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3
LYNDI
Halfway through the third and final wedding of the weekend, I snapped photos of the bride and groom by the pond. I called out instructions to them on how to place their hands or where to look.
He wore a suit the color of old city sidewalks, and her long, elegant gown flowed down her body like a waterfall, the satin fabric glinting in the afternoon sun. Perfectly timed, a trio of birds flew in just the right spot for me to snag a still of them careening into the trees over the couple’s shoulder.
“Beautiful,” I said, clicking the shutter a few times before squinting down at the screen of my Nikon, my hand cupped against the black frame to shield the glare. A bead of sweat rose up on my forehead and then trickled down to sink into my eyebrow as I looked through the viewfinder. “One more like this. Perfect. Okay, now put your back against his chest and look up over your shoulder.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man with a similar height and build to Beau, and my breath snagged before I remembered that he wasn’t here.
Since he’d worked two weddings yesterday, he’d taken today off. And even though he didn’t attend every event I did, I still felt his absence like a phantom limb.
I turned my attention back to the couple, reasonably sure Beau was on my mind thanks to our talk between weddings. Brief as it had been, it was also levied with more depth than any conversation we’d had.
When I’d approached him at that table, I’d thought he was merely resting his eyes. But when he’d shot out of his chair and looked at me like the sound of my voice had been a gunshot, my chest had burned with the need to soothe him.
Which was silly, right? Why would happy-go-lucky, chameleon-in-any-setting, dashingly handsome Beau Devereux need to be soothed byme?
He’d seemed completely fine at the brunch wedding. But then from the moment I’d surprised him and for the rest of the day, I could see how troubled he was. He probably thought he was putting on a good show, but it wasn’t quite good enough.
There was no doubt in my mind that something haunted him. It ate through his usual charm, and his smiles didn’t reach his eyes but instead looked forced in a way they never had before.
And it troubled me too.
It shouldn’t. But it did.
Finished with the couple, I thanked them and moved back to the main reception area as they headed toward the bar. Aria sat at a table off to the side, her hands on her round belly, and her red lips puckered into a wrinkled O.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked, sitting down beside her and placing a hand on her knee.
“Mm-hmm.” Aria nodded her head as her eyes slid closed. Then she gave me a shaky smile. “Ms. Hattie might have been right about me overdoing it. My back is killing me.”
Aria had complained of back pain several times over the last few weeks, so while this wasn’t new information, I tracked her movements and looked for clues that it might be more than that. But I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, and as she swallowed the sip of water she’d just taken and her face relaxed a little, I relaxed, too.
“Well, stay off your feet for a little while. The wedding is going well and there shouldn’t be much for you to do as long as things don’t get crazy. They’ve already done most of the major dances, and the DJ takes care of all that anyway.”
“Yeah, true. I guess I picked a good time to need a rest.”
I snorted at her belief that she had any control over this. “Guess so.”
“How are you, by the way? Was the whole triple-wedding weekend as rough for you as it was for me?”
“Uh, no.” I gestured to her baby bump with a laugh. “But I’m not wearing a medicine ball under my clothes.”
Aria managed a giggle, and something inside me loosened. Then her smile grew wider as she peered over at me. “So, how was your reading date with Beau yesterday?”
Her abrupt subject change caused me to blink and sit up straight. “Reading date?”
“Yeah. I hoped you two would get to spend some time together between the weddings, and I gotsoexcited when I saw you reading. How was it?”
I waved a hand. “We just sat there and read. It wasn’t a big deal.”
I left out the part where he’d peppered me with questions I hadn’t been prepared to answer. I wasn’t used to a man looking at me like I was a puzzle he wanted to solve. Usually, I was the one doing that, then promptly reminding myself to act natural and bubbly so they didn’t get freaked out.
Aria blinked. “That’s it? You sat at a table—alone—with the man you’ve been crushing on since the day you met him… and all you did wasread?”
I squinted at her. “He read too.”
