Page 28 of Playing Flirty

Of course I would. If I was entirely honest, I wished I could bebothmaid of honor and best man. I had already planned Neema’s bachelorette party, and I had a number of suggestions for William about Shaun’s bachelor party.

“Yes!” I screeched. “It’s on my Life Goals, and I’ve been itching to tick something off.”

I bounced into her arms, and William, in a completely unpredictable manner, pulled his brother in for a tight hug. Shaun seemed as surprised as the rest of us.

“Of course.” William squeezed Shaun and suddenly pulled back. “Although I don’t know if… you know.” His voice went soft and hesitant, unlike the free-flowing snark I was often on the receiving end of.

Know what?

But Shaun knew. His smile faded.

Neema and I exchanged glances and took our squealing to the balcony, leaving them alone in their moment.

I shut the door and turned to face her. A breeze whipped by and chilled my core. “What was that about?”

She shook her head. “No idea. But I’ll bet it’s got something to do with their dad.”

“Oh,” I said, thinking back through all our conversations. “I don’t think he’s mentioned him much. Did you know William’s mom died when he was little?” I asked, feeling a pinch of sorrow as I recalled his pained expression.

“Yeah, Shaun mentioned it. He doesn’t like to talk about William’s mom or their childhood. Seems the Ashderns have some issues.” Neema chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ve only met his dad once, and William didn’t come up in conversation at all, which seemed… weird.”

“The wedding’s going to be interesting.”

Neema’s deep brown eyes widened beneath closely drawn brows. “I fear it might be.”

My first duty as maid of honor was to arrange and attend pole dancing classes. Neema insisted she needed lessons in preparation for her wedding night—lucky Shaun. She also insisted we take the lessons with her. While I easily agreed to most of what Neema suggested, Claire didn’t usually.

“I’m surprised you came,” I said over my shoulder as Claire climbed into the backseat.

Her mom and her nephew stood on the porch, waving her off.

“So am I,” she huffed out. “But it was either this or playing another round of Mad Magazine with my nephew.”

“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes. “That game is so chaotic. I hate it.”

Neema giggled. “Your mom loves it though.”

“Unsurprisingly,” I said.

“So does William,” Neema added. “Or maybe he loves it because you hate it so much.”

My breath hitched at the mere mention of his name and the fact that Neema still had no idea what had happened. Although that made two of us since I couldn’t make sense of it either.

A nervous laugh escaped me when I opened my mouth because no words came out. I looked away, but Neema caught my eye, her concern obvious.

“You okay? You’ve been acting weirder than your usual weird. How are things with Patrick?”

“Everything’s fine. I’m seeing him this evening. I’m just a bit tired and overworked.” I defaulted to my automatic answer whenever anyone asked me what was wrong and I didn’t want to burden them with my actual thoughts… or face them myself either.

I didn’t want to tell them that my dates with Patrick had become later and shorter, and even when we were together, we weren’t. He was thinking about work, and I was thinking about how he was thinking about work.

“You need to unwind,” Neema said.

“Yeah.” I offered her a smile, and for the last few minutes of the drive, I wondered what unwinding would look like.

I’d completely unravel and end up on an island living exactly the way my mother does—and that was not an option. I had to stay focused, forget the game, finish this degree, get the promotion, get married, buy a house, have children, and raise them in a stable home.

That was still the dream, right?

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