Chapter 5 #3
Evan thought of his brother’s wedding the following month and held back a sigh.
His older brother, Luka, was a doctor, which his parents loved, and was getting married, which they also loved.
For at least ten years, ever since Evan had graduated from college, his parents had been pushing for him to settle down.
He’d had endless conversations about how he was happier on his own right now and how Reign was his baby.
The wedding next month would mean a dozen more of those conversations, at least, especially since it was a week-long destination event.
“Absolutely. My parents are always nice, but I can tell they’re disappointed.” Mia sighed.
Just then, the music faded away, and an announcement came that it was dinnertime. The guests began a slow-motion stampede toward the dining tents that had been set up on the lawn.
“I hope there’s a seat for me,” Mia said as they fell into the line.
“I’m sure there will be. Mrs. Saint Claire asked that guy to take care of it.”
“I also hope my seat is not at their table.” Mia made big, concerned eyes.
“Same.” Evan chuckled. They entered the tent, which was lit by fairy lights against the slowly darkening sky outside, and was filled with round tables covered in white cloths. The delicious smells of food were already wafting around.
“I’m supposed to be at table three,” Evan explained. “Let’s try there.”
They found the table, where a small handwritten sign by one plate read Evan Heart Plus-One.
“Oh, good.” Mia sank into her chair. “I was worried I’d have to survive on canapés alone.”
Evan chuckled. “There’s no worse fate, I’m sure.”
“Definitely not.” She winked and put her napkin in her lap. “Now that I’ve crashed this wedding, I need to get my money’s worth.”
“You definitely do. Make sure to have an extra slice of cake later.”
They were soon joined by a middle-aged couple, who introduced themselves as Burt and Victoria Thomson, as well as a few other guests.
“I’m Genevieve’s aunt,” Victoria explained, leaning forward. Once she’d said that, Evan could see the similarity between her and Elizabeth. “How do you know the couple?”
“I’m Evan, a friend of Tyler’s,” Evan explained. “And this is my date, Mia.”
“Oh.” Victoria straightened up, her eyebrows raising. “You’re the mysterious plus-one. I see. So, tell me, how did the two of you meet?”
Mia and Evan exchanged a concerned glance. Evan hadn’t expected questions like this, though he probably should have. There was no option now but to make something up.
“Well, it’s actually a cute story,” he began.
“Very cute,” Mia added. “You see, we were in a…”
“Grocery store,” Evan continued.
“Yes, exactly, and Evan reached for the last mango, and so did I. Our eyes met, and that was that.” Mia smiled, but Victoria looked even more confused.
“You do your own shopping?” she asked.
“Yes,” Evan and Mia chorused. In truth, Evan ordered his food from a delivery service, but he wasn’t about to say that. It would completely undermine their story.
“Anyway,” Evan continued, “it was very sweet. Mia told me she’d wanted the mango for a special recipe, so I told her she could have it. She thanked me and invited me over to try it.”
“It turned out terribly, because I can’t cook,” Mia continued.
“But he was very sweet about it.” They grinned at each other, and Evan realized that he was still having fun.
He’d been very annoyed about making small talk earlier in the day, but now that they were inventing stories together, it was almost enjoyable.
He wondered if she really was a bad cook.
“I told her that the next time, I’d take her out to have some proper mango sticky rice,” Evan said. “Which was what she wanted to make.”
“And a few days later, we went to a cute little Thai place he knew and had our first meal out together.”
“And that’s it. That’s how we met.”
“Such a cute story!” Victoria smiled.
“How did the two of you meet?” Mia prompted.
“It was, how long ago, Burt — thirty years now?”
“Since we met, or since we got married?” Burt asked, finally joining the conversation.
“Since we got married. Obviously. We met when we were children.” Victoria turned back to Mia and Evan.
“You see, our families were always friends, and we would vacation together most summers on the Cape. It wasn’t until we got a little older, though, that we realized there was something special between us.
That must have been in college, and we got married a little while after that. ”
“Childhood sweethearts.” Mia smiled, and Evan saw that her beautiful brown eyes were lit up again. Clearly, she enjoyed love stories. “How wonderful.”
“It really was. Now, tell me, what do you each do?”
The small talk continued throughout dinner, which was a delicious twist on roast chicken. When it came time to cut the wedding cake, Evan and Mia cheered as loudly as anyone as the happy couple smashed cake onto each other’s faces and burst into laughter.
It was the most fun Evan had ever had at a wedding, from the dancing to the flirting to the small talk.
Mia was funny, interesting, and gorgeous.
He found that he could barely take his eyes off her – and he wasn’t even tempted to slip back to the hotel and work instead.
He wanted to stay and enjoy the evening with her.