Page 12 of Business Casual
CHARLIE
Nova leaves mestanding in front of a Douglas fir with a semi and a whole lot to think about. I have to drag both hands over my face and do some deep breathing exercises to make it out from behind that tree without embarrassing myself.
Not that it helps much. My brain feels like it’s full of wool and whatever perfume Nova was wearing.
I stroll my way over to Luka and Stella’s table and try not to look like I’m having an existential crisis. It was a bold move, telling her she needs to ask me again. But I stand by it. I’m not going to take Nova Porter home and hope for the best. This town is too important to me. I’m not going to risk my place in it because I decided to think with my downstairs brain.
By the time I make it to the table, Stella is smirking at me.
“What?”
She flicks me in the shoulder. “You know what.”
I cast a quick glance at Beckett at the other side of the table, but he’s busy with his wife in his lap, his chin on her shoulder and both of his arms wrapped around her waist. They’re probably talking about pet adoption or the best soil for planting carrots.
Not that I have anything to be worried about. Nova and I were just dancing. It doesn’t matter that she’s one of my best friend’s sisters.His youngest sister. His favorite sister. The one he is still kind of scarily protective over.
The one who asked me to take her home for a night of no-strings sex.
I force my gaze back to Stella. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I grab the bottle of champagne sitting in the middle of the table and take three long pulls. It’s too sweet and the bubbles almost give me a heart attack, but it’s a good distraction from what I really want to do. Which is scan the fields for Nova.
You know how we got here.
I need a cold shower and a stiff drink. Another cold shower after that.
I blow out a deep breath and ignore the faintly amused look on my sister’s face. What I need is a distraction and I have the perfect one. I reach into my back pocket and pull out a carefully folded envelope. “For you.”
She stares at it, face twisted in confusion. “What is it?”
“An envelope.”
She rolls her eyes.
“A wedding present,” I laugh.
She gives me a look. “You’ve given me a wedding present. You’ve given me like…six wedding presents.”
She lightly touches the small sapphires in her ears, one of the gifts I gave her before I walked her down the aisle. I did sort of go overboard, but I couldn’t help myself. Stella is my only sister—a sister I didn’t even know I had until well into adulthood. I grew up a lonely kid bursting with energy and no one to share it with. I asked my mother for a sibling relentlessly until I was old enough to realize what that wounded look in her eyes meant and I stopped asking.
And then, one day in my twenties, Stella appeared on our doorstep with a bunch of letters in her hand and the same exact eyes as me.
Turns out our dad was less than loyal to my mom. The first in a very long line of transgressions.
Thankfully Stella was receptive to the idea of a relationship, and we became fast friends. I like to think we’re both trying to make up for the missed years between us. She’s the sister I always wanted. Part of the family I never thought I’d have.
Six presents for her wedding doesn’t feel like enough, frankly. I want her to know how much it means to me to spend this day with her. To have a place on her Christmas tree farm and in the community she’s made for herself.
Luka appears behind her with a dopey-ass grin on his face and rests his chin on top of her head. He curls both arms around her shoulders and rocks them back and forth while simultaneously thrusting his left hand in my face. He wiggles his fingers, the glint of his new shiny gold ring reflecting in the lights overhead.
“Charlie,” he singsongs. “Do you know what this means?”
Stella pulls his arm back around her, their wedding bands clicking when she threads their fingers together.
I grin. “I think it means you two are married.”
“Yeah, we’re married.” His entire face lights up with the word, a grin tugging at his mouth. Either he’s been hitting the homemade moonshine that Gus snuck in, or he’s drunk on love. Luka is exactly the type of man I would have chosen for my sister, if I’d had any sort of say in that decision. Luke presses a kiss to the tip of Stella’s ear. “It also means you’re my brother now. Officially.”
