Page 37 of The Love Chase
Of course, I’d deny it if I was ever asked about it.
With slow, shuffling footsteps, I followed after them, a single phrase repeating over and over in my head.
I’m marrying that man tomorrow.
“Okay, so you’ll stand here and then wait for the music to start,” Bridget instructed, pointing to the white velvet runway that led to Liam. Elsie and Maya stood at the end on the left, and a random person stood where Jameson would be standing during the wedding. He was going to be the best man since Liam didn’t have a very good relationship with any of his brothers, but he wasn’t able to get off work for the rehearsal.
Bridget gripped my elbow and dragged me down the aisle. It took every ounce of control I had over my body to not trip over the fabric that bunched up in the grass beneath my shoes. I barely had time to catch my breath before she shoved me forward into Liam’s arms. I wasn’t sure if it was the sun beating down on me or the heat from Liam’s hands that scalded my skin as he caught me.
His brows furrowed as he looked down at me. “Eggs benedict?”
I barely restrained a snort, my insides instantly melting. That had been our inside joke ever since we were kids. When one of us was sad or upset or hurt, we would say the other’s favorite breakfast food as a way to ask if they were all right. It had been so long since we’d done that, I was honestly shocked that he still remembered my favorite breakfast.
“Avocado toast,” I muttered without having to think about it.
Liam’s resulting smile had my knees weakening, and I was suddenly thankful that he was still holding me so I didn’t collapse.
Bridget clapped her hands then, right next to my ear, and I flinched back.
“So, Emma will come down the aisle after the bridesmaids,” she began, reiterating what had just happened, “and then Mr. Bob here will begin the ceremony.” She gestured to the stranger next to her, some old man she had scrounged up to marry us.
I wanted to run back inside and away from Bridget and Mr. Bob. This was not how I envisioned my wedding. I had always dreamed of someone important to me doing the wedding, with Jameson as one of the groomsmen, and my dad—
A pang went through my heart. It had been almost twenty years since he’d died, and yet the ache in my heart was just as fierce as the day I lost him forever. Sometimes it faded to the background, somewhat easier to ignore, but it never fully disappeared. Especially not now, when it should have been my dad walking me down the aisle, when he should have been putting my hand into Liam’s and telling him to be good to me.
Tears burned my eyes as I looked up at Liam, his own softening. He knew me so well I was sure he knew where my thoughts had gone. He had been by my side when my dad died. He’d held me while I cried.
Liam raised my hand to his lips and kissed it—his silent way of reassuring me.
“So, once the vows are said and the rings are exchanged, then the bride and groom will kiss and voilà! The end! Wedding over,” Bridget ended, clapping her hands again. I fought the urge to tie them together so she couldn’t clap anymore.
I hadn’t thought much about the fact that Liam and I would share our first kiss tomorrow, in front of everyone no less, and I fervently pushed it from my mind lest it freak me out to the point of running away.
“Real romantic,” I heard Maya whisper to Elsie, who then gave a soft snort.
“Now, if there are no questions from the wedding party, let’s head back to the house where dinner is waiting for us outside.”
Bridget didn’t even wait for any questions to be asked before she stalked back up the velvet aisle and headed toward the Walker house. Everyone let out some kind of mixture of a laugh and a sigh at the same time.
Bridget was something else.
Mr. Bob and his balding head and big glasses followed after her, his feet scooching across the grass like a penguin.
“Well, you heard the drill sergeant—err, I mean lady,” Maya said when Bridget was out of earshot. “Let’s go eat.”
Liam
The smell of barbeque filled the air as I wheeled Emma’s mom over to the giant tent that had been raised in my parents’ backyard. A handful of people lingered around, but I didn’t see anyone from my family.
I was hoping Wyatt would at least make an appearance at the wedding tomorrow since he had sent me a corny congratulations GIF when I’d texted him the news the other day, but I had no idea where my other siblings were. None of them deemed their youngest brother’s marriage to be of any importance, I guessed.
My parents were apparently on a Hawaiian cruise and couldn’t be bothered to come home early for their son’s wedding, even after Bridget did her best to convince them to cut their trip short.
I wanted to feel hurt, and maybe part of me was, but it wasn’t really that surprising to me that they hadn’t shown up. I’d come to expect nothing else from them.
Bridget had hired a whole crew of chefs to prepare dinner—a traditional Midwest summer feast. There was barbeque chicken and burgers on the grill with roasted sweet corn, pasta salad, and all the homemade kettle chips your heart could desire.
Why she felt the need to make grilling so fancy was beyond me. But at the little rumble my stomach did, I was suddenly grateful.