Timing (149 page)

Timing

9

I ENJOYED my best friend’s four-day wedding extravaga

g nza weeke

k nd

for a fu

f ll ten mi

m nutes

s befo

f re

r I saw her brother

r le

l aning against

s the bar,

looking out of

f place a

nd u

ncomfortable

l , ta

t lking wi

w th the groom-to-be.

“Oh my God, Char,” Tina

n Jacobs said fro

r m the other side of me.

“How did you get y

our br

b o

r ther off

f

f that ranch of his?

s ”

I

I turn

r ed slowly t

o look a

t

t my friend C

harl

r ott

t e Hollo

l way.

“Oh look.” She fo

f rced a smil

i e.

. “Rand’s

’ here

r . Isn’t that gre

r at,

t

Stef?”

I just stared at her.

She smiled wider.

I scowled.

“Okay, fine,” she sa

s id sh

s arply

l , because she felt guilty, and we

both knew

w it. “I

I li

l ed.

. My

M brother will

l in fact be at

t my wedding.”

. Sh

S e

grabbed my

m bic

i ep tight

h ly

l , ma

m king sure I couldn’t go anywhere. “But

this weekend isn’t

’ about

t you, it’s

’ about me

m and Ben. You’re not here

for fun; you’r

’ e

r here to ke

k ep us both sa

s ne.”

.

I shot her a look.

“St

S efa

f n Michael Joss,”

, sh

s e sna

n pped,

, using my

m who

h le name

m , whic

i h

she neve

v r

r did. “You will

l stop being annoyed this

i instant! This is my

wedding, for crissakes!”

But she ha

h d sworn up, down, and sideways that her brother and I

I

would not cro

r ss pa

p ths. If

I she had neve

v r brought

t it up, I

I would have

10

Mary Calmes

prepared myself, but as it was, I thought he had to stay home and brand

something or round something up or shoot something.

“Like I was really going to get married without Rand. How is that

even possible? He’s the head of my family Stef.”

Since when did she care?

“Use your head, Stef. We both know you didn’t actually think

you were getting out of here without having to see Rand.”

But I had, because she had promised.

“He lives, like, an hour away, Stef. Did you seriously think he

wasn’t going to come?”

“You promised me he was too busy to leave the ranch.” I repeated

what she’d said to me over a month ago when I had been hedging.

“I lied, obviously.”