Page 48 of Love Without Demands

“You had your own wedding stuff to deal with and then the honeymoon,” Lehra told her.

Gianna pulled out her phone and tapped her thumbs against the screen. “Well, I’m back now, and I’m your ride-or-die. Now, who all is coming this weekend?” She looked up from her phone, waiting for a response.

“You and me. Nicolette and Artie.”

“And me,” I piped up and two sets of eyes snapped to me. “What? I figured five against two couldn’t hurt.” I smiled softly at Lehra, and she returned it. “I told you I would support you, Tink.”

Her lips rolled between her teeth as we locked eyes again. “Thanks Cruz. And Dwight won’t be there Friday and most of Saturday. He’s involved in some kind of project for work in Chicago.”

“Five against one then,” I corrected. “I like those odds.”

When I pulled my gaze from Lehra, I found Gianna staring speculatively at me, her finger tapping against her top lip. “Cruuuuuz.”

Shit, did she notice the way I was staring at Lehra?

“Yes, Giannaaaa?”

Her lips formed a wicked smile. “How do you feel about ascots?”

“I love that movie,” Artie said as we exited the plane.

“Bridesmaidsis my favorite,” Lehra agreed before elbowing me playfully. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen that before, Cruz.”

“I didn’t know what I was missing. Melissa McCarthy was hysterical.”

Gianna slipped on a pair of big, dark sunglasses as she descended the last step and pointed us toward the waiting limo. I’d driven Auburn’s limousine many times, but the only other time I’d been a passenger in one was my senior prom.

We all climbed in, and the driver took off. Gia had insisted that we leave New York at the ass-crack of dawn on this Friday morning, and we pulled up to the Jones house four hours earlier than Bambi was expecting us.

When Dwight’s mother answered the door, she was in a battleship-gray bathrobe, had some kind of mud mask on her face, and was sporting huge curlers in her hair. The look of shock on her face was worth getting up before the sun this morning.

“Wha—Y-you’re here,” she stammered, looking around at all of us in confusion while fingering the curlers. Good. We’d thrown her off. “Your flight wasn’t supposed to land until noon.”

Gianna took over and strutted—literallystrutted—past the woman and into her large house. The rest of us followed, stopping in the high-ceilinged foyer.

“Yes, well, with theunfortunate mix-upwith the airline, we decided to just come in my private plane. I do hope that’s okay,” Gia finished sweetly, still wearing her movie-star sunglasses.

“It’s, um, you… private plane?” The woman patted at the crust on her face, and her neck flushed. “But I sent tickets.”

Lehra spoke up, her saccharine tone matching Gianna’s. “I’m sure you can get a refund, since it was theairline’sfault that Artie didn’t have a ticket, right?”

God, I was so fucking proud to see her standing up to this woman. All she needed was friends at her back to stand strong. And isn’t that what we all needed?

Our entire group looked like a billion bucks. Gianna hadstyledus, whatever the fuck that meant. Artie was wearing a classy black suit with velvet lapels, and the ladies looked like a force ofnature in power suits. Nicolette was in black and white, Gianna in blood red, and Lehra was looking fine as hell in Barbie pink.

And me? Well, I was wearing a goddamn ascot with my ivory double-breasted jacket and pants in a material Gianna calledsummer linen. I felt a bit ridiculous, but Gia said she wanted me to look, and I quote, “like a fancy pants.” She hadn’t detailed her plan, simply told us to follow her lead.

“These are my bridesmaids, Artie Baker, Nicolette Bell, and Gianna Bouvier,” Lehra introduced. “I know you’ve been looking forward to meeting them.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Bambi gushed fakely, her ambitious eyes straying to Gia. “M-Mrs. Bouvier, I didn’t realize… when Lehra said she had a bridesmaid named Gianna, I didn’t know it was you. I saw photos of your wedding online. It was simply stunning.” She looked like she was about to get down and lick Gianna’s stilettos.

“It was,” Gianna said airily. “Some have called it the wedding of the decade.”

I knew she was acting, putting on a good front for the woman who had been bullying Lehra. Gia didn’t give a hoot about the trappings of wealth. A year ago she’d been fresh from graduate school and had next to nothing. Now, after marrying Auburn, she had more money than she knew what to do with. She may be playing the part of a snooty bitch, but in reality, she was the kindest woman in the world, one who would bend over backward to help her friends or anyone in need.

I hadn’t thought about it before, but I suddenly realized she was technically my sister-in-law, and that made me smile. Then she looped her arm through mine and tugged me closer.

“And this is Marvolo. He’s the wedding planner who helped me, and I couldn’t have done it without him.” She pressed a hand to her chest like she was getting emotional. “He was invaluable to me, and we’re so lucky to have him with us today.”

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