Page 10 of The Last Love Song
Chapter Three
“Three, two, one, smile!” Heather shouted the next morning from her cramped position in the photo booth. Her oldest brother had rented it for the wedding breakfast at the farmhouse. She adjusted a tiara on her head, the only prop remaining after her siblings had taken all the other toys to play dress-up for goofy photo-booth pictures.
The flash lit up the space with an accompanyingpop!, making it sound like an old-fashioned bulb.
“No fair!” Heather’s niece Ally protested as she adjusted a blue feather boa on her neck. “Dad did rabbit ears behind my head.”
“I had an itch on my nose,” Scott argued with his daughter while his wife, Bethany, reset the switch for another series of pictures. “You hit me in the face with that feather duster you’re wearing.”
Four of the Finley siblings were crammed into the booth along with Scott’s family and Mack’s fiancée, Nina. Heather had invited their mom for the photo, but she was keeping a low profile today, tired from the strain of holding herself together over the course of the weekend.
Heather understood that feeling more clearly than ever. Her joints were better today, but she was feeling plenty of strain herself. Health issues were exhausting to manage. Thinking and worrying about hers was draining. Mentally, she’d already left Heartache. But since her car wouldn’t be fixed until Monday at the earliest—and TJ Elliott said in a text he “wouldn’t hold his breath” on that one—Heather was still very much physically present. And that meant being here for Erin today.
“Let’s do a funny photo,” the new Mrs. Remy Weldon suggested from her seat on the groom’s lap.
“Or a ‘kiss the bride’ picture,” Remy returned, his Cajun twang setting him apart from Mack’s and Scott’s voices as they shouted their own suggestions.
“We can flex.” Scott was already showing off his biceps.
“Or stage a brawl.” Mack pantomimed hitting Scott in the face.
Heather took an elbow in the shoulder. And wasn’t that just a reminder of what it had been like growing up at her house?
“Whoops.” Mack quit fighting and steadied her. “Sorry, sis.”
“We should do what Aunt Erin says,” Ally ordered as the booth got stuffier by the second. “She’s the bride.”
Heather took charge. “On the count of three, we all blow kisses at the camera while Remy kisses Erin. Got it?”
The Finleys—thank you, God—fell in line with nods and affirmatives all around.
“Good.” Heather got ready to press the button. “Let’s do that for the first couple and then just—do whatever on the last two. Ready? Three, two, one…”
She hit the button and the family kissed on command.
For a few seconds at least. Things fell apart after that—more elbows flying as Scott pretended to choke Mack, Ally and her mother did aCharlie’s Angelspose. Erin and Remy—surprise—kept on kissing. Their obvious attraction made Heather think about Zach and the surprise of his touch the night before.
When the last flash went off, she blinked and tried to shake off the memory.
“Okay! Done!” Heather sidled her way out of the booth none too gently, needing air.
Stumbling out of the curtain and into the daylight, she searched for a spot to regroup on the sprawling lawn outside her mother’s house. She needed to leave a message with the doctor’s office in North Carolina that she wouldn’t be able to make the appointment she’d set up for tomorrow. She only had a little left of the anti-inflammatory medicine the doctor in Austin had given her and she was anxious to try something stronger. Or an alternative that wouldn’t be quite as draining as some of the other medications that were available for the disease.
Heather’s stomach rumbled as she searched for a quiet spot on the lawn. She’d been too busy greeting guests to eat properly before. The backyard was filled with small tables and chairs, white linen tablecloths fluttering slightly in the warm morning breeze. The caterers had disassembled the majority of the breakfast buffet, but had left the coffee and juice bar along with muffins and fruit. A few kids played underneath a table nearby, heads peeking out now and again to see if anyone would notice them stealing muffins to bring back to their home base.
Obligingly, Heather didn’t notice them even when she went to help herself to a bottle of sparkling water from a cooler.
“Ms. Finley?”
Heather turned to see one of her music students dressed in the catering company’s black-and-white uniform, her long blond ponytail tied with a gray bow.
“Megan! So nice to see you.” Heather had been working with the younger woman for only a few months, but she knewthat Megan Bryer was a talented guitarist. “I didn’t realize you worked with the catering company.”
“I waitress at the Owl’s Roost, and sometimes the caterers pick up servers from the restaurant.” She shrugged as she refilled a tub of ice with bottled water. “I needed the extra money.”
“Saving up for that new acoustic you saw online?” Megan had been excited about the upgraded instrument when they first talked about it last spring. She’d told Heather she was making her homecoming dress herself so she could save money for the guitar.
“I wish.” The younger woman’s expression clouded, her mouth drawn tight.
