Page 1 of Forever After All

Chapter1

Jess

Jess swirled the wedding mint in her orange punch with a spoon. “It’s not melting.”

“You have to stir it a lot,” Ben said, sloshing his own punch over the side of the cup.

“Come on. Remi will gripe at both of us if you get that orange punch on your church shirt.”

Ben shrugged, clearly unbothered by his mom’s wrath. “She gets all of my stains out.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to mess up your clothes.”

Ben’s shoulders sank an inch. “I know. She’s tired a lot now.”

Jess looked for her friend over her shoulder. Remi was pregnant and was looking a little sluggish earlier, but there wasn’t any sign of her now.

Dozens of people filled the reception hall. Jess hadn’t attended a single wedding before the ranch opened their event venue. Now, she couldn’t go a month without getting an invitation to dress up and look classy.

Well, as classy as she could. You could dress up a pig, but it was still a pig.

Not that Jess cared. She preferred to spend her time in the stables, and she didn’t need to apologize for it.

“Where is your mom?” Jess asked Ben as she continued to scan the room.

Ben slurped loudly as he licked the punch-and-mint mixture off his spoon. “She went to get the present she left at home.”

“I could have gotten it for her.” Jess had been looking for an excuse to bow out of the event since she arrived. Sure, she was excited for her brother and Thea, but wedding parties weren’t her thing.

Her gaze drifted over Lincoln North and stilled. He wore a white dress shirt that contrasted with his darker skin, navy slacks, and his church boots. No sign of the cowboy hat she saw him wearing most days. He stood with his hands in his pockets while their friend, Colt, rattled on about something.

Nope. Not hanging around that tree. If she stared too much, everyone at the ranch would have them hitched. They were all coupled up, except for the older ones. Though she had a feeling Paul and Vera were heading toward the altar together, she couldn’t be sure. Those two were about as quiet as Jess and Linc.

That she could get behind. Everyone else thought marriage was the best thing since sliced bread. Jess was so far from marriage that the wedding bells hadn’t even been made yet, much less ringing.

“What are you waiting for?”

“What?” Jess asked, jerking her attention back to Ben.

He pointed at her punch cup. “Your drink is ready.”

Jess raised the concoction to her lips and drank. The foamy punch was thicker with the mint mixed in.

She licked her lips a few times, savoring the last of the flavor. “It’s not bad. I’ve had better.”

Ben’s eyes widened. “I love it.”

“I can tell. Did anyone give you a limit on those wedding mints?”

Jess wasn’t sold on the whole idea of kids. They probably weren’t in her future, considering she didn’t have a man in her life. Well, besides the wranglers at the ranch. Those men were definitely in her life, and thankfully, they all respected her.

That was all she wanted and all she could ask for. Respect.

“Dad just told me not to jump off of anything. I promised I wouldn’t.”

Jess took another sip of the punch. “Fair enough.”

She made the mistake of glancing out into the crowd again. Everyone was dancing with someone.

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