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Thus, the reason why I hadn’t told her about selling my company. I had no idea how upset she might get, and I didn’t want to find out.
If the song wasn’t to her liking, it could get ugly.
“We’ve got this,” Cody said, trying his best to reassure me. “I think… or rather, we all know it will be the memorable song and moment of the night. She’s going to love how we changed the arrangement. Besides, it better suits the country music theme. Not that there is anything wrong with Frank or standards, but with this song, it can go either way, and we’ve chosen our own way… which I’m sure Frank would’ve approved of. And speaking of songs, and music, it sounds like the band has started out in the main room. Maybe it’s time we checked the place out.”
My heart skipped a beat. I had a hard time believing they hadn’t done their due diligence yet, considering they were playing in this venue in less than twenty-four hours.
“Wait, does that mean you’ve never been here before? Never did a sound check or got a feel for the stage or, well, anything?” Saying the words aloud caused my stomach to flutter, and not in a good way. Normally, before a band performed in a new venue, they would spend hours making sure everything was perfect for the event. He knew how much this wedding meant to his sister and how she didn’t want any problems. I couldn’t imagine why he and his band hadn’t already spent the entire day making sure everything in the dance hall was perfect.
“Nope. Haven’t had time,” Gabe said. “We’re coming up on a six-month concert tour that starts in about fifteen days, so our main focus has been on that. We’ve been practicing for it for the last month or so, almost 24/7. This is a nice break, but we’ll be back at it for a few more days right before our first concert in Vegas.”
“Vegas. Wow! I didn’t know,” I confessed, but I should’ve guessed. They’d only recently released a new album, Goin’ Places. Anytime a band or a singer released an album, they went on tour to promote it. Natalie told me about their pending release and tour right in the beginning when we first started planning her wedding. We booked everything around their dates, to make certain she would be able to fit her wedding into her brother’s tight schedule.
“Haven’t done a tour like this in a while, so we’re fuckin’ stoked about it and want to be sure we make our fans happy,” Dustin announced, sounding totally excited.
“That’s great, but shouldn’t you have…”
Cody cut me off. “Don’t worry, Em. Everything’s cool. Our backup band spent a lot of hours here today, and they intend to spend the majority of tomorrow making sure everything is perfect, even the lighting. We’ve got this.”
He took my hand then, and before I could say another word, we were walking out of the dining room and into the main dance hall with Gabe and Dustin leading the way.
Emily 3
Red flags were dropping all around me, at least imaginary red flags. Cody was the one person who might ruin my plan of pushing off dating or even sex until I felt more in control of my happily ever after dreams. He’d been my one big HEA for a lot of my life, and now he was holding my hand. This might not end well.
As we walked away from the table and the chatting group of family and friends, I could hear Natalie calling our names. Everything in me wanted to turn around and reassure her, but Cody seemed to be determined to get me out of there, by picking up the pace.
“Just pretend you don’t hear her, and she’ll stop,” he told me as he quickly glanced back at me.
“Natalie never stops,” I told him. “She’ll only get louder and more persistent.”
I had firsthand knowledge of this fact from both our past together and only recently when we were first deciding on the flowers, and she wouldn’t let some of the most unimportant issues go, like how big the blooms should be on the roses, or whether the pastry chef who was creating her cake should use a ribbon of frosting for an accent, or more of a wave effect.
“It’s the little things that’ll get you every time,” she’d said. However, at the moment, as I began to allow myself to feel the warmth emanating from my hand connecting with Cody’s, Natalie’s words drifted out of my consciousness. Instead, I decided to go with the moment.
“She might even come after us, but I’d bet money that she won’t. Not in this situation. Too many people around her. You should know by now she hates making a scene in front of our friends or Bernard’s friends. She can go off the deep end in front of close family or folks who work for her, but never friends. Plus, I’ve learned a long time ago that if I don’t react, she usually gets distracted by something else.” Cody’s words sank into me as if they were my new gospel. From this moment on, I knew I would practice exactly what he said when it came to his sister’s hissy fits. I’d try my best to ignore her until she stopped.
As we opened the heavy door to the main room, the pounding sound of country music engulfed us. Red, white, and blue strobe lights bounced around the now crowded room, while the band played a great cover version of AA, by Walker Hayes that seemed to get almost everyone on the dance floor, and that was about a hundred and fifty to two hundred people all having a great time. I loved seeing everyone so happy.
As I quickly gazed back through the self-closing door, I caught a glimpse of Natalie totally emersed in a conversation with Bernard, and he didn’t look happy.
“Why didn’t I know this sooner?” I asked Cody.
“Know what?” he asked, grinning at the sight in front of him.
“That Natalie doesn’t cause a scene in front of friends, especially new friends? It would’ve saved me so much grief.”
I stood alongside him now, but he still hadn’t let go of me, and I wasn’t about to initiate the release. So there we stood, hand in hand, like lovers.
“Because you and I were never allowed to get to know each other,” he said, as he guided me out on the dance floor, then twirled me into his arms once we found our spot. “At least not in any meaningful way. I think it’s time we changed all that, don’t you?”
I was in his arms again, and once again, I felt as if I belonged there. As if this was my safe space and nothing could hurt me as long as he held me tight. I didn’t think I’d ever felt like this before. Maybe it was because we’d known each other for most of our lives, or because I’d had a fierce crush on him ever since the first day we met back in elementary school, or maybe it was simply animal attraction. I didn’t know, but whatever the reason, I wanted this feeling to last for as long as possible this time, without Natalie pulling us apart.
“Why, Cody Days, are you flirting with me?” I teased, hoping that he’d clarify his words and actions.
“You’re damn right I am,” he whispered in my ear, his lips brushing against my sensitive skin, sending a gust of heat over my body that gave me goosebumps down my arms. I almost couldn’t believe the reaction I was having being this close to him. As if we’d been waiting for this moment for most of our lives and denying ourselves all because of some misguided allegiance to Natalie.
When he pulled back, and I gazed into his crystal-blue eyes and melted deeper into his embrace, I said, “It’s about damn time.”
