Page 26 of The Trouble with Runaway Brides

Surely I can figure out something. Maybe I need to get Brinley to forgive her so she can help Kenzie plan the entire thing. Not that I don’t think I can handle seeing Kenzie marry Will. I’m tougher than my family gives me credit for.

“I’ll figure it out.”

She shakes her head as if exasperated by me. “Good luck with that.” She rounds the counter. “I’ll let you get to dinner, but sweetie, please keep that armor up. She has a way of making you abandon all common sense. You’re usually so cautious, but with her…” She runs her hand up and down my arm.

“You don’t have to worry about me, okay, Mom?”

She laughs. “Tell that to me after you’ve had kids. Worrying about you isn’t a choice, sweetie, it’s a career.”

I hug her goodbye and watch her walk across my yard to her own. My dad pulls in the driveway and into the garage. She goes to get the mail and he meets her halfway up the driveway. They embrace and share a chaste kiss, but my mom lays her head on my dad’s chest and he walks her into the house.

They’ve given me the perfect example of how a marriage should work. Because of that, I know Kenzie isn’t the one for me. But that doesn’t change how my heart feels. When I see her or hear her voice, I only want to get closer.

We’re practically strangers now. I should be able to help her pick out a cake and a meal and linens. Give me a break. I’m Lance Whitmore, one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City. I don’t need Kenzie Gavino’s attention anymore.

The entire drive to the restaurant, I work to convince myself that I only have to make this work for a few weeks, then she and Will won’t ever return to Lake Starlight. I risk running into them from time to time in New York City, but it’s big enough that I should be able to keep it to a minimum after they’re married.

It’s settled. I don’t need to shell out money for a wedding planner. I’m going to do this. Maybe my mom is right. Maybe watching her marry someone else will finally close the door that’s always been left ajar between us.

Nine

Kenzie

“Oh. My. God!”

Blake elbows me. “Everyone on the plane is going to hear you. What is it?” He leans in to look at the screen of my phone.

I press the flight attendant button because I’m gonna need some alcohol.

She comes over and eyes Blake with appreciation, but she’s wasting her time. “What can I get you?”

Blake takes the phone from my hands.

“I need three bottles of vodka and a can of Sprite.”

Her eyebrows rise.

“Please. It’s really important.” I give her my best “please take pity on me” face.

She looks back to who I assume is another flight attendant because I can’t see them.

Blake ignores our conversation entirely, totally engrossed in what he’s reading on my phone.

“I’ll be right back,” the flight attendant says.

“Thank you!” I put my hands together in prayer.

“Now that you have drinks coming, explain this.” Blake holds out the phone.

I take a couple of deep breaths to calm my racing pulse. “When I was in high school, Buzz Wheel was a blog, but now it’s an app. It’s basically like Page Six in New York except in Lake Starlight. No one knows who writes it, but whoever it is gossips about people in town. Residents can write in and send pictures for proof of whatever the claim is. It used to delete every day at midnight when it was just a blog, but now it stays up for an entire month. Two days ago, I was the selected target.”

The flight attendant brings me the vodka and Sprite. I pay and then pour my drink.

Blake turns his attention back to the phone again and quietly reads it out loud while I look around for anyone I might recognize.

“Well, well, talk about a blast from the past. Guess who I just heard will be coming to Lake Starlight after never returning after college? We’ll call her KG, so this article won’t ping any Google searches. The last thing we want is a whole bunch of reporters from the Big Apple flooding into town. I might have to give the full story for our newer residents because her name has only been whispered about on our streets since she divided two cousins. KG was Brinley Kelly’s best friend in high school, but that didn’t stop KG from sinking her teeth into Brinley’s cousins. That’s right, plural because she fell for both Lance and Easton, but it was Lance who won in the end. KG and Lance dated for almost three years until they broke up before college, promising that if they didn’t meet anyone else, they’d reconnect. But she went to college with, you guessed it, Easton, while Lance went to Columbia in New York City. Rumor has it that Easton and Kenzie had a fling and Easton felt so bad that he called Lance, apologizing profusely. It caused a rift between them for years. From what we know, Lance and KG never spoke again until a few weeks ago.

“Somehow, and we don’t know how, if you have the info, message me; KG is now set to marry Lance’s most hated rival, at Glacier Point Resort.

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