Page 43 of The Problem with Players

He took my hands into his, giving them a light squeeze. “Like a dream come true.” His eyes fell on the wedding ring Tatiana stitched onto my dress, and a moment of sombernessfound him. “Two of my favorite heartbeats resting against one another.”

My father.

The romantic.

There were so many nights I’d wished his blood ran through my veins. I knew I would’ve been better with Matthew Kingsley’s love in my DNA.

Tatiana excused herself as the photographer captured a few photos of my father and me. Then Daddy asked them to give us a moment of privacy.

“You look so much like your mama, Avery Harper.” He sniffled, holding my hands to his chest. Tears fell from his eyes, and he shook his head. “You’d think giving away one daughter already would’ve made this easier. But it’s just as hard.”

I wiped away his tears. “You softy, you.”

“Just you wait. It comes with age.” His brown eyes locked with mine. “Are you sure you want to do this today?”

How many people were going to ask me that?

“Daddy,” I scolded.

“I’m just saying. Ryan’s fine and all?—”

“Wesley,” I corrected.

“Whatever. The rocket scientist is nice and all, but you…you’re the shooting star. Don’t forget that, will you?”

“I won’t.”

He kissed my forehead. “Okay. I’m going to wipe my face before we get this ball rolling. Ten-minute warning. I’ll see you out there. I love…” he started, tapping my nose.

“You,” I replied, tapping his back.

I was happy when I had a moment to be alone. I needed to remind myself how to breathe, yet my dress felt so tight that it was almost impossible to do. When I was alone, I allowed my smile to falter. When I was alone, I didn’t have to pretend to be okay.

I stood in front of the oversized mirror, smoothing myhands over the fabric of my gown and shaking my head slightly. “Mama, what should I do?” I whispered, praying she could hear me from wherever she was.

Before I could turn around, the dressing room door opened through the mirror, and Wesley appeared.

“Wesley! What are you doing? You can’t be in here!” I shouted as I darted behind the couch in the dressing room. “It’s bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day!”

“It’s fine,” he said, clasping his hands together. “You know superstitions are ridiculous. The probability of?—”

“Don’t come talking about scientific probabilities when it comes to seeing the bride in her dress on the wedding day,” I ordered. “Let me be superstitious about this one thing. Leave.”

“Avery,” he said. The seriousness of his somber tone shot a wave of panic through my chest.

I rose and tilted my head toward him. “What’s going on?”

He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck before sliding his hands into his pockets. “I, um, I just found out some pretty big news.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just…Drew just called me with some big news. I got the job.”

I narrowed my eyes. “The job?”

He brushed his hand over the back of his neck. “I didn’t want to mention it until I knew for sure. Honestly, I didn’t think I had a real shot at it. This is all surreal, but well, I wanted to tell you now before we…continued.”

“Tell me what? What’s the job?”

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