Page 3 of Flare
She drew a breath to protest. Andrew glowered down at her. He growled,“Do ittoday, Emmie.”
And just like that, she’d lost the last thing about the wedding that wastheirs. Emily nodded, though her chest tightened.Is this what the rest of my life is going to look like?
“Good girl.” Andrew leaned down and pressed a brief, distracted kiss to her forehead.“We want this to be perfect, don’t we?” he said, in thatwhy can’t you just be reasonable?tone she’d grown to hate.“And Grandma Katherine knows what perfect looks like. Trust me, this is going to be the wedding of the summer.”
“So, eloping to Vegas is out of the question?” Emily asked, trying and failing at a joking tone.
His glower returned.“Not funny. Tell you what: I’ll call the wedding planner myself. Don’t worry, everything will be perfect.”
As he strode from the room, Emily slumped against the sofa back.
Perfect. The word haunted her lately.
Perfect dress, perfect flowers, perfect venue. Perfect bride.
How am I ever going to live up to Grandma Katherine’s standards?
And do I even want to?
But if Emily called off the engagement now, where would that leave her? Alone and unemployed, with no family to call her own.
Emily’s dad had been killed in a car crash when Emily was in kindergarten, and Andrew had literally proposed on Mom’s deathbed the week before Thanksgiving.
The thought of Andrew’s reaction if she tried to break up with him now sent an icy wave of panic through her body.No.
She’d make this work. Shehadto. Even if it meant surrendering more and more pieces of herself.
Emily swallowed hard and tried to convince herself that Andrew was right. Moving their reception to Grandma Katherine’s preferred venue would be for the best.
The Highland Hills Country Club would be beautiful. Elegant. Worthy of the Brunborn name that would soon be hers.
Then her phone chimed unexpectedly with an incoming text message.
When Emily glanced at the screen, a name she hadn’t seen in years made her breath catch: Maggie Swanson. Her best friend from high school, the girl who’d once known Emily better than anyone. The girl whose friendship had gradually faded after Emily and her mom moved away from Bearpaw Ridge after graduation.
Emily opened her texting app.
Maggie:Hey stranger! I know it’s been forever. We seriously need to catch up. You remember my cousin Eddie, right?
Maggie:Well, he’s heading to Spokane to see our other cousin Rob perform with Bearly Able to Sing this weekend. I thoughtyou two might enjoy dinner together—no pressure, just friendly company.
After Emily had been accepted at WSU, she and her mom had moved to Spokane. Emily had spent all four years of college working evenings and weekends to pay for tuition and books.
Maggie had attended culinary school in Sun Valley before returning to Bearpaw Ridge and taking over management of her mom’s popular café-bakery.
Over the years, their daily texts had gradually become weekly, then monthly, until finally tapering to holiday and birthday greetings and occasional likes on social media posts.
And then there was the fact that Andrew and his grandmother both hated social media. They’d both forbidden Emily to post anything about her engagement or wedding plans, which meant she hadn’t posted anything at all since Mom’s death.
Emily had told herself that’s just how life worked—people grew apart. But seeing Maggie’s name now, she wondered if she’d let a good friend slip away too easily. She’d lost contact with so many people she’d known before coming to Spokane eight years ago…
And then there was Eddie Swanson. She hadn’t thought about Maggie’s cousin for a long time, but remembering him now made her smile.
Eddie had been a year behind her in school—quiet, kind, always with a sketchbook tucked under his arm. Where his Swanson cousins were a boisterous crew, Eddie preferred sitting on the sidelines, observing with thoughtful hazel eyes. He’d helped Emily with her geometry homework once, patiently explaining concepts until they clicked. She remembered his hands—artist’shands, steady and sure—as they drew diagrams to illustrate the problems.
There had been moments during senior year when Emily had caught him watching her in the hallway, his gaze dropping quickly whenever she looked his way.
Maggie had teased that her cousin had a crush on Emily, but Emily had been focused on college applications at the time and figuring out how to balance homework with her part-time job at the Wildcat Springs BBQ restaurant.
