She glanced over her shoulder at me, her eyes flaring with instant panic.
She doesn't like strangers, I noted and walked coolly toward her to wrap my arm around her shoulders, caring more about her comfort than the transformation in Ivan's observant gaze.
“I told you I had a friend,” I said, inclining my head toward hers.
“Oh, right. Your one friend.” She nodded, her nerves unwinding just a little against my touch.
She took a step closer to my side when Ivan came to stand before us, his eyes alight with an excitement I both loved and wished I could extinguish.
“Well, well, well,” Ivan exclaimed, clasping his hands over his rounded belly as he looked between Stormy and me from behind his black-framed glasses. “I guess I'm not the only one with happy news this morning!”
My sigh was accompanied by the closing of my eyes as I scratched an invisible itch on my eyebrow. “Uh, Ivan … this is Stormy. Stormy, Ivan.”
“It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, m'lady.”
Ivan scooped Stormy's hand in his, bringing her knuckles to his lips. She tensed against my side and made an attempt to inch backward, and I cleared my throat loudly with a warning. He looked into my eyes before his lips could touch her hand, and I shook my head. Like a pro, he straightened his back and laid his other hand over hers, giving her knuckles a warm, friendly pat.
She relaxed with instant relief.
“It's nice to meet you too, Ivan,” she finally said after an uncomfortable few seconds.
He released his hold on her hand, lacing his fingers together once more over his middle, and looked up to meet my eye. “I have to say, Chuck, this is unexpected. You've been busy!”
“And you weren't supposed to be here until next week,” I reminded him, glowering into his beady, taunting gaze.
“Well, I was in the area—”
“You'realwaysin the area.”
“Well”—he lifted his hands in a helpless shrug—“I just happened to be driving by—”
“You pass by here every single day. You literally work down the street.” I gestured in the direction of the real estate office Ivan had gotten a job at once he could no longer handle the physical labor at the cemetery.
“Okay, fine,” he finally relented, rolling his eyes at his own expense. “I saw you out here with this very lovely, veryyouspecimen and thought I'd stop and say hi. But!” He held up one finger and waited approximately two seconds to continue, dramatically building anticipation. “That's not theonlyreason for this little impromptu visit.”
He reached into the pocket of his long, oversize tan coat and handed me an envelope adorned in silver ink and a matching wax seal.
Without giving it a further look, I raised a brow at him and asked, “What is this?”
“An invitation to my wedding, of course.” He grinned up at me with the expression of a man who'd found permanent residence on cloud nine.
Stormy peered over my arm as I ripped the envelope open.
I scanned the details quickly, then stated, “It's the day after Thanksgiving.”
“Yes, well, we wanted to hurry things along a bit, and we got a good deal on the venue,” he explained a little defensively.
I grunted a reply as I read further, my nerves kicking into high gear. “And it's in Connecticut.”
“That's where Lyla's family lives,” Ivan replied. “Her parents are too old to travel far from home, so we thought, why not bring the festivities to them? Plus, we'll already be in the area for the holiday, so”—he presented his hands in a gesture of grandeur—“why not make a weekend of it?”
Without saying a word, Stormy took the invitation from me and read over it as I struggled to work the boulder from my throat. I didn't want to raise suspicion, didn't want to express my current anxieties, but …Connecticut?!
“You're from around those parts, aren't you?” Ivan asked, revealing a fact that Stormy didn't yet know about me. “Maybe you could stay with a family member, if you didn't want to—”
“There is no family,” I quickly interjected, brash and on the defense.
Stormy looked up at me, surprise and shock widening her eyes. “You're from Connecticut?”