Page 2 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
CHAPTER 2
EVAN
“And Dotty told me thatshewas the one who first created that Hawaiian punch!” The older woman laughed uproariously, and Evan Hirst managed a halfhearted smile. He barely had time for his own family, and here he was making nice with someone else’s. Hereallydidn’t have time for that.
“It was nice to meet you,” he said, his voice stiff. “If you’d excuse me…”
“Oh, of course. But come see me later in the evening if you want a dance! I can show you the twist I was talking about.” She put her hands by her waist and mimed a dance move that she claimed was from her youth.
Evan nodded, unable to get words out, and hurried away. Some guests were already taking their seats in the white-backed, wooden chairs, so he found one at the far end, near the back, and sank gratefully into it. He surreptitiously pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened his email app, and stifled a groan at the number of emails that had arrived in the last fifteen minutes alone.
Everything about this wedding was annoying. The groom, Tyler Parks, had been one of Evan’s best friends in college, and the pair had remained close afterward. Evan had followed Tyler’s success in investing, just as Tyler had followed Evan’s success in business. The friends often met up for working lunches in which they swapped stories from their jobs and shared their philosophies for success.
And they were successful. Since graduating, Evan had founded a tech start-up, Reign, that soon spiraled into an empire of which he was CEO. Reign produced a line of HR and project-management software, which was used by numerous high-profile companies. He’d been running flat out since the moment he graduated from college, first creating the software himself, then slowly hiring more and more employees. Even now, Evan was the one making all the decisions. Without him, Reign would fall apart because no one knew the company like he did.
The first philosophy that the friends shared, the one both of them had repeated over and over since college, wasNo Distractions.That meant no hobbies. No non-working vacations. And most importantly, no romance.
Yet in the last year, Tyler had taken up golfing, started dating, fallen in love, and taken a two-week trip to Hawaii with his fiancée. It was the opposite of what they’d always agreed was their secret to success. Evan himself hadn’t taken a vacation since college, and he definitely wasn’t about to start dating.
He shook his head as he clicked on the next email, only half paying attention to what he was reading. It was disappointing that Tyler had given up on everything he was building. Love and family only held businessmen back; it was a short hop from dating to getting married to having to leave the office by sixevery day and take weekends off. Evan had seen that happen to numerous leaders in business before.
When Evan had mentioned that to his friend, though, and warned him to be careful, Tyler had been furious. That was probably why Evan hadn’t been chosen as his best man. Tyler had gone with his brother instead and opted to have only one groomsman. That was just as well by Evan. He wouldn’t have been able to work if he were standing with the wedding party.
Evan read the next email in his queue and quickly tapped out a reply to put out a minor fire. A lot of CEOs had huge teams working for them who helped manage these day-to-day tasks, but Evan liked to do everything he could himself. He was the only one he could trust to get things right the first time. His only nod to not being superman had been to hire his assistant, Michael Hale, who organized travel logistics and managed Evan’s calendar. Anything else would have been too much.
“Are you enjoying the wedding?” Evan looked up from the phone to see an older man approaching. What was with him and older people today? He felt a surge of annoyance but tried to remain polite. He could be charming when he wanted to be, but he was too busy now.
“It’s great,” he said, keeping his answer short and brisk to discourage further conversation. Hereallyneeded to finish this email.
“It’s lovely to see the two of them together.” The man sat next to him. “Young love, you know.”
“Hmm.” Giving the man a quick, polite smile, he continued tapping out his reply.
“My Clara and I were together for almost fifty years,” he continued. “After she passed, my son got me one of those smart phone thingies, like you have, but I can’t seem to work the buttons.”
“It’s tricky,” Evan said absently, still typing.
“Are you on the bride’s side or the groom’s?” the man asked.
“The groom’s.”
“Oh, I’m on the bride’s side,” the man put in. “She’s my great-niece. Can you believe it? I’ve known her since she was a tiny baby, and now she’s getting married.”
“That’s wonderful. I do have a little work to do.” Evan didn’t want to be rude, but he didn’t mind being straightforward. He would never see this man again, or any of the other wedding guests, in fact, but whether he got his work done would have a real impact on his business.
“Sure, sure. Kids these days, always working.” Waving a wrinkled hand, the man turned away to chat up the young couple on his other side. Relieved, Evan went back to his emails, then went through his messages, making sure everything was up to date. It was an inconvenience to take a Friday off for this. He and Tyler used to make fun of people who took whole days off work for events like this, but now they were just like them. And soon, Tyler would probably give up on his work. Then he’d try to convince Evan to follow his path into marriage. Already, he’d hinted that Evan might benefit from taking a little time away from the office to explore another side of life.
Evan’s heart gave an unexpected squeeze as he realized that this might be the end of one of his longest-lasting friendships. Even if he and Tyler wanted to stay in touch, it would be harder now,because Tyler would be more focused on his wife. He’d already cut down his work to part-time, taken several weeks off for his honeymoon, and suggested that he might even consider selling his company (the company he’d spent years building) so that he could spend more time at home. Evan shuddered to think of what would happen if Tyler someday had kids, too. Even more than spouses, kids were the end of a career. Evan had seen a few of his business role models fall by the wayside as they started attending toddler birthday parties and Little League games.
Just then, the processional music began to play, startling Evan out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up and saw Tyler taking his place beneath the arch. His friend wore a tailored black suit and a blue tie to match the wedding’s color scheme, and he looked nervous. He was even biting his lip, though he was also smiling. Seeing his friend look so nervous and so happy made Evan’s heart perform another uncomfortable flip. It wasn’t like Evan wanted what Tyler had. He didn’t even understand whyTylerwanted it. Yet still…
Evan turned back to watch the procession, slipping his phone into his pocket. As he turned, he spotted a woman hurrying across the lawn toward the chairs, looking flustered. She slipped into a chair in the back row, across from Evan, and from this close, he could see that she was blushing and looking at the ground. He could also see that she was gorgeous. She had long, blond hair cut into layers, soft brown eyes, as well as a faint smattering of freckles across her cheeks. She wore a simple outfit compared to a lot of the wedding guests, a lacy blue dress that was fitted on top and flared at the bottom, which made her look sweet and pretty. She tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear as she sat and looked around at the other guests, blushing. He could tell that she was embarrassed to be coming in late.
Evan found, strangely enough, that he didn’t want to look away. There were a lot of beautiful women at this event, but she stood out beyond them all. Evan couldn’t quite put his finger on why. Maybe it was her sweet smile and her blush. Maybe it was the simple dress she wore, so different from the sometimes gaudy styles of the other guests. Maybe it was how lovely she was. Or maybe it was the romance of the wedding.
A chorus of “Oohs” rose from the audience, and Evan tore his gaze away to see the ring bearer coming down the aisle, looking adorable in a miniature suit with an oversized pillow in his chubby toddler hands. Whatever magic the latecomer had could easily be explained by the romantic atmosphere here. Evan wasn’t the kind of guy to look for love, even for a short time, at a wedding. In fact, after the ceremony ended, he’d speed back to his hotel to try to squeeze in a few more hours of work before the end of the business day. He’d already told Tyler he probably couldn’t stick around for much of the reception or the following party.
Still, as the ceremony continued, he couldn’t help sneaking a few more glances at the woman in the row across from him. She had her hands folded in her lap and was watching the ceremony intently, though he could still see a flush of pink across her cheeks from her embarrassment. Something about her made it difficult to look away.
