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“What can I get’cha, boys?” Mrs. Letty asks, appearing out of nowhere, a coffee pot in her hand.
“My usual, Mrs. Letty.” Emmett smiles at the older woman.
“Of course. How is that gorgeous girl of yours?” Mrs. Letty asks, a beaming smile spreading over her mouth. “Any updates on the wedding?”
“She’s doing okay. Been busy with the wedding stuff and setting up the business.”
Mrs. Letty nods. “I’ve heard! She’s opening a rehabilitation center up on the ranch?”
“That’s right, ma’am.”
“She’s always been a good one. You lucked out.”
Emmett’s grin widens. “Don’t I know it.”
“Glad at least one of you appreciates the good women in their lives.” Those sharp eyes turn to me, giving me a pointed look. So much for subtlety. “And what can I get you, Mr. Fernandez?”
“Mr. Fernandez? Seriously, Mrs. Letty? Mr. Fernandez is my dad.”
“No, your dad is Luis. You, Mr. Hot-Shot-Football-Player, are Mr. Fernandez,” she says as she fills our mugs with coffee.
“Ouch,” Emmett mutters quietly so Letty won’t hear him.
I glare at him. So much for best friends sticking up for one another.
“So what can I get’cha?”
Letting out a sigh, I place my order—what used to be my usual at the diner—which earns me a huff before she turns on the balls of her feet and marches back to the counter.
“Talk about making a man feel welcomed,” I comment dryly, shaking my head.
“It’s all your damn fault. Not only did you walk away, but you also broke Becky’s heart in the process, and you know how much people around here love her.”
But what about my heart?
Nobody asked about that. Nobody asked me what exactly happened that day. They just assumed that I did something wrong. When, in reality, she was the one who walked away without even giving me a chance to explain.
“So, how are the wedding preparations going?” I ask, pointedly changing the subject to the reason why I came here in the first place.
Emmett lets out a groan. “They’re… going. Mom and Mabel have all these ideas they keep throwing at us, even though Kate was pretty specific that she wants asmallwedding.”
“Yeah, good luck with that, dude.”
There was no such thing as a small wedding here in Bluebonnet. It was an all-town affair, and considering how loved and respected the Santiago’s are in the community, they’ll be lucky if they manage to keep it contained at all.
“I just want it done and over with so I can enjoy my wife.”
“I can hardly believe you’re not enjoying her as it is.” I quirk my brow at him, but he just hums non-committedly. Not that I expected anything different. Kate was always off-limits to anybody. “Didn’t you guys move in together?”
I remember Emmett mentioning he officially asked his dad to buy a part of the Santiago land a couple of years ago, just around the time he proposed to Kate. Since then, he’s been working his ass off to build their house, which was finished just recently.
A smile flashes on my friend’s face. “We did, but I’m ready to call her my wife. I’ve been ready for years now, you know that.”
I did. Emmett would have married her straight out of high school. That’s how crazy he was about her. Hell, he would have married her that first day he met her. Period. A part of me thought he was bonkers, but he knew they’d end up together.
Kate didn’t mind going with him to college,a bitter voice reminds me.It’s hard to work on a relationship when one party isn’t invested in it one hundred percent.
“Just a few more weeks.”
