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He leaned forward and looked me in the eye. “Here’s the thing. Your sister has finally reached some sort of nirvana, and I’d like to keep her there at least through the honeymoon. Hopefully, we’ll find a way to get out of here tomorrow, even if we have to drive north and take a flight out of some small random airport to SFO. I don’t want her hearing your plans until we’ve returned. And as far as your parents go, well… I’m sure you’re not in any hurry to lay this on ‘em. Who knows, maybe by the time you guys are on the road with your tour, you’ll have changed your mind about all of this, and we can relegate it in our past.”
“Or not,” I told him, suddenly feeling more confident in my decision now that I’d brought it out into the open.
Natalie walked into the room then, looking happier than I’d seen her in a long time. Happy looked good on her, and Bernard was right. We needed to guard that state for as long as we could. “Let’s go, boys. We’re waiting for my two favorite men so we can start breakfast. Your conversation will have to keep until afterwards. Hope it wasn’t anything too important.”
Bernie and I stood and headed in her direction.
“Nothing too important,” I assured her.
“Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything that might change the course of anyone’s life or anything.”
I about choked on my own spit. How this woman had a gut instinct about shit was beyond me.
Even so, this time, she wouldn’t get between Em and me… that spot had already been taken by Gabe and Dustin… stacking… lots of stacking.
Emily 10
“You really look great this morning, Emily. That color suits you,” Natalie said as she took her seat across from me at the table. “Also, Bernie and I want to thank you for our beautiful wedding. It went so smoothly, we didn’t have to think about anything. It was simply perfect, so thank you for that. And to Aunt Tammy and Uncle Jimmy, Dirty Coyote couldn’t have been a more perfect venue.” She picked up her glass of mimosa. “And to Gabe, Dustin, and my sweet brother Cody, you were amazing. The guests absolutely loved you. You made a lot of new fans. So, it’s a win-win for everyone. To an extremely successful wedding!”
We all clinked glasses and drank some of our delicious bubbly wine.
When I placed my glass back down on the table, and chatter bubbled up from the group, I couldn’t help but reflect on the drastic change in Natalie. It felt as though a sweet, tolerant woman had taken over her mind and body. As if there’d been a switch in the middle of the night and Snow White slipped in where Cruella DeVille had once languished. How could that happen so fast? Did it have something to do with Bernard? With the wedding being over? With all the sex she and her new husband probably had last night?
However it happened, I wanted the formula so I could pump her full of it whenever we had to deal with each other again.
“A perfect day!” Martha said, looking fabulous in her powder-blue sweater set and black dress pants. One thing about their mom, she knew how to dress and stayed slim. She even wore her gray hair in a short, spiky, trendy style. The woman had class, as did her husband Sam. He wore his best Texas attire, including the rodeo buckle he’d won when he was in his early twenties. He’d won several for bronc riding and remained proud of that fact to this day. Natalie told me he still sometimes traveled with local rodeos and did some training for other riders. The man would never leave Texas, no matter what.
Shame, because I could tell his wife loved it here.
Compromise. Marriage was filled with compromise. Did I really want that? And with three men, I’d have absolutely no say in anything.
What was I thinking?
“We’re planning to practice later today at Dirty Coyote and were hoping you can join us,” Cody said, as he sat next to me, shaking me out of my marriage thoughts.
Another infringement that Natalie didn’t seem to have a problem with.
His plate was loaded down with almost all the goodies that had been offered to us, and he’d already made a substantial dent.
Just sitting next to him, with Gabe on the other side, sent little tingles through my body whenever I thought of sex with either of them… Dustin included. He sat next to Cody.
We so needed to talk about all this; instead, Cody wanted to focus on getting me onstage with them. I couldn’t see where any of it would lead, but if it gave me more time with them, I was all in.
“To be honest, I know several of your songs,” I admitted. Even though I hadn’t followed their personal stories much, I listened to a lot of country music, and their songs were always everywhere.
“So, you’ve been a fan all along?” he asked, then he took a big bite of scrambled eggs.
“How could I not? We were practically siblings,” I said, trying to get a rise out of him.
“Under the circumstances, that might not be the best analogy,” he teased and as soon as he smiled, I knew I was a goner. The man had such an impact on me, even now when I was surrounded by folks who probably wouldn’t embrace our relationship, especially the kind I was hoping for.
“You mean the fact that we…” I didn’t need to finish the sentence. He knew what I wanted to say.
“Exactly. How about we change that to practically cousins, instead. That’s much more acceptable.”
I chuckled as I sipped more of my mimosa. “Cousins it is, but yes. I know at least five of your hits by heart, maybe more if I was pressed.”
“Then let me press you,” he said, running his hand up my thigh under the table, sending shivers up my body.
