Page 67 of Burning Skies
Once the girls are done, we all meet up at the Smokehousefor dinner. It’s a cowboy-themed grill house with old black and white photos of ranchers and cattle. We sit at a long table, and fortunately, Baylee wants us seated next to whoever we’re partnered with for the wedding, which means I get to sit next to Honey.
She leans over to me and whispers, “That was some stealthy kissing earlier.”
“You liked that, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
It’s my turn to press my mouth to her ear. “You wet, princess?”
She sucks in a breath and turns those baby blues my way and nods. Fuck.
I shouldn’t have asked the question ’cause now I’m rock hard at a family dinner, which is fucking awkward.
Maverick taps his drink with a spoon. “Bay and I are so glad y’all could make it tonight. Even though this isn’t a formal rehearsal dinner and we’re not planning a bachelor or bachelorette party, we just wanted some time with our closest friends and family. Everyone in this wedding helped us get to this point, and we want you to know we love you and are grateful for your friendship.”
Baylee kisses Mav and then turns to us. “I’m not sure if you guys know everyone, so I wanted to do some introductions just in case.”
The only two people I don’t know well are her friends Vera and Rory, who both work at Baylee’s salon. I think Vera’s now dating Baylee’s ex, Sean, who’s Leo’s birth father. She actually got Bay’s approval to date him, which I thought was cool.
Baylee laughs and turns to Maverick. “If your brother Isaiah actually makes it for the wedding, he’s standing with Vera. But if he doesn’t, I’ll just have an extra bridesmaid.”
“He sent me his measurements for his tux,” Rhett says. “So it’s possible.”
Isaiah’s been gone so long, it’ll be a shock to all of us if he returns.
Baylee then introduces Rory, who’s sitting next to Jace. “I’m really sad to see Rory go. I know she’s going to kill it in her new job. Rory is our newest town librarian.”
“It’s nice to meet y’all formally,” she says, barely above a whisper.
We all congratulate her, and Rory pushes up her glasses and smiles awkwardly. She glances at Jace, who’s sitting next to her, but he’s texting someone.
I kick him under the table, and he shoots me a dirty look. “Why’d you do that?”
“Put your phone away,” I mouth.
“Yes, Mother.” He obliges, and then starts talking to Leo, who’s sitting in Sylvia’s lap on his other side. Leo jumps on Jace, who stands him on his lap. “Do y’all need me to practice with the ring-bearer here?”
Baylee nods. “That would be great. We’re planning to tie the rings to his suit so he doesn’t toss them somewhere, but if you could practice walking with him slowly so he doesn’t race down the aisle, that would be great.”
“I’m on it.” Jace tickles Leo, who squeals with laughter. Rory looks at Jace, a little starry-eyed. It makes me wonder if she’s one of his fangirls. He has a lot of those.
When the food gets served, I laugh to myself when I realize Honey and I ordered nearly the same thing—medium-rare steaks but with different sides.
I nudge her. “Your baked potato looks good.”
“I was thinking I should have ordered fries.”
I hold up my plate. “Wanna swap?”
Her smile nearly knocks me over. “Yes, please.”
As we dig into our dinner, I ask her how work went this week.
“You’re going to die when you hear the latest. We have some weirdo who’s been pooping around the school.”
I nearly choke on my iced tea. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.” She waves at our plates. “Sorry. It’s a gross topic for dinner.”
