Page 11 of A Wilder Wedding

“And here’s our vineyard manager right here. Amos, here’s some of our tour group; you don’t have to say a few words, but you do have to wave. Wave, Amos.”

I scowled at Maddie, because I could not believe she was making me do this. I wasn’t a fucking circus bear doing tricks. But I waved like the good little circus animal I was, and while most people laughed, waving back, I only had eyes for Joanna.

She looked back at me but didn’t look surprised. No, she looked resigned. As if she expected me to still be here. Not moving on, not changing.

“Mother said you were still here. I’m more surprised than I should be.”

Maddie looked between us, her eyes widening as she realized that maybe this was awkward after all. She continued discussing the vines and my duties before she gestured everyone to move away.

Joanna and her family didn’t.

Instead, they stood there, staring at me, even the little kids. The toddler in the man’s arms gave me a weird look and I felt like I was being judged.

Well, that seemed apropos when it came to Joanna’s family. Why wouldn’t her kids do the same thing?

“Amos?” Maddie asked, her voice low and concerned.

I put on my best fake smile and turned towards Maddie.

“I’ll take this crew back to the main room. And then they can meet up with you for the next part of the tour? You’re doing the wedding venue next, right?” I asked, scrambling to remember the order of the tour.

Maddie studied my face, looking for answers, but she just nodded.

“Okay. Okay.”

She gave Joanna a look that could have been curiosity or condemnation, I didn’t know. All I did know was that I was damn glad that Maddie was on my side.

“Joanna. Surprised to see you here.”

“I guess I already said that I wasn’t surprised to see you here.” She cleared her throat. “Jason, darling, this is Amos.”

“Nice to meet you,” the other man said, but his voice implied the exact opposite.

“This is Rella, Belle, and our Prince Charming is coming soon.” She beamed as she said it, and it took me a minute to realize exactly what Rella stood for.

As in Cinderella. Belle, fromBeauty and the Beast, and the little boy she was carrying was prince charming. I really hoped the kid’s name wasn’t going to be Prince or Charming. It was hard enough to be a kid these days without a Disney-fied name.

“It’s good to meet you,” I said to the kids, who just blinked at me.

They were so quiet and well-behaved. It was a little odd considering the only kids that I knew were the Wilders. And the Wilder kids were really well-behaved, but they were anything but quiet. They were kids. They played, they shouted, but they stayed out of the way when they were told. They were respectful, but they were still kids.

These kids looked like pod children.

Or maybe I was just being too harsh. I didn’t know them, after all. I didn’t know any of them.

“Anyway, we had a free weekend and thought we would come visit and see what the Wilders have done. Things sure have changed since I was last here.”

Could this be any more awkward? No, I didn’t want to know.

“Well, progress and all that.”

“Funny, you didn’t really like progress before.”

“You know what, let me lead you guys back to the main building,” I said, not really in the mood to fight. Because that’s all Joanna and I did at the end.

Her husband didn’t say a damn thing. He just looked at me, as if confused how a person like Joanna, all spiffed and polished, would ever want to be with a man like me. I didn’t understand either, because I didn’t love Joanna anymore. I didn’t know why we had clicked in the first place.

But what the hell did I know?

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