Page 52 of The Bourbon Bargain

“Hater said we couldn’t bring a plus one.” Zander punches me in the shoulder a bit too hard to be playful.

I fight the urge to rub my shoulder. He’s only telling half the truth. I actually told him if he brought one of his skanky one-night stands to my wedding I would bury him under the titan arum in this garden and no one would ever find him because the corpse flower stinks enough to cover up the smell of decomposition.

“That’s a truly horrible nickname,” Paige says, her eyebrows furrowing. “I guess that makes me glad I never had a sister to be mean to me like that.”

“This is nothing. Hayes was the worst big brother. He was always so serious and mean,” Zander complains, holding a hand up to his face and whispering behind it like he’s sharing some big secret with her.

“I can imagine he kept you in line more than anything.” Paige’s smile is radiant, and I feel like a lucky sonofabitch to see that daily.

“Oh, he could be a downer, Zander’s not wrong about that. But yeah, I think he meant well,” Payton supplies.

“What’s this about being a downer? Are we recounting tales of Hayes in his youth?”

I turn to see Mom and Dad entering the garden. Mom’s dark hair is down, for once, and she has on a nice navy dress that reminds me of the few times she accompanied Dad to business dinners and galas when we were growing up. She isn’t much for getting fancy, so those were few and far between. Dad is wearing a suit he’s probably had for a decade despite being able to buy a new one for every day of the year, but it still looks sharp on him. The dark charcoal sets off his thick head of silver hair and twinkling green eyes, which are a little more hazel than my own. Mom’s gray-blue eyes are focused on me with smile lines deepening around the edges. Both Payton and Zander got their eye coloring from her, though each favors opposite sides of the spectrum, with Zander being a stormy gray and Payton a vivid blue. We’re all dark-headed and share enough of Dad’s features that you couldn’t miss that we’re related when we’re all in the same room, like right now.

“About time y’all showed up,” I say, holding my hand out for Dad to shake, then turning to capture Mom in a hug. “I was going to send out a search party and see if Dad had insisted on driving after all. Good to see you.”

“Hello, dear boy, nice to see you, too. Now, introduce me to your beautiful wife already,” Mom says, dismissing me quickly and craning her neck around the garden in search of my bride.

I hold my arm out and Paige moves toward us. “Paige, this is my mother, Rula Mae, and my father, Thatcher. Mom and Dad, this is my wife, Paige.”

“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you both,” Paige says, pulling them into a hug together. Mom’s eyes widen in surprise, but she laughs and pats Paige on the back. Dad endures the hug, kissing Paige’s head and showing more affection for a stranger than I may have seen from him in the last twenty years. That is certainly the effect Paige has on people, though.

“Honey, ain’t Hayes feeding you? You’re skinny as a bean pole but twice as pretty.” Mom pinches Paige’s upper arm between her thumb and forefinger, measuring her against some internal system that assumes I can’t take care of the woman I love.

Paige smiles and looks over her shoulder at me. “I like her.”

“Wait until she really starts in on you. If you think Zander is bad, you are in for quite a surprise, because that,” I say, pointing at Mom, “is where he learned everything.”

“Why, thank you, darling,” Mom says, flipping the hair off her shoulder.

“Tell me, Paige, how did you manage to turn this one around so spectacularly in such a short time? I never thought he would settle down or let up at work enough to even entertain the idea. You must be something,” Dad says, putting his arm protectively around Paige’s shoulders and dropping his head toward hers while pointing at me.

“Oh, come on, you make it sound like I was a lost cause.”

“You were,” Mom says without inflection, causing everyone to laugh.

“I like to think that he was waiting for me,” Paige says, sending me a look that reminds me of the heart-eye emojis she’s taken to sending in texts. “Or maybe we were both in the right place at the right time, and it was just… fate.”

“Now that everyone is here, we can begin the rehearsal,” Caroline interrupts, clapping her hands in the air for our attention. “You three, get over there by the judge, and don’t make me tell you twice.” She gestures for me, Payton, and Zander to stand by the waterfall. “Take your parents with you, boys, you’ll be ushering them in first before taking your spots.”

“I wouldn’t want to see her mad,” Mom says under her breath, making Paige and I both laugh.

Zander takes her arm and leads her off to a chair, while Dad and Payton follow, heading toward Judge Whitaker, who will be our officiant, at Paige’s request.

“Hayes, get going. Paige, come this way,” Caroline continues, gesturing toward the vestibule where Paige will make her entrance and cross through the Elysium Garden to me.

“Ready?” Paige asks quietly, hugging my arm and looking up at me.

“Always.” I let her go and watch as she walks through the garden.

I feel a shiver run down my spine in anticipation as I take my place. Despite already being married, and knowing none of this changes anything, I’m still feeling some kind of way about the ordeal, and it has me excited unlike anything else, except for Paige, of course.

The rehearsal goes well enough that Caroline only makes us repeat it twice before releasing us for dinner at a nearby restaurant. Despite seeing it several times, watching Paige walk through the garden gave me chills, and I can’t wait to see her do it tomorrow.

After dinner, Paige pulls me into the coat room, feeling a little brazen thanks to a few glasses of wine, and I fuck her against the wall. I have to keep my hand over her mouth when she comes to keep us from being too obvious. The fast and dirty interlude seems to settle both of us, so when we emerge several minutes later, only slightly rumpled and looking no worse for wear, no one says a damn thing.

We say goodnight to both sets of parents and watch as the group dwindles to just my brothers, Alex, Paige, and me.

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