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“Oh.” Ciera screwed her mouth to the side and glanced in the direction of the dance floor, looking more concerned than surprised. “Yeah. I heard that.”
“Wait? Heard that?” Paige sat straight up and glared at her best friend. “Like before you watched them walk into the wedding?”
Ciera kept her eyes on the dancing couple and waited a second too long before answering. “Maybe.”
“You knew he was in town and you didn’t tell me?” Did she have any idea how much humiliation she could’ve prevented if Paige had a heads-up? The memory of their disastrous meeting in The Chateau caused heat to sear her cheeks. Why would her best friend keep something like this from her?
A pained expression fell over Ciera’s face. “We were waiting for the right time to tell you. We didn’t want to upset you.”
Paige thrust her chin in the direction of the happy couple. Hurt and frustration flanked her already dismal spirit. “Too late.”
Ciera squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Paige. I should have told you before tonight, but I honestly thought he wouldn’t come. And if he did, I was sure he’d call you first.”
Paige watched the happy couple gliding around the floor, and she had an idea of what had been keeping him too busy to pick up the phone. A fresh wave of hurt washed over her. “How long has he been in town?”
“I’m not sure. Georgia told me about it a week ago. I guess his company moved him back to work out of the office here.”
“Georgia knows!” Paige shrieked, a little too loud. She glanced around to see if anyone had noticed then lowered her voice. “Am I the last to find out?” Seriously, did any of her friends know how to work a phone? Or drop a text, send a smoke signal, anything? What was wrong with these people?
Ciera took a deep breath. “You’re not going to like this next part.” She surveyed the room as if looking for help to deliver whatever she was about to say.
“He’s one of the groomsmen in Georgia and Lane’s wedding. We were trying to figure out how to tell you.”
Paige didn’t move as she tried to absorb this news. Georgia, Ciera and Paige had been close friends since they met in college, and the two women were bridesmaids in Georgia’s upcoming wedding. The one where they would all be spending the weekend at their favorite beach in the Florida panhandle which just so happened to be the very same beach where she and Brody had first gotten together. She could almost taste the iced white chocolate mocha they would sip as they strolled through the cute town, lost in conversation, letting all the other coffees they’d gone to get for their friends go cold.
Sure, she knew Brody was friends with Lane before they started dating. Lane was the reason they met, but she never even considered him being in the wedding. When he went overseas, Paige had assumed he had abandoned all of them.
She watched the happy couple spin around the dance floor as she let Ciera’s words settle over her. So, it really was over. Tears pricked her eyes.
This wasn’t how their story was supposed to go. Brody’s temporary European assignment was supposed to be a speed bump, something to give their perfect story an interesting twist when they told it at their fiftieth wedding anniversary. But here he was, holding some other girl in his arms.
“Who is she?” Paige whispered, afraid that if she used a full voice her tears would spill over her eyelids. And once they started, she didn’t know if she’d be able to stop them.
Ciera didn’t bother to turn around to look at the girl Paige asked about. “Some actress who’s old summer camp friends with Lindy Grant. I guess she’s about to start a new TV show that will be filmed in Austin, and she’s staying with Lindy while she decides if she wants to get a place there or stay here and make the hour commute.”
Actress made sense. She held herself with the kind of confidence and grace which begged people to look at her. And she was annoyingly beautiful. She was the complete opposite of Paige, which somehow felt even more discouraging.
“How’d they meet? They look pretty chummy for two people who just arrived in town.”
Ciera shifted, stealing a glance at the couple. “According to Georgia, they actually met in Europe a while back. She was on location for some sort of movie near where he was living, and Lindy set it up so he could show her around on her day off. I guess she was charmed by him and they kept in touch.”
“And they just so happened to move to the same place at the same time?”
“She’s telling everyone it’s fate.” Ciera rolled her eyes. “They started dating as soon as he got back in town.”
“I don’t think I like her.”
Ciera laughed. “No? If it makes you feel any better, according to Georgia, neither does Lane.”
It did make her feel a little better, in a sad, petty sort of way. She propped her chin on her fist and watched the happy couple. “I should get back to work.” Or at the very least, she should stop staring at them. Watching Brody with his new girlfriend was a bad idea, but she couldn’t make herself look away.
Someone dropped into the chair on the other side of her and startled her. For the first time since the song had started, she tore her gaze away from Brody to see Aiden’s cheerful face. And what was even better than seeing a friend was the delicious sweet scent drifting up from the paper baskets he held in each of his hands. “Food truck’s here with the midnight snacks,” he said. “Time for some decent desserts.”
Paige glanced at her watch. “I didn’t realize how late it was. I have to go make sure it’s in the right spot.”
Aiden and his investment partner owned one of the most popular restaurants in Hilltop. As a wedding gift to his cousin, Aiden had Cedar Break’s food truck bring late-night snacks to the wedding partiers. According to her master timeline, she should’ve been out there five minutes ago to make sure everything was up and running.
“Don’t worry, Wedding Boss. I made sure the truck was exactly where you told us it needed to be, and my staff was ready to start pumping out desserts. Your assistant’s outside keeping an eye on it.” He slid the paper tray holding his famous chocolate lava cake across Paige to his sister. “It’s taken care of. And there’s already a line.” He winked at her and shoveled a forkful of cherry turnover a la mode into his mouth.
