Page 26 of Redeemed

Sofia's mouth went suddenly dry. She'd meant to tell him about Jesse calling her. She really had, but she'd kept putting it off as they had been so happy. She bit her lip in trepidation. "Um, well, Amy, I mean, Amarylis, is Jesse's cousin. They're really close – practically like brother and sister. When she called freaking out about her person getting Covid, he mentioned us," she confessed.

JT's head whipped to Sofia before cutting back toward the road. "Jesse. As in your ex-boyfriend, Jesse?" JT asked, his tone going low.

"Yeah, remember he said that was why he was going through Gladewater when he came by the café that time? Because of his cousin's wedding?" Sofia answered, trying to sound casual.

"Were you going to mention this to me or just let me find out at the reception?" JT let go of her hand and gripped the steering wheel hard.

"I was," Sofia answered him. "I'd just forgotten about it. I didn't think it was important." With that lie, she couldn't stop herself bringing her fingers to her mouth and chewing on a nail. "It was such a great opportunity, I didn't think it mattered."

Maggie leaned forward at the sudden chill in the cab of the truck that had nothing to do with the weather. "So, is this going to be a problem for you, brother mine?" she asked, using her nickname for him to try to ease the tension. "Because Sofia is right. This is a great opportunity, and I don't need you going off half-cocked and messing it up for us."

JT took a breath and flashed a tight smile at his sister in the backseat. "It's fine," he answered. "I was just surprised. That's all."

Maggie eyed him carefully. "Okaaaay," she drew the word out, not really believing his answer. "Good, because you're going to have all these people knocking down our doors once they taste your food if you do it right."

"And Jesse won't even be here," Sofia interjected. "It's just going to be Amy, Gage and probably Amy's mom and sister. He'll be at the wedding, of course, but we'll be so busy we won't even notice him, I'm sure."

"Yeah, okay," JT grumbled.

Sofia reached out and pried his hand from the steering wheel to wrap in her own again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have."

She finally saw him take a deep breath and his shoulders relax. He glanced her way and gave her a small smile. "It's okay. Really, baby. I'm sorry I got stupid about it for a minute."

When he brought her hand to his lips again, she almost sagged with relief. She didn't normally shy away from confrontation, but she didn't want to fight with JT. She'd waited so long to be in this place with him. She didn't want to spoil it. If he found out she and Jesse had been engaged, she didn't know what he would do.

Chapter twenty-four

The Man Mountain Cometh

JThadtoadmithe was impressed with the venue as he, Maggie and Sofia finished their tour. It was billed as a farm, but it was fancier than any farm he had ever seen. The 'barn' was a great white and green structure that he was sure had never housed any animals. It had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides and sliding doors on the two ends to open it up to the outside if the bride wanted an open-air affair. Of course, it was fully air conditioned being that it was in East Texas. The floors were a beautiful light grey oak and there was plenty of room for a sit-down dinner for up to 200 without having to move any dining tables to make a dance floor.

"It's really impressive," JT told Stephanie Milam, the owner. "Any bride would be lucky to get this space."

Stephanie beamed at him. "It's been a labor of love. Chuck, that's my husband, wasn't convinced when I said I wanted to create a wedding venue on his old homestead," she admitted, "but even he has to admit, it's all been worth it. We've been able to retire from our corporate jobs and do this full time." She clasped her hands in front of her chest. "It's like living in a fairytale."

JT rubbed a knuckle over his lip in amusement. Bet it wasn't such a fairytale when she had to deal with a bridezilla, or worse, mom of bridezilla. "It's a great thing to love what you do," he told the enthusiastic woman and gave Sofia and Maggie a wink.

By the time they had completed the tour, Amarylis, her mother, the groom, and his mother had arrived for the consultation. She was a pretty girl with dark brown hair cut in a shoulder-length bob and startling hazel eyes. She clung to Gage, her fiancé, like he might disappear into thin air if she wasn't careful. Sofia had been right, however. Amarylis was very exacting in what she wanted. Luckily, she was also reasonable and didn't have any requests that JT was worried about. Well, except for the tamales and menudo she was insisting on. Those two requests made him sweat just a little. He'd never made either one, and hadn't even ever eaten menudo. He'd have to find someone to give him a crash course as soon as possible.

Two hours later, JT was just finishing up the final checklists with them when he heard a familiar, and completely unwelcome, voice. "I heard the prettiest bride in all of Texas was in here," the booming voice said, echoing across the mostly empty space. JT's head swiveled to the doors. Sure enough, it was the man mountain, Jesse.

Amarylis popped up out of her seat, running to her cousin with a squeal. Jesse grabbed her by the waist and swung her around in a circle like a rag doll. "What are you doing here? It's a Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon!" Amarylis asked.

JT thought he'd really like to know that as well. Wasn't this guy some hotshot stockbroker in Dallas? He seemed to have a lot of time to run around the backwoods lately.

"Boss had me come out to bring some papers to a big client," Jesse told his sister. "The man hardly ever leaves his ranch. Figured I'd come check out this place and make sure everything was going okay while I was out here."

JT looked at Sofia ready to give her a 'can you believe this guy?' look, but she was busy looking at Jesse. Looking extremely happy to see him again. JT's face hardened. Jesse's smile turned up another notch when he saw Sofia. He immediately went to her and placed his giant hands on her shoulders and squeezed. "Good to see you, Sof."

Sofia's smile got even brighter, if that was possible. She covered one of his hands with her own as she looked up happily at the man standing over her. The touch seemed way too comfortable, almost intimate, to JT. His chest felt suddenly tight, and he tried to rub the knot out of it with one hand. He desperately wanted to slip Sofia out from under the man and pull her next to him instead. Hold her close and tell the man mountain to back the hell off. Maggie was giving him a death stare, however, and he knew he couldn't do anything to fuck up this meeting no matter how hard it was to maintain his professionally pleasant mask.

"Well, I think we've got everything," Maggie interjected quickly, taking in her brother's expression. "Don't we JT?" She raised an imperious eyebrow at him daring him to say otherwise.

"Yeah, I think that's everything," JT answered, his voice rough. "Um, I'll just need the final head count by next week."

Amarylis nodded in agreement. "I'm so thankful you could jump in at the last minute for us," she said to the trio. "I didn't know what I was going to do before Jesse recommended you!"

"We're so glad we could do it," Maggie assured her as she started to heave herself to her feet. "Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day. We won't let you down."