Page 21 of Worth the Risk

“Great. I’ll see you Saturday, okay?”

“Yes. I’ll be there.”

He hung up without a goodbye, and I shook my head as I tucked my phone into my purse. I really shouldn’t have answered that call.

When I arrived at the restaurant, there were several tables pushed together to form a long one for our group. Between the wedding party and family members we had about fifteen people, and I knew that number would only grow over the rest of the week.

There weren’t too many people there yet, so I grabbed an empty seat beside Jess. Her husband Cody was on her other side, and my cousin Kirsten was sitting across from me. The waitress was already taking drink orders, so I requested a virgin margarita. I’d realized over the past week that citrus helped neutralize the metallic taste in my mouth, so I hoped the lime juice in the margarita would do the trick tonight.

I picked up my menu when the empty chair to my right was pulled out. I didn’t even think of trying to snag a spot between two people that were already here, and I regretted that decision as I turned to see Ford lowering himself into the chair.

I couldn’t stop the frown from appearing on my face. He was being quite ridiculous. When we were dating, he wouldn’t have sought out a seat beside me in a social setting like this, so it made no sense for him to do it now.

Seemingly unbothered by my unhappy expression, Ford grabbed one of the pitchers of ice water in the center of the table and poured some into my glass, then his own.

“Need to stay hydrated,” he said, picking up his own glass and taking a sip. He looked pointedly at mine, and I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, I got your text about that,” I said.

But he wasn’t wrong, so I took a sip of my drink as well.

“How was your day?” he asked while flipping open his own menu.

“It was fine. I really love the beach, but I haven’t been to one since my last vacation. I went to the Florida Keys.”

“How long ago was that?”

I thought for a minute. “It was a celebration after graduating nursing school, so five years ago, I guess.”

“That’s quite a while.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been focused on my career. But Ryan having his wedding here gave me the perfect excuse to take some time off. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have my own wedding in some exotic location someday.”

“Beaches are overdone,” Kirsten chimed in from the other side of the table. “You should do something unique. I once heard about a couple that got married in a cave in Virginia. Pretty rock formations and stalactites and all that.”

I tilted my head to the side. “A cave? That’s interesting.”

Ford shook his head. “Caves freak me out. I went on a field trip to Missouri as a kid, and I was the only kid that wouldn’t go into the cavern. I was too scared it would cave in.”

“I guess she’ll just have to leave you off the guest list,” Kirsten said with a smirk.

Something dark flashed over Ford’s face, and I didn’t want to think too much about why he would be upset by that.

The conversation moved on until Jess and Kirsten were debating if it would be better to get married while skydiving or scuba diving. Both seemed silly to me, but I figured that was the point.

The waitress arrived with my drink, and I thanked her with a smile. She took Ford’s drink order before moving on to others that had recently arrived, and I lifted the glass to my lips. I’d just licked salt off the rim when I felt a prickle of awareness run over my skin.

Ford was watching me intently.

“That’s not alcohol, is it?”

I shot him a dirty look. “Seriously, Ford? You think I’m drinking alcohol?”

He cringed. “No, not really. It’s just… you might’ve forgotten.”

I glanced around to make sure that no one was paying attention to us. Everyone seemed to be wrapped up in their own conversations. Still, I lowered my voice.

“Trust me, I haven’t. I know that you’re still wrapping your head around all this, but I’ve known about it for a week.”