“I saw Samantha in the background of the video and asked who that was. She’s a lovely woman, after all. And she told me that was who you’d be with at the wedding. I can’t wait to meet her.”

He ground his teeth together. He’d have to get out of that situation. The sooner, the better. “Mom, I’m not sure I’ll be with anyone at the wedding.”

“Well, it’s no wonder you haven’t found anyone to marry yet. Samantha traveled to Statem to be there with you for Addison’s wedding, and you plan on breaking up with her? That’s ridiculous.” Her voice raised higher. “I think you do this just to torment me. Your sister plans a wedding thousands of miles away and doesn’t want my help. You tell me you have a girlfriend and that I’ll finally get to meet her and then take that away from me, too.”

“But I just told dad you could help me pick out the new tile in my kitchen.” It sounded trite, but he held his breath, hoping she’d shift her focus away from Samantha. And Addie’s wedding.

“I’ll be happy to, Trevor. And I plan to be in Statem, soon. Please try to work out your differences with Samantha.”

Differences? They didn’t even have a relationship together to worry about having any differences. “Talk to you later.” He hung up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You weren’t planning on redoing your kitchen floor, were you?” Grayson chuckled as he sat up. “How much will that cost you?”

“Who the hell knows? I don’t even know how to handle the two of them any longer. Growing up, they didn’t seem like they gave a damn about Addie and me. Gone. All the time. And now, suddenly, our mom is taking an interest in everything we do. At this point, I just want Addie’s wedding to go smoothly, then she can hide out in Statem, and I’ll flee the country as usual.”

“Why wouldn’t my wedding go smoothly?” Addie stood in the door, wearing a pair of bright pink running shorts and a neon green tank top.

Trevor waved her off. “It will. Don’t worry about it. I told mom to back off.”

She groaned. “How did that go?”

“Typical. By the way, she’s determined now that Samantha is my girlfriend. You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?”

Addie bit her lower lip. Was she smiling about this?

Grayson let out a loud laugh. “Oh, I can’t wait to see you dig yourself out of this one, Trev. Amelia Johnson is a force. You know you got your persistence from her, right?” He pointed at Trevor. “And I’m happy about it when it comes to negotiating my contracts. What are you going to do about the girlfriend thing?”

“I don’t have to do anything until the wedding. Mom said she’s coming to Statem early for the bridal shower, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Ready for our run?” He passed the contract to Grayson. “Can you take this with you?”

“Yeah. And I think you should make it at least a seven-mile run, Addie. He had two beers last night out at Rhonda’s.”

Addie shot Trevor a wicked grin. “Oh?”

Trevor motioned toward the door. “I’m not the one getting married or about to be shirtless in a movie. I get to have a beer. As much as I want, actually.

They started on a jog, Trevor pacing right beside Addie as they headed out of town along the highway. His mom rarely cared about what he did. Or Addie, for that matter. Only when it involved her did she expect them to listen to her opinion. Their parents loved them in their way. It either came out as overbearing and pushy as hell or absent and distant.

After a couple of miles, Addie slowed down.

“What’s wrong?” Trevor immediately watched his sister’s face, trying to read her.

She stopped entirely and faced him. “I’ve been thinking about the wedding.”

“Are you getting cold feet?”

The seriousness of her expression fell away. “No! I want to marry Cameron more than anything in the world. I wanted to tell you that if you don’t think Samantha is up to singing for the wedding, then that’s fine. Becky told me how scared she seems of everything. I think you scare her as much as the singing does. Which is funny considering Mom now thinks you two have some deep relationship.”

“No thanks to you, four-eyes, but what do you mean that I scare her?”

“Becky said that Samantha was a complete mess during the cake tasting. That you flirted your ass off, and she could hardly function the rest of the day. Which makes sense. Twice I’ve seen you flirt with a woman, and both times they were askingyouout instead of the other way around.”

“I don’t think that will happen with Samantha.”

“I don’t want my wedding to push her while she’s trying to pull her life back together.”

Trevor set his hand on Addie’s shoulder. She should focus on the wedding. “That’s sweet of you. We’re supposed to rehearse tomorrow for the first time. Let me see how it goes.” He pointed toward a white house about six hundred yards away. “I’ll race you there.”

And try to take his mind off of ways he could help Samantha get over Jasper.