Page 10 of Keep

When Cami released me to take her husband’s hand I found myself confronted by the maid of honor.

“Can I have one of those too?” Cassie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I think I can spare another one,” I said and pulled her close.

“And don’t be afraid to mess up my dress later,” she whispered in my ear but before I got too excited she had to back away and deal with wedding stuff. Apparently Cami was having some trouble getting the train of her dress pinned up.

Cadence Gentry, the younger sister of Cami and Cassie, rushed over. “I told the DJ to announce your grand entrance in exactly one minute,” she said.

Cadence was away at college so often I’d never really gotten to know her very well. She shared a mix of qualities with her older sisters. Cami’s wit, Cassie’s charm, plus a wild dose of unpredictability.

Cassie looked down. “What did you do with your shoes?”

Cadence lifted her gown and displayed a pedicured bare foot adorned with silver toe rings. “Heels aren’t my thing. Anyway I’m ready to dance. Had to ditch the eye candy though. It was getting on my nerves.” The youngest Gentry sister nodded at me. “Curtis, you’ll dance with me later, right?”

“Wait.” Cassie was perplexed. “You ditched Gareth?”

Cadence glanced back at the DJ booth, distracted. “Yeah.”

“Who’s Gareth?” Dalton asked.

“Her boyfriend,” Cami answered.

“I thought his name was Tim,” I said. I’d met the guy a couple of times and was unimpressed. He was the sullen beta male type who looked like he should be pouting on a billboard for three hundred dollar cologne.

Dalton was also confused. “I thought his name was Tim too.”

“It used to be,” Cadence said with impatience as if the whole thing should make perfect sense.

“Did you break up?” Cassie wanted to know.

Cadence was tired of talking about Tim-Not-Tim. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

Everyone had already found their assigned tables and was waiting for the next step so Cadence sort of shoved Cassie and me to the side before giving the DJ the thumbs up sign to spotlight Cami and Dalton.

“Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Tremaine!”

The room erupted in applause with plenty of hoots and hollers, the loudest coming from the table of Gentry cousins. I spotted Brecken over there with them, and I thought it was a kind gesture by the Gentrys to seat him at a family table. We weren’t officially family but we’d always been treated as if we were.

Those of us in the wedding party took our places at the head table. I felt a little funny sitting up there as if I was somebody important but then I reminded myself that it didn’t matter because no one was interesting in looking at me.

Hale was on my left side and frowning at his fluted champagne glass. “I hope they’re serving something harder than this bubbly shit.”

Cami whispered something to Cadence, who scurried over to the DJ in her bare feet. A moment later the announcement came.

“There is an open bar in the back but the bride and groom want to remind you to drink responsibly. And absolutely no one under the age of twenty-one will be served any alcohol.”

“Boo!” howled Kellan Gentry but I saw him quiet down and lower his head as soon as his no-nonsense mother Stephanie shot him a look from the next table.

Hale was already up out of his chair. “You want anything?” he asked me.

I shook my head. I wasn’t much of a drinker. Especially at an event where I needed to be on my best behavior. “Nah, I’m good. But thanks for asking.”

Hale nodded and made his way to the bar. He’d come to the wedding alone and I’d seen him roar into the hotel parking lot on his bike, refusing to allow a tuxedo to cramp his style. He stayed away for such a long time I was finished with my steak dinner when he finally returned. Meanwhile, my ear had been talked off by one of Dalton’s buddies from his ball playing days. The guy was probably all right if you were in the mood to focus endlessly on stuff like strike zones and on base percentages but I was glad when the meal ended and the DJ called for the bride and groom to take the dance floor.

Cami and Dalton danced to a newer cover of Your Song and didn’t appear to be aware that there was anyone else in the room as they moved to the music in between frequent kisses. People had started to leave their seats to mingle and head out to the dance floor so I rose and extended a hand to Cassie.

“Care to dance, beautiful?”

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