Page 160 of Harrison's Wedding

“A bit presumptuous, assuming you thought I was talking about us being groomsmen, don’t you think? I just like to coordinate with Seb and Hayden,” he quips.

Gabriel shrugs his shoulders, and Hayden laughs, “Yeah, as if we’d evenwantto be groomsmen for someone who hasn’t bothered asking us. We just want to look good on the day.”

“Well, you can kiss your venue goodbye if you don’t askmeto be a groomsman, at least,” Sebastian teases me.

“Fine, fine, fine. Will you guys be groomsmen for me?” I grin at them.

“Of course,” Gabriel says as Hayden and Sebastian nod in agreement. “All you had to do was ask.”

Everyone laughs, but Heather’s entire body tenses up next to me, and she breathes out a couple of slow breaths.

When the laughter dies off, she says, “So, now that’s settled”—everyone turns to look at her and she twirls her engagement ring around on her finger, staring at it while she continues—“do you want to be bridesmaids for me, Ariana and Ally?”

She keeps playing with her ring as she looks up at Ariana, who is absolutely beaming at her.

“Of course,” Ariana says.

Heather turns to Ally. “I’d be honored. I hope you’re not just asking me because I said I’d help organize the wedding.”

“Not at all. I’m asking because you’re one of my closest friends.”

Ally stands up and walks over to Heather to hug her. “Thank you.”

“What about a third bridesmaid?” Ariana asks as Ally sits back down with Hayden.

“I don’t know,” Heather says, and bites her lip.

“You could ask Chloe,” I suggest.

“Or Nikki,” Sebastian says with a grin.

“I could,” Heather says slowly.

Her hesitation is obvious, and I softly stroke her arm again as I say, “But you don’t want to?”

“Not really. I don’t know. This year has been tough. You guys were there with me every step of the way.” She turns her face up to look at me. “I’m so grateful that I get to marry you, Harrison. I just want the people who helped us through those dark times to be by my side. As much as I love my family, it’s my chosen family who helped us get to this point.”

“That makes sense, angel.” I lean down and kiss her.

Heather turns to Ariana, sitting next to her on the sofa. “June me probably couldn’t imagine that I would ever ask this back when Harrison proposed, but will you be my Maid of Honor?”

“Of course!” she exclaims, and the two women hug each other.

“I guess that makes Gabriel my Best Man. If you want to be, of course?” I grin at him.

“Sure. I figured Hayden, Seb, and I could draw straws for it, but this works,” he teases me.

Heather looks at Ally sitting on Hayden’s lap, then over at Sebastian and says, “Sorry, Seb, you won’t have a partner in the bridal party.”

“Good. I don’t want to be tied to one woman, unless it’s you anyway, lover!” he winks at her. “I don’t care if Gabriel’s the Best Man, I want to organize the bachelor party.”

He has an excited grin on his face and Gabriel asks, “Ooh, what are you thinking?”

“Vegas? Something wild. Let’s go nuts,” he grins.

“Sounds epic,” Gabriel says.

The thought of the kind of party he’s talking about fills me with dread. It’s nothing like what I want or need, so I decide to put a stop to this before it has a chance to get out of hand.

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