Page 6 of The Trouble with Runaway Brides

His gaze falls to the door behind me, and I look over my shoulder. Brinley and who must be her boyfriend, Van, walk through the door. My eyes widen at how huge he is and all the tattoos on his arms. He couldn’t be more opposite of her first husband Sawyer if he tried.

Regardless of our lack of a relationship over the past year, I’m still excited to see her. I screech and dart across the room before throwing my arms around her neck and pressing my body to hers. She stays stiff as a board for a second before patting my back.

“Oh my god!” I draw back and look at my oldest friend. “You look gorgeous, and this must be Van.” We shake hands.

“Nice to meet you,” he says in a deep voice, side-eyeing Brinley as if checking with her to make sure she’s okay.

The thought that that’s necessary makes my stomach sour, but I put on a smile. “The pleasure is all mine. I was supposed to meet my fiancé here, so imagine my surprise when he canceled and I bumped right into Lance.”

“What a coincidence,” Brinley says, looking past me at Lance.

When I first became friends with Brinley, I was intimidated by how close she was with Lance and Easton. They were more than cousins. The three of them were best friends, and I didn’t know where I’d fit in.

I lead them over to the table and Lance stands to say hello to them both.

We all sit, and Brinley buries her head in the menu. I get it. I haven’t been the friend I should have been over the years, and over the last year, we’ve really lost touch.

The table grows quiet, and I hate the awkward silence, so I fill it with nervous rambling. “So, we’ve had all these problems with the press lately. Somehow they keep figuring out the details of our wedding. My fiancé’s father is Wendell Asbury.”

Usually, I get a response to that, but Brinley and Van stare blankly at me. Okay then.

“Anyway, Lance gave me a great suggestion when we were chatting—we should have the wedding in Lake Starlight. Remember when we’d dream about having double weddings on the lake?”

Brinley’s mouth slowly falls open. I’m sure she’s shocked. “You’re going to get married on the lake?”

“The press will never think we’d have it all the way up in Alaska. It’s perfect.” I put my hand on Lance’s because I seriously owe him one.

Lance gently slides his hand out from under mine and I realize my mistake.

“I’m not sure what to say,” Brinley says, picking up her menu again.

“There really is no place like Lake Starlight,” Van says with a smile.

I mouth, “Thank you.” Finally, someone is on my side.

“Ow…” He reaches under the table to grab whatever limb I think Brinley just mauled.

The waiter comes over and interrupts us. We order drinks and then our lunch and I listen to them talk about their various family members, people I used to know every detail about. It makes me realize how far apart we really have become.

“And Easton is…” Brinley stops talking and her gaze flicks my way.

The table quiets. Either I address the elephant in the room, or we all act like Brinley has a sudden case of amnesia. “You can talk about Easton in front of me.”

“It’s not that. It’s just not important. Here comes our food.” Brinley signals toward the waiter approaching with a tray.

Forty-five minutes later, after a lunch filled with a lot of awkward conversation skirting around certain subjects, Lance says he has to get back to work.

“Let’s share a cab,” I say.

Lance agrees and Brinley scoffs but smiles when I look at her.

We give fake hugs bye. At least Brinley and I do. I’m pretty sure her hug with Lance is real and I probably don’t want to know whatever she whispered in his ear.

Lance holds the cab door open for me and I slide in while Brinley watches us like an evil stepmother. I don’t release a breath until the cab pulls away and we’re stopped at a traffic light.

“Does she really hate me that much?” I ask morosely.

Lance has his phone out. “It’s not that she hates you. She hates the two of us being near one another. I think she has a mild case of PTSD from everything that went down.” He chuckles, trying to lighten the mood, I think, but the heavy feeling pressing down on my body is still present.

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