Page 18 of Love for a Lifetime

“Oh, no you don’t,” Anna said as she waved a finger in the air. “You still need a date. You’re not getting out of it.”

“I have a lot to do during and after the wedding. I don’t need a date.”

“And two-timing Trey will probably be there all cuddly with his flavor of the week,” Anna said.

“Who cares?” Dawson and Olivia said at the same time.

Okay. Maybe Olivia really didn’t need a date. She didn’t need to have a man standing beside her to feel like she fit in. Anna was the one who thought the world revolved around romance.

Uh-oh. Was he giving Anna the wrong idea? How’d he get roped into being her date again?

Anna huffed and pulled out her phone. “I swear. If you ever get married, they’ll have to wheel me down the aisle as your matron of honor.”

“Hey!” Dawson drawled. “I’m only thirty and a quarter years old.”

“Not you,” Anna said, pointing a finger at Olivia without looking up from her phone. “Miss Independent over there. I think I’ve found someone.”

Dawson was by Anna’s side before Olivia even moved. “Who?”

Anna tilted her phone so Dawson could see the social media profile she’d pulled up. “Mark Billings. He’s from a few counties over, and his profile says he’s been a truck driver for five years. That’s a long time to keep a job. Maybe that means he’s dependable.”

Dawson shook his head. “Nope. It says he’s been a truck driver, but it doesn’t say he’s been with the same company.”

“Fair enough, but he doesn’t look like a crusty old man with tobacco in his lip,” Anna said as she turned her phone around for Olivia to see.

“Way to generalize truckers,” Olivia whispered as she grabbed the phone to take a better look.

Was she really considering this? How did she go from “I don’t need a date” to checking out this guy’s profile in sixty seconds flat?

“He’s cute. I’ll give him that,” Olivia said.

Cute! The guy was cute now. Not only would Dawson not be going to the wedding with Olivia, but some cute guy in a big truck was going to get his girl.

“Do you even know this guy?” Dawson asked.

“No, but my brother commented on one of his photos last week. I’ll ask him about Mark,” Anna said.

“That’s all?” Dawson asked. “Someone you know might know him, and now you’re on a first name basis with the guy? We need a background check and his high school transcripts at the very least.”

Anna laughed, and the bubbly sound did nothing to dampen his panic. “Don’t get so worked up, Grandpa.”

“Have you ever heard of stranger danger?”

Anna straightened her shoulders and propped a hand on her hip. “Have you ever heard of live a little?”

“Yeah, you live a little, and then Mark is texting you asking for–”

“Whoa there!” Olivia shouted. “There are little ears around.”

Dawson cradled Genella to his chest, covering the little ears in question. “I was gonna say feet pics.”

Olivia bit her bottom lip and tilted her head from side to side before letting out a huff. “Let me know what your brother says.”

This was not happening. Olivia and Anna both wanted dates to the wedding, but somehow he got paired up with Anna.

Dawson’s chest expanded with the building pressure, and Genella was starting to get antsy in his arms. All of the excitement from earlier was gone–flatter than a popped balloon. “Have you seen Herbert?”

Anna looked up from her phone with one raised brow. “Herbert?”

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