33. Paige
I grab a tissue and hand it to Katie.
“I know this is so stupid.” She wipes at her running nose. “I just can’t stop.”
“It’s completely natural to feel this way.” Laney runs a hand up and down Katie’s arm while her sister, Kimmy, brings her a cup of water. “It’s all overwhelming.”
Katie takes a deep breath, sipping the water for a second and then does her best at pulling herself together.
Dang, she makes it look easy.
I wipe a tear from my eye and grin at them. “You know, it’s going to be worse tomorrow.”
Katie sputters a laugh. “Thanks Paige.” She says, wiping at her eyes and glancing down at Blue who was the culprit of the tearful outburst.
Well, Blue and the sign that Aspen hung around his neck that says, “HEY MOM, WANT TO MARRY MY DAD TOMORROW?”
So, I guess it’s technically Aspen’s fault.
“I better go check on the guys.” I say and Laney’s eyes dart toward me and I know what she wants to ask, but doesn’t dare voice in the room.
Have you seen Max?
And the answer to that is… no.
He was flying in from LA today and was supposed to be landing with plenty of time to get to the rehearsal, something I loathed hearing but he guaranteed that he would be here on time. We officially have fifteen minutes before we’re supposed to start the rehearsal so I’ll be thoroughly surprised if he can pull this off because I haven’t even heard that he’s landed yet.
Truthfully though, I’m only half worried about him making it to the rehearsal, he’s the groomsman walking with Laney so there’s not much he has to worry about. I have no doubt she’ll tell him what he’s supposed to do if he misses tonight.
No, what I’m more focused on is talking to him.
I’ve skillfully danced around the subject of the paparazzi that ambushed Laney and I earlier in the week, as well as what that specific photographer revealed to me. That very next morning I called my mom who then confessed that they’d gotten what Prairie Oaks called a “housing benefaction”, where an anonymous sponsor had paid in full for Gram’s stay.
And I can almost guarantee who that “anonymous sponsor” is.
Katie nods her head. “We’ll be downstairs in a couple minutes. I need to redo my eyeliner.” She laughs, wiping at her face one last time. “Lane, did you bring that waterproof stuff?”
She laughs. “Yeah, I’ll go grab it, it’s in my room.” She stands and I follow her out of the room. “We’ll meet you downstairs.” She says with a knowing wink before going into the room across the hall from Katie’s and I start my way down the hall to where the guys are being sequestered.
When I come to the door to the guys’ room, I take a deep breath before knocking. “Boys! T-minus ten minutes before you need to be downstairs.”
The door opens and I’m met with the large figure of Theo and Aspen’s cousin, Aldis Bennett. I follow the line of buttons on his dress shirt up to his face and cross my arms, shooting him a dissatisfied look. “You grew again.”
“That’s not possible.” He says in his normal dry tone.
“Well, it must be, because I’m for sure not shrinking.” For a second, I think I may have eked a smile out of the man. But instead he just shakes his head and steps to the side, allowing me to see straight into the room where Aspen and his groomsmen are lounging on the couch.
…without Maxon.
A slice of panic surges through me, and I glance down to my watch again, to double check the time.
“What did Katie think of my sign?” Aspen asks with a boyish grin, and I roll my eyes.
“You made her cry.”
His smile drops and he stands from his seat. “Really? Should I go talk to her?”
I shake my head with another eye-roll. “No, you dork, they were happy tears. Are you all ready for rehearsal?”
Theo nods with a laugh at his brother’s relieved expression. “We’re good to go.”
“Good,” I say. “I need you to-” but I stop mid-sentence when I catch Laney from the corner of my eye nearly sprinting down the hall towards me. I knit my brow at her, noticing the panic that’s on her face. “Uh, hold on a second.” I say, stepping from the door and towards Laney.
“We have a problem.” She says, her eyes wide as she grabs my wrist and starts running back towards Katie’s room.
My heart rate picks up, of course there’s a problem. Things had been going so smoothly, we hadn’t had any hiccups yet. I should have known better than to even hope that we’d get through tonight without some kind of problem. Was Katie getting cold feet? Was there something wrong with the dress? Did she have some kind of reaction to the new makeup Laney got?
