Page 26 of Love in Tandem
Zach pointed his fork over Charlotte’s shoulder. “How about your sister?”
“Sophia? She’s not here.” Charlotte spun to where Zach pointed, then spun back to face him. “Oh my word. My sister. She’s here.”
“She sure is.” Zach handed Charlotte another piece of cake before she started eating off some innocent bystander’s plate. She shoved half of it into her mouth, then said something that was probably meant to be “I need to tell her what’s going on” even though it sounded more like “I need a ten-pound watermelon” before she handed Zach back the plate and darted for her sister.
“Hey, we need to talk.” Ben’s voice, low in Zach’s ear.
Michael Bublé finished singing and the “Chicken Dance” started up next.
“Honey, get out here,” Shannon shouted from the dance floor where she was surrounded by guests of all ages.
Zach forced a bright smile as he finished off the other half of Charlotte’s cake and tossed it into a trash can next to the dessert table. “Better get out there. Sounds like your song.”
Ben waved to his wife. “Be right there,” he shouted back, then met Zach’s gaze. “Look, I’ve kept my mouth shut up until now because all I wanted was for Shannon to have a nice wedding without any drama. But don’t think for a second I don’t know what this is really about.”
“C’mon, Ben.” Darla grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the dance floor. “Shanny says you have to dance like a chicken.” She dropped his hand and showed him her version of the moves. “You too, Zach. C’mon.”
Zach lifted an eyebrow in challenge and tilted his head toward the dance floor. “Shall we?”
They sidestepped to the edge of the wooden dance floor and began flapping their elbows.
“No way you and Charlotte are really a couple. I bet you can’t even name one thing you have in common,” Ben said, hips twisting back and forth.
“We both love John Wayne.” Zach clapped his hands, figuring it was true. Who didn’t love John Wayne?
“Name another thing.”
“Cheesecake.”
They linked elbows and spun from partner to partner until they were facing each other again and making talky motions with their hands. They locked gazes, and Zach wasn’t sure whether they were having a staring contest or a chicken dance-off, but either way he refused to lose.
And apparently so did Ben. “John Wayne and cheesecake. You really expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t. It’s John Wayne and cheesecake.”
“I know what this is really about.”
Zach clapped his hands. “Great. Mind filling me in?”
“This is about me kissing Shannon.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “She’s your wife. Pretty sure there’s going to be more than kissing going on.”
Ben glanced around, then stepped closer to Zach. “I’m not talking about today. I’m talking about the week before I was supposed to marry Charlotte. Are you telling me you really didn’t know?”
Zach stopped dancing. What? He ran through the timeline in his head. Ben’s almost-but-not-quite wedding to Charlotte was two summers ago. Zach didn’t meet Shannon until later that winter at a ski resort. In the all the time they dated, she never said anything about already knowing Ben. Kissing Ben.
But boy, did some of the things in her breakup letter make a whole lot more sense now. “Does Charlotte know?”
“I never told her. I didn’t want to hurt her.”
“So you just dumped her at the altar instead.”
Ben rubbed the back of his neck as the song ended and guests shuffled around them for a break. “Look, I’m not proud of how I handled any of that. Dad had just died, I had all these new responsibilities at his company, and I was a mess. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t care about Charlotte. I hate that I hurt her, and I hate that you’re going to hurt her too. So whatever you think you’re doing with her, just stop. Okay?”
“What if I’m not ready to stop?”
Ben’s jaw ticked. Maybe their mom was right. Maybe they just needed to punch each other and get whatever this was between them over and done. Because Zach didn’t even know why it mattered so much to prove his brother was wrong about his relationship with Charlotte. Especially since his brother was absolutely right about his relationship with Charlotte.
