Page 69 of Love to Prove You Wrong

I threw my butter knife down. “Excuse me?”

Everyone at the table fell silent. Layla’s parents shifted in their seats.

“Well, you’ve refused to talk to me for days, and now all of a sudden you’ve got something to say about my college years?”

I shrugged. “I only said you pranking people sounds exactly like you.”

He looked at me with a hurt expression on his face. “So you’re back to hating me?”

I didn’t answer. I secretly pined for him and felt horrible for how things had gone down between us, but that wasn’t a detail he needed to know. In a couple of days, he’d be gone anyway.

“I promised you I’d prove you wrong and I still intend to do that,” he said. “I’m not the immature jerk you make me out to be.”

“Okay.” I mumbled the words into my glass of water.

I hadn’t meant for the atmosphere to get so awkward. Luckily Brianna got up and saved me from further awkwardness by giving a speech about the happy couple.

Meanwhile, Justin was throwing pleading looks at me. He kept gesturing to my phone, which I had placed next to my plate in case someone needed me. Technically, I had to be on call until the last guest left.

I looked at the screen and opened Justin’s text message.

I’m going to prove you wrong. Just wait and see.

Then he got up and whispered something to Asher, who gave him a thumbs up, and left. What the heck did he have planned?

Before I could subtly ask Asher, Diane tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you have a moment?”

“Sure,” I said and followed her to a spot out of earshot of the other guests.

“Addy,” she started, a light slur to her words. Maybe telling her to drink something to calm her nerves hadn’t been the best idea. “I feel like I should thank you for the hard work you’ve done. This wedding wouldn’t have been possible without your dedication.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Diane. I really appreciate you saying that.”

“After the lovebirds have cut the cake, I will be announcing my special vacuum cleaner sale. It’s a win-win, really. Guests get to attend a lovely wedding and they can go home with a brand new TurboVac5000 Diamond Series,” she said, her eyes glistening as she spoke.

I chuckled. “Who doesn’t love a win-win, am I right?”

She pressed one of her red fingernails into my chest and whispered, “I’m gifting you one, for free. As a thank you for your hard work.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.”

Diane nodded. “So are you, Addy. You’re one sweet cookie.”

Wow. Those were the nicest words I’d ever heard Diane speak in my presence. I was about to do something crazy – hug her – when screams pierced the air.

I spun on my heel and spotted Duckota running between the tables. How on earth had she escaped? Her quacks sounded stressed, almost as if something was chasing her.

That’s when I saw it. A baby alpaca came running toward us, knocking over chairs.

I gasped. Next to me, Diane had frozen in place. Her lip was trembling, and her hand had shot up into the air, but she was rendered mute.

Asher and Layla’s dog started barking like crazy at the alpaca. Thank goodness Olive got to him before he could cause any damage. She gently pulled on his leash and led him away from the commotion.

“Wow, slow down, little fella,” someone dressed like Kermit the Frog called out to the baby alpaca.

I snapped out of my shocked state and approached Duckota. I needed to save her before something happened to her. Scared people were known to do the weirdest things.

As soon as I had secured my duck, I zoomed in on the Kermit figure. He had the same build as Justin, the same hair, the same shoes… Okay, there was no mistake possible; itwasJustin.

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