Oh no, if she has some kind of rash on her face I’m going to beat Laney for convincing her to try this new makeup.
When we get to the door I go to open the one leading back into Katie’s room but Laney pulls me away from it before I can.
“Not in there.” She says and pulls me back to the other side of the hallway to her room. “In here.” She says and her voice is so grave that panic settles deeper in my chest. Why would they have moved rooms?
Slowly, Laney creaks the door open, placing her foot in the gap that the door makes immediately before slipping into the room. I frown at her, and the slim crack that she keeps the door open, before I squeeze in behind her and am greeted by an empty room.
I glance around. “What’s wrong?”
As if in response, I hear a low meow coming from under the bed right before an orange head peeks out at me, slowly blinking his emerald green eyes.
I blink back at him.
“I don’t even know how he got into my bag.” Laney starts from next to me, staring down at the cat too.
“Mr. Bennett…” I say slowly, my mind immediately filled with images of Mr. Bennett being swollen and puffy alongside his son and new daughter-in-law in all their wedding photos.
“Yeah…” Laney nods gravely.
I glance down to my watch, we have six minutes before we need to be downstairs, which is the beginning of a very busy night. After the rehearsal, we’re going straight into dinner and then the groomsmen are taking Aspen out, and the girls were supposed to have a romantic movie night in Katie’s room. I bite my nail, watching the cat as he slinks back underneath the bed.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do.” I say, stepping towards the ensuite of Laney’s room. “We’re going to put Cheddar in here, to create as many barriers between him and the rest of the house as we can. Then we don’t have to worry about him darting out when you’re coming into the room.” I say, and she nods in agreement. “We’ll just have to make sure he stays in here. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett’s room is all the way at the other side of the house so he shouldn’t have any kind of reaction if Cheddar just stays in here.”
Laney bites on her bottom lip. “Are you sure? I can take him back home tonight if you’d rather.”
I shake my head. “No, you need to be at the rehearsal because I still haven’t seen any sign of Max, so you’ll need to know what you’re doing so you can fill him in tomorrow. And there won’t be any time afterwards, you’re not missing the girl’s night, Katie would be heartbroken. So, we’re just going to have to keep him in here.”
Laney nods slowly. “Alright. Whatever you say boss.”
I nod as she crouches and half crawls underneath the bed to fish the cat out. When she pulls him out, he has a very annoyed look on his furry little face that conveys my feelings about the situation precisely. Laney brings him to the ensuite and sets him down in the center of the bathroom before we close the door on him, and then make our way back towards Katie’s room, double and triple checking Laney’s door before we leave it behind.
“You girls ready?” I call and Katie has successfully redone her makeup and is nearly vibrating with anticipation. The poor girl isn’t going to know what to do with herself tomorrow.
“Let’s go!” She practically sings before we start down the hall and out towards the back patio of the Bennett’s estate where the ceremony will take place tomorrow.
The sun is just starting to set when we make it outside, which rests perfectly as the backdrop to where Katie and Aspen will be saying their vows. And I’ve even managed to time the thing perfectly so that the sun isn’t blinding the guests in the process.
The guys are already here, along with the officiant, Aspen’s cousins, Jan and Lily, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, my shoulders sag slightly when I don’t see the specific face I’m looking for.
“Miss me?” His voice comes from behind me and I snap around to find Maxon standing there, hands stuffed in his slacks, curly hair messed up slightly and looking absolutely perfect.
Within me, my heart expands at seeing him, an old familiar feeling that I’ve ignored for so long. A primal reaction that I’d convinced myself meant nothing, that I was only imagining things when it felt like my heart would burst if I didn’t surrender to the man that set the butterflies off in my stomach.
“Yes.” I say softly and I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my lips when I catch the fire that ignites in his deep-set eyes.
I know that look.
He wants to kiss me.
And I want him to kiss me too.
“Maxon! Where have you been?” Aspen calls from his group of groomsmen and Max’s gaze darts to him for a second.
