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“He wants to speak to you,” the pastor said.
Almost immediately Mr. Travers’ voice came from the other side of the door. “Can I come in?”
Olivia blinked in surprise and moved toward the door, completely missing a cloud of hairspray sent in her direction. She flung open the door and gasped. Mr. Travers stood there, smiling sheepishly in a crisp black suit coat and matching pants. Olivia threw her arms around him. “You made it!”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” He hugged his daughter, then stood back and looked her over in wonder. “Can’t believe my baby’s getting married.”
The pastor peered around the group. “If you’re ready, we’ll have everyone line up now.”
Olivia and her father headed out, her mother close behind, still adjusting and primping over ribbons on Olivia’s dress. Elsie followed in the wake of lace and ruffles and made her way to the chapel doors.
Kye was there already, looking heart-stoppingly handsome in a black tuxedo and emerald green cummerbund. He was clean-shaven and his normally mussed hair was sleek and perfectly in place. Tall, self-assured, and cologne-ad smooth.
Really, the man should’ve been in advertising. Whatever he was selling, women would happily buy it.
There is no us, Elsie reminded herself. He had a girlfriend.
Elsie took a breath, smiled calmly, and glided over to Kye. His gaze ran over her approvingly and he held out his arm to her. “I believe I was supposed to use some charm on you to loosen you up. Was it my cowboy charm or my math teacher charm? I can’t remember which.”
“Cowboy charm. Math teachers don’t actually have any charm.” She had meant in general. After all, very few romance novels sported pictures of math teachers on their covers.
Kye raised his eyebrow at her in disbelief. His look seemed to say,Oh really? You found me charming enough to kiss.
She looked away from him, concentrating on the door and waiting for their cue. It came a moment later: the sound of the organ playing. An usher swept open the chapel doors, and Kye and Elsie moved forward, taking slow, measured steps toward the altar. It was easy to smile at Carson today. He looked so proud, so nervous, so unlike himself dressed in a tuxedo and standing at the front of the church.
Elsie survived being in Kye’s charm-zone during their walk together, and she made her way to the bridesmaid side of the chapel. The hard part was over. Now Kye didn’t have a reason to talk to her and the two of them could go back to ignoring each other.
There hadn’t been a point to having a bride’s side and a groom’s side of the chapel. Not in a town where everyone knew everyone else. Elsie only saw a few clumps of people she didn’t recognize—friends and family of Olivia’s, mostly. Several young, beautiful women were sprinkled through the crowd. One of them was Lisa. Elsie couldn’t help trying to pick out Kye’s girlfriend.
Lisa couldn’t be the woman with florescent pink stripes in her hair that matched her fingernail polish and lipstick. Too flashy. Too look-at-me for Kye. Lisa also wasn’t the bleached blonde wearing too much makeup and a low-cut maroon dress. That wasn’t Kye’s type either. He would pick someone intelligent; someone who was pretty, but confident enough about her looks that she didn’t overdo her hair and outfit. Someone more practical than the brunette who’d worn four-inch stilettos and a miniskirt to a winter wedding.
Elsie narrowed it down to an elegant-looking redhead and a woman with shiny black hair who exuded a high IQ. Really, Elsie should’ve had the forethought to hire some male model to pretend to be her date. Or at least begged one of her guy friends from Missoula to come. The truth was, she had never dated anyone seriously at college. There were a few guys she hung out with occasionally, but school kept her busy, and she never seemed to have the time for more than that. And besides, most of the guys in her classes seemed so…uninteresting.
Three of Olivia’s friends joined Elsie on the bridesmaids’ line and the groomsmen took their place alongside Kye. Then Olivia and her father walked down the aisle. The most noticeable thing about the bride wasn’t the yards of satin and ruffles or the ringlets in her hair. It was a smile that radiated her joy. That’s what love felt like when it was reciprocated—it lifted you and made you glow.
Elsie was happy for Olivia and Carson, happy in a way that made her feel sentimental and weepy. It brought the ache inside her to sharp focus. Would she ever glow with joy like that?
The pastor read the vows and Olivia and Carson gave their breathless “I do’s”. With a two-second kiss, her brother and sister-in-law started their new life together—blissfully holding hands.
When the wedding ceremony ended, everyone moved to the reception room for food, toasts, and finally dancing. There was a live band, crooning songs for the younger couples to dance to while the older couples sat around talking and sipping raspberry sherbet punch.
At first, Elsie kept busy helping with the refreshments—putting out more food, gathering up empty cups, and throwing them away. She didn’t give the dance floor much consideration except in passing when she checked to see who Kye was dancing with.
She wanted to see if she was right about her girlfriend prediction. Every time she spotted him, though, he was dancing with a different woman. Lisa must not mind sharing him with all the bride’s friends.
Kye was a good dancer. His steps were smooth and fluid, his rhythm flawless. Maybe that should’ve surprised Elsie, but it didn’t. Somehow she’d always known her math teacher knew how to move.
Eventually, there wasn’t anything left to do, then Elsie stared out across the room at the ribbons and flowers and the soft glow of the twinkle lights—at all of the dancing couples. She was standing here alone. It had definitely been a mistake not to hire a male model.
Would anyone miss her if she slipped away and read an ebook for a while? Probably not. Carson and Olivia were happily oblivious to most of what was going on around them.
“Do you want to dance?”
Elsie didn’t have to turn around to know Kye was the one who stood behind her. She tensed and tried to think of a plausible excuse not to dance with him. He didn’t give her the chance. Before she could speak, he took hold of her elbow and towed her out onto the dance floor. Apparently, it had never occurred to him that she would turn him down.
Well, fine. She would get through one dance and then leave. She was only a few verses and choruses away from freedom. A slow song was playing. Kye stopped, took hold of her left hand, and put his other hand on her hip. She felt the heat in his fingers, the possibilities. He had large hands, calloused by ranch work. That had never bothered her. It had seemed like a badge of honor. The hands of a strong man.
She ignored the feel of them against her body, blinked away the possibilities. Wanting to dance with him was what had started the whole horrible chain of events at the Mathematics Decathlon. She looked everywhere but at him.
