Page 10 of That Time I Kissed The Groomsman Grump
“Yeah. And that’s why wedon’tdo this.” He motions from me to him. “And anyway, your moving to LA is different. It’s more … permanent. You shouldn’t have kissed me, Nat.”
“You seemed to be enjoying it, Brady.”
“Yeah. Then I came to my senses. We need to think about Kasey and Beau. They’re getting married.”
“I know that.” I frown. I ran out of gas, I didn’t have a lobotomy. But either way, I wanted to feellesshollow in Brady’s arms. Now I feel emptier than ever.
“So you and I—our families—we’re going to be around each other forever, going forward. No matter where you live, right? And things could get awkward if …” He waves a hand between us. “You know.”
All the emotions I’ve been feeling—since I ran into Paige and Shannon, since Beau got engaged, or better yet, since we first moved to this town—wells up inside me, threatening to escape in one big, wrenching sob. So I clamp it down, locking the sadness behind my ribs. I refuse to cry in front of Brady.
I can’t cry in front of him.
In three more days, tonight will be a distant memory. I’ll be out of here and back to Rochester for the next six months. Then in July, after the wedding, I’ll be in California, far away from Brady’s rejection. I can survive seventy-two more hours in Abieville. And half a year in New York. Easy peasy. Or at least easyish peasyish.
“Don’t worry.” I force my lips into a smile. “It won’t happen again.”
Without another word, I head inside.
ChapterFive
PRESENT: BRADY
Just past the familiar sign that indicates we’re fifteen miles from Abieville, Natalie and I end up waiting for a couple of moose to cross the road. Slowly. That’s what we have around here instead of chickens. Moose taking their own sweet time. Deer too.
Sometimes a whole family of them.
Natalie shifts in her seat, leaning toward the glass, her nose pressed against it. It’s like she thinks getting closer to the outside might change the view inside.
Spoiler alert: the view doesn’t change.
On either side of the road, rolling hills lead to pine-dotted mountains. The homes out here are still spread pretty far apart, with acres of land between them. Mostly farmhouses with a few colonials mixed in. The nearer we get to Abieville, the nearer the properties get to each other. And the places in town are mostly single-family homes in the Craftsman style. Or Craftsman houses that have been bought and turned into private businesses.
We’re still waiting for the slower of the two moose when my phone rings, so I put it on speaker. “Hey.”
Beau’s voice booms. “Did you get Nat?”
“Hi, Beau!” When Natalie smiles and waves at the phone, my mouth tics up. Just a little.
“Hey there, sis,” Beau says. “Thanks for picking her up, man.”
“No problem.” Well. Thereisa bit of a problem. But nothing I want to talk to him about.
“Sorry we’re running a little late,” Natalie says.
We?
“I had to pee, and my bag was the last one off the plane,” she says. “Now there’s these moose…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Beau says.
“We’ll be there soon,” she says. “I’ve just got to run by Mom and Dad’s to change, and—”
“Actually,” Beau says, “if Brady doesn’t mind, could you two go straight to Buttons and Bows?”
“Uhhh.” I frown at the phone. “Sorry. What’s a… Buttons and Bows?”
“It’s the bridal salon in Southampton,” Natalie says. “In that first stretch of shops with all the brick buildings.”
