“Your relationship with him won’t last,” she said suddenly, changing tactics. “He isn’t the marrying kind.”
“Fortunately, after what I’ve been through in the past few months, I’m only looking for some fun.” Unable to resist, she lowered her voice. “And, God, can he provide it!”
Kyle had the hardest time keeping his eyes from gravitating to Olivia. She looked better than ever—tall, tan, hair streaked from the sun. But, despite her shapely legs—which happened to be his favorite part of the female anatomy—her appearance had nothing to do with how he felt. She’d always been beautiful to him, the only woman he’d ever loved. Just seeing her made his determination falter.
How had he gotten into such a terrible mess? These days, he constantly asked himself that. But he had no answer—except the obvious. He’d been an idiot, foolish enough to make the kind of mistake that would change his life forever.
He wished he could stop time, demand everyone back up and let him start over. But he’d seen the results of the pregnancy test. With a baby coming, there were no second chances.
“Honey, you have to put three hugs and three kisses in each box,” Noelle said.
He blinked at the foil-wrapped chocolate candies. Wasn’t that what he’d been doing? He opened the last wedding favor he’d assembled. She was right. He’d put in five kisses and only one hug. He’d thought, as long as they each included six pieces, it wouldn’t matter. They had more than enough of both kinds. But every little detail mattered to Noelle.
“Got it.” He smiled as congenially as possible to keep Olivia and her parents from knowing how badly Noelle’s voice grated on him.
Three kisses, he silently mimicked. And three hugs. Along with a scrap of paper that read, What’s the earth with all its art, verse, music worth—compared with love, found, gained, and kept? —Robert Browning
“Kyle, is something wrong?”
He glanced up to see his future mother-in-law watching him. He hadn’t realized he’d slipped into inactivity. He was sitting there, staring at that damn line of Robert Browning’s.
“No.” His cheek muscles ached with the effort of yet another smile. “I was just wondering if I’d remembered to invite my aunt Georgia.”
“You invited her,” Noelle said without looking up. “You had so many on your list I had to cut twenty from mine, remember?”
He didn’t know if he was supposed to apologize. He’d tried to keep his list small. His was certainly smaller than hers, by a significant margin. He hadn’t wanted a big wedding. Given the situation, he much preferred they forgo the embarrassment of being married in Whiskey Creek and fly to Vegas. It seemed crazy to celebrate the hardest thing he’d ever done.
But thanks to Noelle’s insistence on creating the fanfare she’d always craved for her wedding, they were looking at a long, painful weekend. One that included Olivia, making it impossible to avoid the fact that, if not for one foolish night, this could’ve been their wedding.
Actually, he’d been with Noelle more than one night. It had been a whirlwind couple of weeks, during which she’d flirted and teased and cajoled and pleased. Caught in the aftermath of Olivia’s proposing a break and moving to Sacramento because she didn’t want to settle down without experiencing a little more of life, he’d been feeling rejected, unsure she’d ever really come back and angry enough to tell himself he didn’t have to suffer while she was gone. Their break hadn’t been his idea. The fact that they weren’t together but weren’t really apart left him feeling irritable and foolish.
And this was where it had gotten him....
Suppressing a groan, he started filling boxes again.
“Did you find the right tie and cummerbund for your tux?” Olivia asked. It was the first time she’d initiated any conversation between them. He would’ve been grateful for her attention, would’ve seen it as a hopeful sign that she might eventually be able to forgive him, except he knew she was only asking as the wedding planner.
“I have.”
“And your groomsmen have the right ones, as well?”
“Probably. I’ve told them where to go.”
“You need to check.”
“I will.”
“Do they know the rehearsal dinner tomorrow has been moved to seven instead of six-thirty?”
He kept forming little boxes and filling them with the appropriate chocolate candy before adding them to the stack in the middle of the table. The women took over from there, tying on a delicate pink ribbon imprinted with Kyle’s and Noelle’s names and the date of their wedding.
Two days. The worst will be over in two days.... “I’ve notified them of that, too.”
“Even Brandon?”
He’d invited Brandon to be in the wedding party for the sake of his parents. He felt it would be too obvious a slight to leave him out. But other than receiving a brief email confirming his participation, Kyle hadn’t heard from his stepbrother. “Even Brandon.”
“I’ll double-check with him tonight.”
The idea of Olivia spending time with Brandon for any reason made Kyle flinch. She hadn’t meant much to him when the two of them went to a prom together years ago. But she meant a lot to him now. “I can email him again.”
“Why don’t you just call him?”
He met her gaze. “Maybe I will.”
Ham, as Olivia’s father was called, paused in his work to raise his eyebrows at this exchange. But, as usual, he didn’t say anything. Sometimes Kyle wished he would. He wished someone would admit that this wedding was a huge mistake. Because he couldn’t. If Noelle wanted to marry him, he had no choice. He had to stand up and do the right thing or he wouldn’t be able to live with himself later.
Five
RELIEVED TO BE away from her parents’ house, Olivia dialed Brandon’s number as she sat in her car, letting the engine idle in the empty parking lot of Just Like Mom’s. The diner was closed, along with almost everything else in town, including the touristy shops dedicated to Whiskey Creek’s gold rush heritage. It was
