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“On it,” I said, kissing her forehead. “Be back in five.”
“Wait—”
I stopped, leaning against the door.
“Bash can go. Everyone’s been so mean to you. He can at least set them straight—”
“I’m more than capable of setting people straight, Pink.” I palmed the doorframe. “I’ve got this.”
She groaned, but Bash smiled at me. “He’s got it, Em.”
I didn’t enjoy walking away from her while she was hurt, but Sebastian was there, and it was really just a small burn, even if it was scary as hell seeing her hand in the fire.
I strolled up to the rest of the group, not showing a single sign of weakness. They seemed like people who would tear me to shreds if given the chance. I wasn’t buying the nice act they put on earlier. Bash and Em let me know who I was really meeting, and I would guard myself against whatever they threw my way.
“The two of you really took care of her,” Em’s dad remarked as I sat in my seat.
“We always take care of each other.” I grabbed a stick and slid a marshmallow onto it, refusing to believe Jason was truly impressed.
Ava smiled at me and held up a plate with two s’mores on it. “We try to, as well. Even if some of us aren’t always great at it—” She glared at her mother, and I held in a laugh. “I turned the other two marshmallows that didn’t have flesh on them into s’mores for you guys.”
I smiled at her and took the plate. “Thanks, Ava.”
She was like dynamite wrapped in a cashmere sweater and I’d do whatever it took to stay on her good side.
“How is she?” Rachel asked.
“She’s okay—”
“Is Bash taking care of her?” Alicia asked.
“Yes. We’ll probably have an early night tonight. It’s been a rough couple of weeks—”
As soon as I said it, I regretted it.
“Why?” Collin asked.
“Finals.” I rotated the marshmallow, careful to keep my attention on the fire—it was a good excuse to avoid eye contact.
These vultures didn’t need to know that everything was going wrong with our wedding planning. It was hard enough dealing with it on our own. Just when we’d have a win, Harriet would call—or text now that the calls had become so frequent she probably dreaded dialing our number—with news of something else that had gone wrong. We didn’t need their input or snide comments.
“That had to be a tough loss—”
I laughed, grabbing a square of chocolate and a graham cracker. “There’s always next year.” If the Evergreens wanted me. Another thing the Averys and Bardots did not need to know.
“The other team was from the coldest part of New Hampshire.” Jason smirked and took a swig of his beer. “I bet their only source of entertainment was hockey.”
I could tell he meant it as a sort of compliment for my team, but it didn’t sit well with me and I couldn’t bring myself to smile back.
“I better get this to Em.”
“And get Bash’s to him,” Alicia called after me.
I glanced at my plate that clearly had three s’mores on it and waved to them. “Got it.”
Alicia was so worried we’d forget her son. Was that what prompted Em’s marriage discussion? As if any of us wanted a world where only two of us were together. I’d fight tooth and fucking nail to keep both of them in my life for as long as we were on this planet.
When we proposed, I thought everything would fall into place as easily as our relationship had come together—although that wasn’t exactly easy. But this was a whole new bucket of problems I hadn’t expected.
