Page 96 of Almost Yours

Gavin rolled his eyes, smiling despite the nickname she knew he didn’t always like. His lips brushed against her forehead and Ginny inhaled the delicious scent of cedar and pine that always clung to him. As she brushed her mouth against his, a loud squawk echoed between them, startling Gavin. “What on earth is that?”

“Ah, fuck.” She scrambled to pull the earpiece out of her pocket and into her ear. “Go for Ginny.” The voice on the other end mentioned that it was time for the ceremony and she nodded, glancing at Gavin briefly. “Great, be there in a minute.” Pulling the earpiece out, she pouted. “Time to get our friends married.”

“You did good with this, Nia. The whole place looks beautiful.”

“I know, thank you.” She beamed and stole a quick kiss before rushing out of the room. She went through the checklist with one of the junior planners and made sure everything was in the right place. Then she let everyone know that it was time and one by one, the doors and gates opened, letting the guests in. Ginny stood back, using her earpiece to coordinate with everyone else. She watched Milo and his groomsmen walk up to the platform, her eyes lingering on Gavin before everyone’s attention was diverted to Frankie walking up the aisle.

And in that moment, watching her friend get married to the man she loved, Ginnyknewthat this thing she was doing with Gavin was so much more than she thought it was.

It was love and she was, shockingly, ready for it.

CHAPTER30

After the wedding,while the bride and groom were locked away in their hotel room, the whole gang helped Ginny and her staff take everything down. She was already so blown away by the Winters family stepping in to get things set up, so she shouldn’t have been surprised that Gavin and his friends offered to help after. Once the backyard was clear of all decorations, they sat on the back porch with Milo’s family and glasses of their preferred beverage. In that moment, Ginny knew that she needed to do something for Gavin. His family was made up of the most incredible people, but the group sitting on that back porch was extremely significant to him too. By fighting and then fixing their relationship, he probably hadn’t seen them as much.

So she invited his friends home for a barbecue.

Gavin had set the dress code—printed shirts for the dudes and summer dresses for the women—and everyone had showed up excitedly. The plan was to do an early dinner, before Frankie and Milo left for their honeymoon. Ginny was actually impressed that they all showed up on time, because she knew that it was in the middle of the week and everyone was pretty busy.

“Why didn’t we get ourselves a house?” Oleander asked Jackson as she sat in Ginny’s backyard, eyes squinting against the setting spring sun as she stared up at the house. “It’s really beautiful, Ginny.”

“Thanks. It’s my biggest investment, so I spentmonthssearching for the right place.”

“I remember when you lived in that tiny apartment where you could leap from your bed to the toilet,” Frankie offered helpfully and Ginny rolled her eyes.

“I was definitely not looking for a reminder of the place that gave me nightmares,” she shot back at her newlywed friend and smiled at Frankie’s shrug.

Lachlan, Jackson and Gavin were manning the grill, the three of them looking like something out of a GAP commercial with their well groomed beards, neatly pressed shirts and handsome smiles. Frankie was in Milo’s lap, where she’d been ever since they’d arrived. Oleander and Everleigh were stretched out in their respective chairs, staring up at Ginny’s house as they talked between themselves.

She never thought that she would be part ofthisfriends group, because all of them had history in some way or the other. But being in a relationship with one of them meant that she was alreadyone of them. Ginny walked into her house to fix herself another Greyhound—one of her favorite gin based cocktails—and heard the door open and close behind her.

“Hey Ginny, thank you for inviting us over today.”

She turned to face the pretty redhead and smiled. “I’m glad everyone could make it.”

“I know it’s weird to be around this group at first,” Everleigh said, blushing as she tucked her hair away. “But you’re already fitting in better than I did.”

“At least you didn’t have any traumatic history with one of them.”

Everleigh laughed, a soft tinkling sound, and shook her head. “There was a moment when I thought Frankie might not like me because I dated Milo in high school.”

“I doubt Frankiehatesanyone, but it’s great that you two are still such good friends.”

“Gavin and Jackson had a lot to do with that. My point is, it’s good to have you part of the group.”

“Thanks Everleigh, I appreciate that.” Ginny beamed, because she was genuinely grateful for those words. Pointing at Everleigh’s mostly empty glass, Ginny asked, “Would you like another one?”

“Sure, what are you drinking?”

“A Greyhound. Gin, grapefruit juice and simple syrup. It’s sweet and tart, if that’s your cup of tea.”

“Yes, please,” Everleigh said, knocking back the remnants of her drink before holding her glass out. Ginny mixed up another cocktail and together, they walked out onto the porch just as the Barbecue Bros—it’s how she referred to the three men standing at the grill—announced that dinner was ready.

Like at Frankie’s Christmas party, Ginny had set up a long table for everyone to sit at. She’d hired the table and chairs, so there would be enough room for everyone, and Gavin had helped her set it up, as well as decorate the backyard. It was a small scale version of what she might have done for another wedding. Which had then sent her down a spiral of whatherwedding would look like. A startling thought at first, since she hadn’t intended to ever get married, but Gavin was really changing a lot of things about her life and she wasn’t mad about it.

“You good, babe?” Gavin asked as he slid an arm around her waist.

Ginny nodded, watching as everyone settled into their seats. Unlike at Frankie’s party, she didn’t make name cards, because she didn’t care where anyone sat. Plus, she wanted to sitwithGavin.

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