Page 34 of The Best Man Wins

Marlee screeches in the background.

“I have to go,” Thom says. “I think Marlee just thumbtacked her thumb. You’ve got this, Susie.”

“But I don’t—” The line goes dead.

I don’t know what I’m doing.

I flop down on the bench and stare at my phone. Okay, Susie. Think. You’re the one in charge of this wedding. And no one can ruin that, not even a code green. You have a legal pad, a phone full of contacts, and a dress with pockets. Sleepless, maybe, but your bun is holding up surprisingly well, and you look really cute today. Letty wouldn’t have handed you this assignment if she didn’t think you could do it. You can conquer anything—even Braxton West. Get your head in the game.

I drop my phone into my pocket just as Ray and the gang start pouring out of the restaurant.

“Whew! I don’t think I could put another thing in my mouth,” Ray announces.

“Well, there go my plans for the rest of the night,” Mandy sighs dramatically.

Ray chuckles. “Watch it, girl.”

Yeah, watch it. “Where’s Braxton?” I ask and get to my feet.

Ray twists around. “He was right behind us.”

“He’s settling the tab,” Mandy adds.

Sure enough, Braxton steps out not moments later, tucking his wallet back into his pocket. While Ray, Mandy, and Colburn fall into conversation, I decide to take a page out of Mandy’s bad pickup line book and slip beside Braxton.

“Man with the big wallet,” I murmur. “I wonder what else is big?”

Braxton scrunches his eyebrows together. “What?”

“You know what.” I wiggle my eyebrows and nudge him with my shoulder.

“No,” he says flatly. “I don’t.”

“Hey.” Ray’s voice drowns out my failing attempt to be coy. He lifts his phone. “Ma’s having a bonfire tonight…we pull one out every time we can get everyone together. Y’all are all invited.”

“Me too?” Mandy asks.

“Of course,” Braxton inserts himself. “You’re my plus one.”

He steps beside her, and his hand settles protectively on her back. I want to rip my hair out.

“All aboard the wedding train!” Ray says and gestures toward his truck.

16

Braxton

The Daltons, it turns out, go all out with their bonfires.

By time the sun starts to set, they already have a pile of logs set up behind the house. Ray does the honors of getting the fire going, and it’s not long before the flames catch.

I watch the fire as it burns, incinerating the smaller sticks first and then eating through the bigger logs. Mandy sits on the flat log beside me, sipping her beer. Cynthia and Candace share a Corona Light beside Colburn as they huddle away from the smoke. Susie, Lena, and Roxanne flank my right.

Mandy and I haven’t looked at each other. Not once. She’s got her hawk-eyed vision locked on Ray, and I’m watching my sister. Cora’s raven hair gets lost in the inky black of the sky when she tosses her head back and laughs at another one of Ray’s mediocre stories. Cora and Ray’s knees brush, and every now and then, he kisses her cheek or her neck. When she rests her head on his shoulder, I can’t stop myself from speaking up.

“So you ride horses, is that right?” I ask Mandy loudly enough to stop any other conversation.

Mandy’s smile looks shy in the firelight. “Sure…me and everyone else here.”

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