Page 3 of Give Me a Reason

“You got your head in the game?” Finn asked me.

I was so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even realized that I’d stopped next to Finn’s chair. “I have something on my mind.”

“You’re a single woman with no kids. What could you possibly have to worry about?” Finn’s words were light, but I didn’t like the implication that I couldn’t possibly have anything going on in my life worth stressing about.

Irritation slid down my spine, a common occurrence when Finn talked to me. “You don’t know anything about me or my life.” I stepped around him. “Excuse me. I have a job to do.”

Lily and her assistant finished arranging the flowers on the arbor and the chairs on the aisle. There was no runner for the aisle. Remi didn’t want anything that would detract from the natural location, and it looked beautiful. I felt an occasional drop of rain, but the leaves of the trees provided adequate cover.

I took a deep breath, releasing the pent-up irritation I felt over Finn’s words. He didn’t know me and never would. As I let it out, my heart filled with love and appreciation for this job and the wedding I was about to witness.

When Colton arrived with his best man, Max, I directed him and the preacher where to stand. I kept in communication with Gia as the bridal party made their way here. The plan was for the bridal party to walk down the aisle, and then Remi would carry her daughter, Willow, who would throw a few petals as they walked.

I focused on my job and put Finn’s careless words out of my head.

After the reception, there was an impromptu get-together for the Happily Ever Afters employees. It wasn’t something I’d seen before, but then, I hadn’t worked with Gia long. It seemed a little out of character for her management style, but maybe she was trying something different.

I’d hoped to get away as soon as I could and put some much-needed space between me and Finn. Instead, I was forced to stick around. This job was new and important to me. I couldn’t afford to not give a good impression. I needed to show Gia I wanted to be here.

The catering company took care of the dirty plates and leftover food, and we picked up the trash. Remi graciously donated a layer of cake to the crew, and Sophie passed slices around the tables we’d set up outdoors near the dance floor and bar.

Finn was strumming his guitar like he hadn’t just played Remi and Colton’s reception. I would have thought he’d want to take a break, but the pure love on his face when he played said it all.

I enjoyed listening to him. I couldn’t understand how he was able to make beautiful music from a few strings. When he opened his mouth and sang along to a popular song, my heart contracted and then picked up speed.

There was something about the deep set of his voice singing about love and longing that made me think his talk about weddings ending in divorce wasn’t real. But I knew better than to infer something that wasn’t there. Finn had always been skeptical about relationships and marriage, and singing a song about love didn’t mean he believed in it.

The only lights were the lanterns we’d placed around the reception area and the twinkling ones hanging from above. It illuminated Finn’s face while he played, his head bent slightly over his instrument as he focused on the chords.

Conversation went on around me, but I couldn’t seem to tear myself away from him. At one point, he looked up and caught me staring. My heart caught in my throat as he winked, his lips quirking before he focused once again on the strings.

He was probably used to women falling all over him whenever he played. There was just something about a man who could sing and play guitar that did it for any woman.

I didn’t know much about him other than what he’d said to me the few times we’d talked. When I hung out with Ireland, we didn’t talk about her brother. I was careful not to bring him up. I didn’t want her to suspect that I had a crush on him, because it was stupid. His strong fingers and jaw made my heart go pitter-patter, but whenever he opened his mouth and talked, I was reminded why we had nothing in common.

“It’s hard to believe he’s a band teacher,” Harper, Gia’s best friend and assistant manager, said to me.

“Who?” I asked stupidly, even though she’d been smiling at my attention to Finn.

“Finn.”

“He’s a band teacher?” That was a surprise. I’d suspected he was a guy who played at bars and other venues in the evenings and had lazy days around his bachelor pad, recovering from whatever he’d been up to the night before.

I’d always imagined him as someone who had groupies following him from bar to bar. I felt a stab of pain I had no business feeling because he’d been clear that he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy.

“Gia convinced him to play weddings for her. I think she offered him more money to do it.”

“He doesn’t want to play at bars?” Even though I knew he was bad for me, I was curious about him.

Harper shrugged. “I don’t think he minds playing bars, but he seems to have a thing against weddings.”

“Tell me about it,” I murmured, watching him. “Why did he give in to Gia, then, if he didn’t want to play these kinds of events?”

“She can be persuasive,” Harper said with a smile before taking a bite of her cake.

Gia was great at negotiations and usually got what she wanted. Her family ran the local pizza parlor, and she was the lone family member who’d gone out on her own. She’d had to be tough to defy her family’s wishes to work in their business.

I wondered if Gia was persuasive in other ways. Had she hooked up with Finn? Did they have some kind of friends-with-benefits relationship? And why did it matter? Why was I thinking about my boss sleeping with Finn when she’d been the one to set the rules—no sleeping with wedding guests, the wedding party, or the vendors? Her rules were designed to keep our business professional. So, why would she break them to sleep with Finn?

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