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I laughed. Texas was where I had grown up and where my family was, but I didn’t miss it. That desolate hunk of land felt like work now. New York was home. It had been for me for a long time.
“Where’s home then?” I challenged.
“LA,” Whitley said.
I shook my head. “No way. You never would have taken this job if LA were home. No amount of money could have made you leave.”
She drew her hand out of my grasp. “You just don’t like California.”
No, I liked New York. There was something about the city. The atmosphere. The food and the park and the shows. You could be anyone or no one in New York City. I’d always been in the shadow of my cousins back home in Texas. Midland wasn’t exactly a small town, but the circle that I had grown up in, everyone knew everyone. In Manhattan, I could be as important or as invisible as I wanted.
“He’s right,” Katherine said, surprising me by actually agreeing with me. “New York is home.”
“You’ve never lived anywhere else,” Whitley said.
“So? I don’t have to live anywhere else to know.”
I laughed. “Who knew Katherine and I could agree on anything?”
“You and me, Gavin,” Katherine said with a drunk grin. “We agree on two things.”
“Oh yeah?”
“New York and Whitley.”
Whitley glared. “Don’t gang up on me.”
“But we love you, dear Whit,” Katherine said with a look that said she was joking even though I was sure she wasn’t.
That was the moment that English appeared with her work in tow. Her work being the biggest rock band in the country—Cosmere. I’d been listening to their music for years, but their new single was next level. Campbell Abbey was a fucking incredible musician and lyricist.
I went to introduce myself. Lark and Sam were at the back of the group. Lark broke off to rush into Whitley’s arms. Sam gave me a fist bump. English was in deep conversation with one of the bandmate’s girlfriends when I overheard her discussing, of all the things to be discussing, my cousin’s wedding.
I looked the small woman, Nora, up and down. “You’re planning my cousin Margaret’s wedding?”
“I am. It should be beautiful.”
“Oh, I know Merritt Locke. I bet the wedding will be glamorous,” English said. She gave the girl a shrewd look. “Have you ever done anything in LA or New York?”
Nora gulped. “I haven’t.”
“English,” Court warned.
“Ihatemy wedding planner.” English gave Court ashut the fuck uplook. “My future mother-in-law picked her out, and she doesn’t listen to anything I want. It’s only a few months away, and I’m pulling my hair out.”
“That’s a tough place to be in. She should always listen to you first. It’s your wedding, not your mother-in-law’s.”
English arched an eyebrow at Court. “See!” Then, she turned back to Nora. “Do you have a card?”
I tuned out the rest of the conversation. English wanted out of the big wedding, but maybe a change in wedding planner would make the whole thing better. Since she couldn’t change her mother-in-law. I chatted with another woman for a while about the wedding, ignoring Sam’s jabs at takingWhitleyto my cousin’s wedding. Yeah, because that would be a good idea.
I shook my head.
That would be a disaster.
My family was … a lot. Under good circumstances, they were a lot. At a wedding, they would be oppressive. The easiest way to get a girl to run for the hills was to meet my family. I was an only child, but I had six cousins on my dad’s side and another fifteen on my mom’s side. When we were all together, it was fucking crazy. Someone either ended up drunk, injured, or drunk and injured. Everything was bigger in Texas, including my family and the hurt feelings.
But that didn’t stop me from considering it for one moment as I watched Whitley stumble onto the dance floor with her friends. She was shaking her ass and laughing and being as effervescent as ever. She’d be the life of the party, and all the stupid fucking questions that people asked every time I was home about why I hadn’t settled down would finally cease.