“Plane was late.” He says simply with a shrug and his focus drops back to me for a moment, and I can see in his eyes that he doesn’t want to walk away from this tension between us. But tonight isn’t about us. I’ll steal him away and talk to him as soon as I get the chance, but right now we need to focus on the rehearsal. So, reluctantly, I take a step back from him and he gives a soft shake of his head with a slight smile that makes me want to sink into his arms.
Pull yourself together Paige, we have a job to do.
I clap my hands together and go straight to work pairing up the bridal party. “Kimmy and Theo will walk together, then Laney and Maxon, Ben with Lily, Aldis with Jan, and Sadie with Clayton.”
After the bridal party is paired together and lined up I walk Katie and Mr. Bennett to the back of the line so that he can walk her down the aisle and I’m faintly aware that they’re both already wiping at their eyes with wide smiles. I send up a silent prayer that his are happy tears and not allergies.
The rest of the rehearsal goes without any kind of hiccup, leaving me hopeful for the actual wedding tomorrow, although I don’t dare say such a thing in fear of jinxing the entire event.
Dinner is already set in the dining room where everyone soon gathers afterward and I fight the urge to pull Maxon aside throughout the entire meal, occasionally casting glances towards him just to find him usually watching me already. On one such occasion I shoot him a questioning look, mouthing the word “What?” at him and he just shrugs, a sly smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
I try not to look in his direction for the rest of dinner, finding it easier to just pretend that he’s not here, watching me with those dark eyes, than it is to be caught in their trance. When supper is finished, I’m helping clear the table with Mrs. Bennett when I realize that Max and Aspen have disappeared. I drop off the last load of dishes I brought and then step into the hallway, glancing around quickly before I spot Laney coming out of the bathroom.
“Hey, have you seen Max?” I ask.
She glances behind her into the bathroom. “Well he wasn’t in there.” She says sarcastically and I roll my eyes.
“I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to him.”
“You haven’t talked yet?”
I shake my head. “No, kind of been busy.”
She nods. “Right,” she grabs her wine glass that was set on a table in the hallway. “Well, let’s go find him.” She says and starts down the hallway at a decent clip that I nearly have to sprint to catch up to her.
And it’s at that exact speed that she runs straight into Aldis, spilling her glass of red wine all over him.
“Oh my gosh!” She nearly squeals and starts frantically trying to wipe the spilled liquid off him before it can soak into the fabric of his dress shirt.
Aldis stares at Laney as she beats at him wildly, his eyebrows lifted in surprise at her aggression in trying to get the wine off his shirt and I bite my lips together to keep from laughing.
“Take your shirt off.” Laney orders and that causes a rare breathy laugh to escape from Aldis.
“I beg your pardon?” He cocks his head to the side in disbelief.
“Take your shirt off so I can get some peroxide on that thing.” She instructs simply. “You don’t want the stain to set in, do you?”
Aldis stares at her for a moment longer, and I can practically see the gears turning in his mind trying to decipher if Laney is actually serious or not. Then he glances at me for some help but I’m already on my own mission.
“Have you seen Maxon anywhere?” I ask and that seems to reset Laney as she stops wiping down Aldis’ front, straightens, and takes a step back.
Aspen’s cousin blinks at me for a second before nodding which causes my hopes to skyrocket. “He and Aspen headed out a few minutes ago.”
“Why did they leave without you guys?”
Aldis shrugs. “Max said he needed to talk to Aspen about something.”
I stare at Aldis wide eyed, my stomach stirring inside me like its sole purpose was to perform complete acrobatic routines when it comes to Maxon Grant. And deep inside me, I know what he wants to talk to Aspen about, something that Theo has already told me I was going to need to discuss with him as well…
Max was going to tell Aspen about us…
“Oh,” is all I manage to get out, my heart feeling light and fluttery within my chest.
Aldis nods, and then says the one thing that attaches lead weights to every one of those butterflies in my chest. “Yeah, Theo, Clayton, Ben and I are about to head out and meet them at the axe throwing place.”
“They went axe throwing?”