself.” I nod toward the bar.
“Bridgett’s husband is good at entertaining people,” Mom says as Bridgett looks over at Conner and presses her lips together when he leans in to whisper something to the bartender that makes her blush.
I would be pissed on my sister’s behalf for his blatant disrespect, but they have an agreement. He keeps her in a nice house with a fancy car in their driveway, and sends her on vacations all over the world, while she keeps her mouth shut about him stepping out on her. It’s not an arrangement I would ever be okay with, but I learned a long time ago that my sister doesn’t want love. She wants nice things.
“Dinner and the auction are going to begin soon. We should all take our seats,” Mom says, glancing at May quickly when the music cuts off and a man steps onto the stage at the front of the room. “I didn’t know you’d be bringing a date, so she will have to find another table.”
“We’ll find another table.” I give my mother a tight smile, then hold onto May and turn us away from my family without another word.
We walk across the room as everyone begins to take their seats at the round tables on the outer edge of what will at some point be the dance floor, and I attempt to smile at people I know as we pass. If I didn’t know how important this event has always been to my father, I would leave, but it is a big deal to him.
“I never thought I’d say I’d rather hear my mother hint about marriage and having more grandkids, but here we are.”
I chuckle at that, and the rage I’m feeling simmers down to a rolling boil, hearing her make a joke rather than get upset.
“May?” A large, round man with a wide smile, wearing a suit and cowboy hat, blocks our path, and I recognize him immediately as Herbert Marshal. Herbert is not only one of the richest men in Tennessee, but he also owns one of the biggest privately owned banks around. The bank suggested every time a new homebuyer walks into one of Bender and Sons’ offices, because the interest rates are so low and the approval rate is so high.
“Herbert,” May greets him with a beaming smile. “It’s so nice to see you.”
“What are you doing here, kid?” he asks, giving her a long, warm hug. “Is your dad around?” He lets her go and scans the room.
“No.” She laughs, taking a step back from him and hooking her arm through mine. “He’s home with Mom. I’m here with Aiden.”
“Aiden.” His eyes lock with mine. “You’re Brice’s boy, right?”
“I am.” I shake his hand as he looks between May and me.
“Where are you two sitting?” he asks when the lights dim even further.
“We’re looking for seats now,” May tells him, then adds, “I wasn’t exactly on the guest list, so we need to find a table.”
“You crashed this party, kid?” He roars with laughter.
“I didn’t crash it. Aiden invited me.” She rolls her eyes at him.
“Well, come on. You two can sit at my table. I paid for a few of the other seats at mine, since I didn’t want to be surrounded by men talking about how much money they have all night.” He starts to walk away, leaving us no choice but to follow. When we reach his table, I pull out a chair for May and wait for her to take a seat before I sit next to her.
“So tell me, are you two merging Bender and Mayson Constructions?” he asks with a grin while taking off his hat and placing it on the empty seat next to him.
“No.” May glares good-naturedly in his direction. “And we just started dating, so there will be no talk of merging anything, weddings, or babies tonight,” she tells him as I take her hand and bring it to my thigh careful of her stitches.
“I take it your mama has already made her desires known,” he says as the waitstaff begins placing salads in front of us.
“You know it never takes her long to bring up her two favorite topics.”
