Page 14 of Willa’s Weddings

“Maybe less but I don’t know for sure.” I groaned when I had to finally untangle myself from her and then went to her room to get dressed. “Will you be okay here? Do you want me to take you to Kylie’s or Poppy’s?”

That brought out my fierce little fire cracker. “You do realize I’ve lived alone for a very long time. I’ll be fine.” She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest as if she were suddenly self-conscious. “I’m just gonna miss you.”

“Me too, baby girl.” I had just pulled my shirt over my head and then reconsidered. “Here, how about you wear this?” I put the shirt on her and watched it fall down to her knees. “It looks better on you anyway.”

She smiled and held it out like a dress. “Yeah, it does.”

I pulled out my phone and held it up. “Can I take a picture before I go? I don’t have any of you alone.”

She cocked her hip and her head in opposite directions and then puckered her lips for the camera. “That’s for the spank bank, but when you really wanna get off, Facetime me and we’ll do it together.”

Fuck me.

Before I left, I scribbled a list of chores for her on a sticky note. Nothing fancy. Just reminders to eat a salad with her dinner, brush teeth before bed, and text me anytime she wanted to talk. Unless I was right in the middle of a building inspection, I’d take her call day or night.

Despite not having Willa on my radar at all just twenty-four hours earlier, she was suddenly the most important person in my life.

The girls were used to saying “I love you,” to each other and even to me in a friendly/brotherly way. But I didn’t let the words that were instinctive to say come out. Not this time. Not yet.

When we exchanged those words again they wouldn’t be friendly or brotherly. They’d be real and meaningful and…forever. I stuck the list to her fridge, then kissed her one last time. “I’ll call you tonight.”

“I’ll be thinking about you every minute you’re gone.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. “Come back soon.”

“I promise I will, baby girl. Daddies always do.”

7

WILLA

Troy Kantor was the most perfect Daddy a girl could ever want. I knew that sounded both cringey and like I was setting myself up for heartache, but it was true. He was also, unfortunately, a “responsible adult” with a “career” and “clients” and a sense of “duty” that manifested in an incredibly irritating devotion to his job. Granted, his job was fairly important and kinda saved lives…or at least kept people safe.

But still.

I missed him.

We’d barely spent a single day together before he had to leave town. If I weren’t so busy with my own career and clients, I might have been more of a brat about it. But the first three days he was gone went by in a flash. I’d been so busy dealing with three separate brides who all wanted destination weddings that I barely kept up with his sweet little texts and our nightly sext session before I was dreaming about him holding me and kissing me and loving me.

Okay, that last part was more of a fantasy than just a regular dream, but a girl had to have goals, right?

Every wedding detail I poured over with my clients made my mind wander to places it shouldn’t. At least not in the first few days of a new relationship. But even just the suggestion of a loving couple made my brain immediately photoshop Troy and me at the end of a beautiful altar. I low-key hated myself for it, but also, it was his fault.

He made me want things I didn’t think I’d ever want.

I was the wedding planner. The person who facilitated other people’s happy ever afters. I wasn’t the one who was supposed to get the fairy tale ending. But Daddy was my Prince Charming and Aladdin and Beast and Shrek all in one sexy package. Okay, maybe I needed to not fall asleep to cartoons anymore.

I checked my phone for the nine millionth time, but he was still out of range. He’d warned me the cell signal was bad where he was gonna be, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hope he’d instantaneously teleport himself to my living room and give me a big Daddy hug.

My day was relatively slow for Wednesday and the quiet was getting to me. I needed action, or rather, a distraction.

I flipped backward over my couch so my knees were bent over the cushions and my head hung close to the ground and sent a text to our group chat. I loved my friends and I had been kinda avoiding them all week. But a few days alone was enough to make me put aside any fears I had about how they’d react to learning Troy and I were together and just reach out.

I also loved that every single one of them would totally appreciate the giant block tower on my living room rug, which was exactly why I included a picture of it in the chat.

CASSIE: I love it. Could use more pink but it’s still cute.

BRIANA: Is that a Zane the Zebra plushie in the bg? It’s just like mine.

JASMINE: Bet you knock it over in 5… 4… 3…