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“You look the way I feel,” a familiar voice said as Pike passed the bearded man his signed picture and turned to the next person in line.
Pike smiled his first genuine smile of the night. “Chad, what’s up?”
“Not much, not much.” Chad, who looked the same as he had in high school, minus a few inches of brown fuzz around the hairline, clasped the hand Pike offered. “I think I’ve watched every game you’ve played since you left town, man. It’s good to see you back home again.”
“Good to see you, too. What are you doing these days?”
“Still working for my old man.” Chad shrugged. “Been helping run the oil business for years and took over the charity stuff last week. Dad had his third heart attack so he’s on forced R&R.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Pike said, signing the ball Chad rolled across the table. Mia had told him only to sign pictures, so as not to devalue the signed ball she was auctioning off, but he and Chad had been on the same team in high school. He wasn’t about to tell him no, even if they hadn’t been close. “I hope he gets to feeling better soon.”
“I don’t,” Chad said with a laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the man, but it’s been nice having him out of the office. I get a lot more done without another cook in the kitchen.”
Pike grimaced. “I get it. If I had to work with my old man, I’d be in the nuthouse by now.”
Chad laughed harder as he reached into the front pocket of his dress shirt and pulled out a card. “You should stop by my office while you’re in town. I’ve got a few meetings lined up this week, but nothing serious. I can cut out whenever you have some free time, buy you a beer?”
“Sounds good.” Pike slipped the card into his shirt pocket, figuring he’d want to get out of Mia’s hair sooner or later. “I’ll try to swing by tomorrow or Tuesday before the wedding stuff gets crazy. Mia’s got me booked after that.”
Chad nodded. “I know the drill. My sister, Kelly, got married last summer. Luckily, I’ve got three more sisters so Mom hasn’t started obsessing over me yet. I’m not ready. Life’s too short to have all the fun over before I’m thirty-five. But I’m preaching to the choir, right?”
Pike forced a smile. “Absolutely.” He promised to see Chad soon, and finished signing the last of the glossy eight by tens as fast as he could, trying not to let the quip bother him.
Chad had no idea that Pike had been saving up for a wedding ring when he was twenty-two. For months, Pike had survived on Hamburger Helper while he socked away every spare penny to buy Tulsi a ring. If he hadn’t been played for a fool, he would have been married for years by now.
“Smile,” Mia said through gritted teeth, appearing beside him as the last autograph hunter filed past the table. “You look scary.”
“That’s what I look like when I smile,” Pike said, with a scowl. “Are we done yet?”
“Almost.” Mia patted him on the back. “I just need to announce the winners of the silent auction and we’re out of here. You’ve done so well, don’t ruin it by glaring at innocent people on the way out.”
Innocent people, his ass. He let his eyes skim across the room. There were more strangers than he’d expected, but he recognized enough of the people in attendance to know many were far from innocent. There was Bart Cutter, the pharmacist, who’d been having an affair with his tech for years. There was Grub Pillman, the assistant principal of the high school, who was addicted to painkillers and got his rocks off bullying the students he kept in detention after school. There was Farrah Stewart, who’d left her husband of twenty years for her nineteen-year-old kickboxing instructor, traumatizing her eighteen-year-old son in the process. And those were just the people Pike was certain were guilty. Knowing human nature, the rest of the crowd had their share of black marks on their soul.
Even people you think are the good ones, the kind of sweet, sincere folks who wouldn’t tell a lie to save their own lives, couldn’t be trusted. Tulsi had proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“Okay, we’re done.” Mia grabbed his arm, hauling him across the tent, through the tables covered in white tablecloths and decorated with centerpieces in Cardinal red. “We’re almost home free, just hold on a few minutes longer.”
“I’m fine, Mia,” Pike grumbled even as he let her propel them out the entrance and across the dirt road to where she’d parked the truck. “Are you going to hover like this all week?”
Mia released him with a frustrated sound as she dug into her purse for the keys, turning so that the light spilling from inside the tent illuminated her bag. “I don’t know, Pike, are you going to be a cranky bastard all week? Seriously, the way you’re acting is ridiculous. If you didn’t want to come to the wedding, you should have just told me.”
“Don’t be crazy,” Pike said. “Of course I wanted to come.”
“Because I could have made Bubba my Dude of Honor,” Mia continued, stabbing her key into the passenger side door and wrenching it open. “And you could have spent the rest of your recovery in Palm Springs with whatever supermodel you’re boinking, and not had to bother with this bullshit.”
“Your wedding isn’t bullshit,” he said softly, realizing he’d been an even bigger asshole than he’d thought. Mia rarely got hurt feelings. That he’d managed to upset his sister less than three hours into their visit made him ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry, okay? This has nothing to do with you. I’ve just been…going through some stuff. But I’m not going to let it ruin your wedding week. I promise.”
Mia sighed and her tense shoulders relaxed away from her ears. “I’m sorry, too. I know it can’t be easy being on the injured list. I mean, it’s great for me because I get to have my brother home, but your career could be in jeopardy. I know that has to be stressful.”
Pike shrugged, deciding letting Mia believe that it was his torn ACL making him difficult wasn’t exactly a lie. Hewasconcerned about how soon he’d recover and being benched for the past two weeks hadn’t been the paid vacation he’d thought it would be. Being on leave gave him too much time to think about his life and all the things in it that he wished were different.
“If you want me to take you to Mom and Dad’s I can,” Mia said. “If you’re not up for nachos and poker it’s not a big deal. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up later in the week.”
Pike snorted. “Since when have I ever chosen Dad’s place over yours?”
“Since never,” Mia said. “But I figure there’s always a first time. Dad is really excited to see you, by the way. He made me promise to bring you to dinner at the house tomorrow night.”
“He made you promise or Mom made you promise?” Pike asked, narrowing his eyes.
