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“We both know that. We wouldn’t do that to you.” Or wouldn’t want to, but accidents did happen. I looked around, just in case. “We just want to talk to you. And not over the phone, but face to face. Please, Emma.”
“We’re talking now,” she pointed out.
We both gave her matching looks for that. She kept her stance for a second longer, then sighed, shoulder slumping as she ducked her head.
“I missed you guys. But I can’t just disappear from the reception, not this early. And I refuse to talk here, where anybody could walk by and wonder, or just look at us talking and start something just because of that. It’s my mom’s wedding day, the only one I’m ever going to get to attend, and I don’t want to ruin it for her.”
Her expression, when she looked back up, was imploring. When she moved around us, neither of us went to stop her. Then Abe sighed, put his arm around my shoulders and dragged me over to a table.
“Come on and sit down before you fall. You’re not fooling anybody.”
“No?” But I groaned quietly in relief once I sat down. I must have been feeling worse than I thought.
“No. Be smart about this and do what the therapist said. If you intend to ever get on a bike again, you’re gonna need to be in top shape. Just wait here. I’ll get us some food. And don’t worry about Emma. She isn’t leaving right now, and neither are we, we’ll just look for another time to talk to her.”
Yeah. Unless she just runs from us again.
The thought was bitter, a match for the smile curling on my mouth. But then someone sat next to me, and when I turned, I saw one of the girls I’d taken to prom senior year. I didn’t have any interest in her, but I gave her the same smile I used to get her to agree to go with me to prom when I already had a couple of other dates.
Chapter Twenty
Emma
“Emma.”
“Hmm?” I turned to my mom, distracted.
I kept trying not to look around at the guys and failing each time. Everyone had eaten, so people were mostly just mingling. Mr. Thomas had been taken away by a group of his friends to go and discuss ‘guy stuff’, leaving me with mom. Carl was still sitting down, but Abe had gotten up to dance a couple of times.
When Mom didn’t immediately say something, I paid a little more attention to her. She was watching me through narrowed eyes, her lips pressed together in a tight line. It was a suspicious look, and it had my heart beating unevenly in my chest.
“What is it, mom?”
Her face smoothed out and she smiled as someone she knew passed by us. Then she turned back to me with a slight frown.
“You’re looking at your brothers that way.”
My heart jumped guiltily, and I carefully arranged my face into an innocent expression. “What way?”
“In a seductive way.”
She commented so plainly, she might as well have been talking about the weather. I glanced around quickly, even though I knew there was no one close enough to hear her murmur. She wouldn’t have said it if there was a chance of it, but still.
I also just wanted to look away from her accusing gaze. My eyes kept drifting on their own, I didn’t think I was being so obvious about it. But she noticed. I fought back a blush, knowing it would give me away as if I’d admitted to it.
“I’m not looking at them in a seductive way, Mom. And either way, I am a grown woman. They are two, very attractive young bachelors. It’s not like I’m the only one looking. I’m qualified.”
I stood my ground even though her eyes narrowed on me again. I refused to feel guilty just because she thought I should. Then mom said something I wouldn’t have expected to hear from her, of all people.
“Well, it’s about time. I was starting to wonder if something was wrong with you.” she scoffed. “A woman at your age shouldn’t still be single, Emma. I know you can be a bit dull, which is probably why your date left you. Try to find one to keep or you might as well spend the rest of your life alone and buried in that job you’re so proud of.”
I watched her back as she walked away, stunned. It was a horrible thing to say, to her daughter while on her wedding day. I didn’t plan on being married to my job, I wasn’t a workaholic. The way she said it, I might as well be some hermit, just with a high paying job. I found myself wondering if she thought I was still a virgin. Of course, I never told her I lost it at nineteen, a year after I left home.
Still. Even though I’d been trying to enjoy myself, behaving, letting the twins off when they cornered me, I was left feeling deflated once again.
Was this her way of trying to make amends to me? Just because she was being more subtle with her insults, did she expect me to be grateful she was trying? My eyes itched for a second before the sensation went away. This wasn’t something to cry over. I’d been cautiously optimistic, but I was nowhere near trusting my mother just yet.
I looked around at the guests, needing a pick-me-up. Hopefully, they hadn’t left yet. Because I’d taken Brandi’s words to heart, and if my mother wasn’t going to behave, then neither was I. They’d moved positions again, but finally, I saw them, at the edge of a crowd with three of the bridesmaids—the younger ones—surrounding them.
Seeing that, I probably should have stayed away. They’d come after me and I’d refused them, after all. We’d had sex a few times, but we never agreed to have strings attached. No matter what they said, I knew they could easily get tired of me, and it wasn’t like they were hurting for prospects. Hell, a lot of the town’s young darlings had come back just because they heard who the groom would be and had some hope that his sons would show up.
Totally out of character for me, though, it only solidified my decision. Instead of walking off, tail tucked between my legs, I firmed my shoulders and headed in their direction, ignoring everyone else. Abe saw me first and then nudged Carl. Then they were walking toward me, ignoring the women surrounding them.
All because they had their eyes on me.
I liked that they were so focused on me that everything else seemed to fall away. No guy I’d dated had ever looked at me like they did. It made me feel… powerful, sexy, something I couldn’t say I’d ever felt. Before them, I was just… average.
Did I really want to go back to that?
I decided that, no, I didn’t. Screw what my mother thought. What I did with my life wasn’t any of her business anyway.
We stopped with only a couple of feet between us. I looked up and met their eyes, first one, then the other, and they waited for me to say what I wanted. For a second, I almost chickened out. But all three of us wanted this. And Brandi had been right, being with them was the happiest I had ever been. There was no reason to keep denying myself, or them.
