Page 31 of Take Me to the Wedding

The idea that I could be physically attracted to him was utterly horrifying.

It was just all this stress. And the crazy ping-ponging of emotions all over that truck just now. All that work trying to make him look good for Lilly while I was trying to not look good to Quinn.

I got it that attraction sometimes just happened for whatever confusing reason. Hormones, pheromones, whatever. You just had to deal with it. It didn’t mean a thing. It was just chemistry.

He shut the tailgate with a definitive click. “That might be the first thing we’ve managed to agree on.”

“Probably be the last too,” I added. Still smiling, he reached into the bed of the truck and grabbed both his duffel bag and mine.

“I can take my own bag,” I said, running after him and reaching out to take it back.

He stopped suddenly and turned to me. I’d managed to grab onto the handle. “Do you let anyone help you like, ever?”

The answer to that was obviouslyno, but even though I tugged on the bag, he wasn’t letting go. Lilly walked out of the farmhouse, saw us, and stopped in her tracks. She glanced from Caleb to me and back again. My stomach did a nauseated flip as it occurred to me that it looked like we were holding hands. A little flustered, I gave a final tug until Caleb finally let the bag go. Then I quickly ran ahead, heading alone into the farmhouse.

ChapterTen

Caleb

“Samantha is so annoying,” I said to my friends Gabe and Brax as we checked out our cabin. I should have kept that to myself, but worry about this weekend was making my irritation spill out. I had two days to fix things with Lilly. To get to know her again. To resolve mywhat-ifsand see if we had a chance. I did not need interference from Sam, no matter how intriguing—and aggravating—she was.

“Sam annoys you?” Brax, who dated and adored my sister Mia, asked, exchanged knowing glances with Gabe. They knew all about our difficult relationship. And they knew about Lilly too. The guys started out as Mia’s friends, meeting during pediatric residency, but when I came over to Children’s to do pediatric ortho rotations, I started hanging out with them too. Now Brax and Gabe were done with residency and out working in the real world.

“She’s so stubborn,” I said as I paced the small sitting room, which had a couch, two chairs, a corner electric fireplace, and a killer view of the lake right in front of us. “She won’t ever accept any help. And she refuses to listen to me when I say I don’t need any help with Lilly.”

“That’s our Sam,” Gabe said. “Determined and independent. And maybe youdoneed help. Once-in-a-lifetime chance and all that.” Gabe had a charismatic personality that nearly everyone took to and an opinion about just about everything, which made him a great negotiator. His new job as part of the hospital administration was perfect for him. And his job as officiant of Ani and Tyler’s wedding had landed him here.

“She wouldn’t let me carry her duffel bag, and I was playing tug of war with her, and Lilly thought we were holding hands just now. I mean, Sam says she wants to help me, but she’s already making everything worse, and we just got here!”

“Sounds passionate,” Gabe said. “But typical. There are always fireworks where you and Sam are involved.”

“The bad kind. Sam’s the whole reason Lilly doesn’t trust me.” My friends knew about that too. I thought about the fireworks comment. When Sam was around, I felt that my whole body was on edge. I had nerves about Lilly, but this was different. With Sam, I felt this weird kind of anticipation. Like, I never knew what she was going to say next, but I was eager to hear what it was—probably so that I could hit her with a comeback. To be fair, she’d tried hard to make me look good in front of Lilly. Then, in the next breath, she let me have it about me flaking out on her that New Year’s Eve. Which I admit, I totally deserved.

“Relax.” Brax slapped me on the back. “This weekend will be a great opportunity for you to figure it all out.”

“Sorry,” I said, raking a hand through my hair. “Guess I’m a little tense.” I made an effort to calm down by sitting down and checking out the great view. “How’re you guys doing?”

“I’m fantastic,” Gabe said, plopping down on the couch. “Now that Jason’s coming.”

“Here? This weekend?” Brax asked. “Isn’t he about to defend his dissertation?” Gabe’s fiancé was about to finish his PhD in literature, his dissertation being about female voices in Shakespeare’s plays. He was a great guy, and he always gave us science nerds a mind-widening humanities perspective on life.

“Ani thought that some change of scenery might do him good.”

“Better not tell Sam,” I said in a warning tone. “She was hoping you’d be her square dance partner tonight.”

“I’llbe her partner,” Quinn said, suddenly appearing at the door with Tyler, our esteemed groom. “She’s really cute. And funny.”

His words churned my stomach, mostly because he was so… all out there. He seemed to be one of those people where you could read all his emotions on his face. Still crushed by his breakup but trying to prove that he was over it. And putting Sam in his sights. Scary.

Not that she couldn’t handle him herself. So why did I want to take care of him myself?

Tyler walked through the door, looking a little agitated himself. He was tall to Ani’s petite frame, with curly hair and fashionable glasses. He sneezed violently. “Bollocks. I forgot my allergy pillsandmy bug spray.”

We laughed, but honestly, Tyler was the anti-Ani. Those two were absolute proof that opposites attracted. While Ani was bubbly, fun, and easygoing, Tyler was straitlaced, high-maintenance and very intellectual—he’d scored higher than any of us on all the standardized tests we were required to take in med school and beyond. He was from Connecticut, but he talked like an aged actor from an aristocratic family. Privately I thought that all he needed was a cigar and a smoking jacket to complete this persona.

He was a character, but he was also a careful, compulsively dedicated doctor, who would stay late, lose sleep, anything to get patients the good care they needed—but he could also be a rigid pain in the butt. His saving grace was his self-awareness of his pain-in-the-butt-ness. And the fact that he attended therapy regularly.

Tyler walked over to the window and looked out at the lake, blowing his nose. “I absolutely despise the country. I have never square-danced, nor do I ever want to. And I hate hiking. But I love Ani. So thank you all for coming.” He pulled out his phone, checked it, and then tossed it to the couch, sneezing again. “Bloody hell. Why is the Wi-Fi not working?”

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