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After another round of thank yous from my friends, compliments from their parents, and a warm hug from Stella, the live-portrait portion of the evening was officially over.
“Hey,” Brody said, ambling over as a slow song started playing on the speakers around the tent. “Great job on the painting.”
“Thanks.” I appreciated the compliment, but my eyes searched the crowd for Zac. Where had he gone?
“Are you able to join in on the regular stuff now?”
“Yeah, I’m all finished here.” I picked up the canvas and carefully placed it in a safe location so it could be part of the event space but not in danger of getting knocked over.
“Cool,” Brody said, scratching his jaw. “I actually have a question for you, if you don’t mind.”
Nerves swam in my belly. Was he about to ask me out? Zac was around here somewhere. Even though things were incredibly … what was the word—unsettled?—between us right now, I had no interest in dancing with another man when I promised Zac we could talk after I showed Aria and Will their painting.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded, knowing I might be about to step into an awkward letdown situation. “Sure. What’s up?”
“Your sister,” he started, looking over his shoulder at Lyndi where she sat at the bridal table alone, “is she seeing anyone?”
Relief poured over me in waves, and I let out a quick laugh. “Uh, no. She’s not.”
She might be low-key in love with a guy who owned a side hustle called Mr. Fake Date in addition to being a Marine, but she was technically single. And who knew, maybe this thing with Beau would never amount to being more than a one-sided crush. It shouldn’t keep her from dating if she caught the eye of another handsome Marine, should it?
Brody smiled, his breath releasing like he’d been holding it. “Great. Thanks. I think I’m gonna ask her to dance.”
“You should do that,” I encouraged him, looking over at her again. She was watching Beau dance with tonight’s fake date, and she seemed a little down.
Ugh, hopefully she’d say yes to Brody. Will had such good things to say about him and the kind of guy he was, and he’d been nothing but a gentleman since he’d arrived last night. A little guarded, maybe, but still.
Brody headed in that direction after one more nod of thanks, and then Zac appeared at my side. “Boo.”
“Very funny,” I deadpanned.
“Did I scare you? You didn’t think I was a ghost, did you?”
I pushed his arm. “No, jerk face. You didn’t scare me.”
“Good.” He nodded over at Brody’s retreating form. “What’d he say?”
“He asked about Lyndi. If she was single.”
I couldn’t be sure, but the way his shoulders relaxed told me I wasn’t the only one who’d thought Brody had approached me to ask me to dance. Zac looked about as relieved as I was that that wasn’t the case. It made me want to smile, but I held back.
“Oh, I forgot to ask him for his last name,” I said. “Is he the guy you knew in Yuma?”
“No, different Brody.”
“Guess it’s a more common name than we thought.”
“It’s a good thing, trust me. He seems cool though. Especially now that I know he wasn’t hitting on you.”
This time, the smile came without giving me a chance to stop it. Dang him.
“Now,” he said, “are you ready to chat?”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I put my hands on my hips. “I’m ready to talk, but remember the rule from the pub. No chitchat. Small talk with you isn’t my idea of fun.”
“Deal,” he replied, holding his arm out for me to take.
I slipped my hand into the crook of his elbow and allowed him to lead me out from under the white tent and into the grass. We headed toward the path that went around the pond, and I looked up at the full moon overhead. The bluish glow was enough to make it easy to see even without the twinkle lights from the reception area.
