Page 34 of Lime Tree Hill

“Yeah, and three’s a crowd. Add Chris Stone to the mix, and that crowd gets rowdy.”

Mitch lay in bed after Luka had left, his conversation with Ella playing in his mind. Since they’d married, Chris’s jealousy had made for a volatile union. A union Mitch wanted nothing to do with.

His thoughts turned to Tayla. How good she’d felt in his arms, and her hesitation as she’d asked for a practice kiss. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and unlocked it. It was time to add a condition of his own.

Mitch:I have a condition.

Tayla:Which is?

Mitch:Another practice kiss.

When there was no immediate reply, Mitch placed his phone on the pillow next to him. He’d almost drifted off when his text alert chimed again.

Tayla:There’s no need. The result was satisfactory.

Mitch:I can do better than satisfactory.

Tayla:I doubt that.

Mitch reread her text and laughed.Satisfactory?She clearly didn’t rate him as a kisser. With his ego slightly bruised, he returned his phone to the nightstand, then pulled up the covers and waited for sleep.

15

THE PINES

With her mindon the wedding for most of the day, Tayla couldn’t wait to leave work. The more she thought about it, the more that feeling of dread surfaced.

By the time she reached her parents’ house, the air held a distinct chill, even with the sun shining in a cloudless blue sky. She’d walk the river track before dinner, but right now, she wanted to text Tim. Good old Tim. He’d always been her rock.

Tayla sat on the steps of the veranda and rummaged through her bag for her phone. Holding it steady, she gathered her thoughts.

Tayla:We had the rehearsal.

Tim:And?

Tayla:Um…well…

Tim:I knew it.

Tayla:Yep. Butterflies and moonbeams and starlight.

Tim:Not surprised one bit.

Tayla hit the blush emoji and pushed send. She sat on the steps a little longer, her thoughts still on Mitch and that amazing kiss. How could she be both excited and terrified at the same time?

During the days that followed, Tayla pushed the impending nuptials to the back of her mind. But at night, when her deal with Mitch, Hayden’s betrayal, and her father’s struggle with post-surgery depression consumed her, she went to bed before nine and waited for sleep to smother the blues.

They say time heals. But as her thoughts drifted between Hayden and Mitch, she wondered how long it would be before she had the guts to block Hayden on her phone. How long before the hurt of his betrayal waned.

Tim, in all his excited wedding-day glory, had organized every detail of her half of the affair. And as Tayla fussed with her hair and makeup on the ‘big day,’ she gave thanks for having a best friend who loved the pomp and pageantry of tying the knot—be it a fake elopement or otherwise.

Her two-piece nude-pink satin outfit came via a friend of Ruby’s, a fashion blogger who’d designed and sewn the outfit for a photo shoot, only to have it rejected at the last minute. When Tayla first tried it on, she’d had her doubts. After all, with its full skirt of darted pleats falling from a wide waistband, and a form-fitting cropped-sleeve top that showed just enough midriff to make it interesting, the style could never be called traditional. But the more she’d looked at it hanging from the back of her bedroom door, the more she loved it.

Memories of her Sydney dress surfaced. Sleek and unadorned, the ivory satin had allowed little room for movement. And as Tayla’s thoughts churned, she realized it matched the feeling of that day. Perfectly.

Now, as she slipped into her second wedding dress of the year, she wondered how Mitch would react to her radical choice. Would he even notice?

And what about the kiss? It was one thing to share a kiss in hisoffice with the door closed and the blinds casting a discreet light across the room. But it would be quite another to kiss in front of Luka and Tim.

---