Page 16 of To Belong Together
She’d called him creepy and still hadn’t gotten much of a reaction out of him.
She wished she could say she hadn’t been thinking of that boyish smile he’d flashed after narrowly avoiding that wreck earlier. But dating a customer, even one with a great smile and a steady personality, would make her cousins intolerable. “It is.”
“Okay. I’ll leave it here with directions to the road. Take it on your own when you get the chance. I’ll pay diagnosis time.” He pulled his keys from his jacket pocket.
“Look.” She held up her hand to refuse. “If you’re coming here because of me … Maybe you should try another shop.”
He exhaled, and his brow ticked with disappointment. “Point taken.”
He returned to his driver’s seat and drove away.
Before John had parkedamong the cars outside the house his sister Stacy shared with her husband, Robby, he’d done two things he couldn’t take back. First, he’d left his sedan at that shop in Lakeshore and driven his sports car. He hadn’t expected that doing so would turn his two-hour drive into four, but his sedan’s all-wheel-drive would’ve been better equipped to handle the snowy roads. Second, he’d called Tara and asked her to Kate’s wedding. She’d accepted without hesitation.
He’d done both in the name of giving up on Erin. The last thing he’d wanted to be was the creep who wouldn’t quit hounding her.
Too late for that, and he’d compounded the mistake by not waiting until after this trip to take the car in. He also should have resigned himself to attending the wedding solo.
He’d given Erin a two-for-one special: she’d injured his pride, and he’d sacrificed his common sense. He checked the forecast on his phone. At least they weren’t predicting more snow tomorrow for the drive home.
There’d be no undoing the invite to Tara, though.
With a sigh, he headed for the house. He was hours late, but judging by the number of cars, plenty of others had shown up for Tanner’s bachelor party.
As he circled to the back door, music thumped from inside, indicating the party was in full swing. A small entry led to the kitchen, where three men stood around an island, eating appetizers and nursing drinks. The music emanated from the finished basement, where the rest of the party must be.
Beyond the kitchen, the spread of food covering the dining table looked to have been catered in—and then ransacked. Stray chips, globs of cheese, and crumpled napkins littered the area. Then again, he’d seen buffets backstage after shows in far worse shape. What was different from what they allowed backstage was the fully-stocked bar cart, packed with at least six kinds of liquor and a variety of options for mixing drinks.
Mark, his sister Angie’s husband, set down his soda can and stepped around the others for a brief hug. “We didn’t think you’d make it.”
“Sorry. It’s snowing up north. Slow going.” John eyed the liquor again. This wasn’t the low-key party he’d expected, but Mark had soda, so there must be some besides the open container on the bar cart. John dug a can out of the fridge. “The man of the hour’s downstairs?”
“Yeah, but no rush to get down there. He’s not going anywhere. How have you been?”
Lonely. But he wouldn’t lead with complaints. The more he connected with his existing family, the less time he’d have to pine after one he might never get. “I’m good. How’s my favorite niece?”
Mark’s daughter, Ava, was John’s only niece to date. “Still likes ballet, but she’s decided she’d also like a black belt in karate.” He continued into the story of how that interest had taken root.
Twenty minutes later, the basement door opened for an unfamiliar woman. Her knee-length coat covered her outfit. Beneath, her legs were bare, save for a pair of massive heels. Her glossy lips pulled into the sort of smile people gave strangers they passed at the store, and she let herself out of the house.
Perfume hung in the air as John looked to Mark for an explanation. “Tell me that was someone’s wife.”
“Could be.” One of the groom’s friends, Tristian—or was this one Luke?—offered an apologetic smile.
Innocent little Katie’s husband-to-be had a stripper at his bachelor party.
Hot indignation seared John’s chest. “Whose idea was that?”
“Robby’s.” Mark was the only one brave enough to answer, but even he didn’t make eye contact. “I didn’t know either until she showed up.”
“And you …?” John stopped because he believed in letting people make their own choices. Even if Mark had managed to fire a stripper their brother-in-law had hired, he couldn’t change the root problem of Robby and Tanner’s disregard for Kate and Stacy.
Sure, bachelor parties were famous for that kind of thing, but his mom and stepfather had raised him and his siblings with Jesus front and center. Mom had urged his sisters many times to hold out for a man who valued purity. When John had started dating, Hank warned him to treat women like he’d want guys to treat his own sisters.
He’d bolted from the awkward conversation, but the idea stuck, steering him through years of temptation. He refused to mistreat someone else’s sister when he wanted his own sisters to find solid, committed men.
“I figured you’d want no part in it.” Mark shrugged. “I didn’t.”
“I also don’t want a part in keeping this from Kate.”
