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“AMANDA!”
She turned toward the sound of her mother’s voice, steeling herself for what was likely to be an annoying conversation. Her smile never wavered as she said, “Did you need something, Mom?”
Amanda’s mother was still an attractive woman—with the same blond hair and blue eyes as her daughters. She’d always taken great pride in her appearance. Her designer shoes and diamond jewelry were perfectly chosen, and her wine-colored gown was sleek and immaculate. “Can’t you do something?”
Blinking, Amanda mentally culled through possible sources of complaint. “Do something about what?”
“The servers are slacking. Our glasses have been empty for more than five minutes now.”
“They’re doing a good job overall. You can’t expect two servers to be omnipresent.” Amanda was used to this attitude. Her mother didn’t have a bad heart, and she did love her husband and daughters, but she was spoiled and entitled and generally expected the world to cater to her every need.
It had always been a frustrating characteristic in a parent, and it had been making Amanda’s life miserable for the past month as she’d been organizing a somewhat extravagant wedding for her sister in very little time.
“Well, they need to do a little better than this. Can you talk to them please?”
“Yes. Of course I will. Why don’t you try to relax and get off your feet? I’m sure you must be exhausted after working so hard to pull this wedding off.” Amanda’s words were strategic rather than genuine. The only work her mother had put into this event was constant nagging about ridiculous details. Amanda had done all the work, on top of her full-time job as a marketing executive for a Richmond-based retail company.
“Yes. Thank you, dear. I think I will. I’ve been worn down to the bone this month. It’s been so hard.” Her mother’s eyelashes had gotten extra help from extensions today. She batted thick, darkened lashes with exaggerated aggrievement.
“I know it has. Go on and sit down. I’ll talk to the servers and make sure you get some more champagne.”
Amanda had no intention of berating the servers, who were by any reasonable expectations doing an excellent job. She did walk over and speak to one, thanking the woman for their help and chatting for long enough to convince her mother of a substantive lecture. Then she took a bottle of champagne over to her mother’s table and filled their glasses herself.
She’d learned a long time ago that, if one wanted to avoid a public scene, the best option was to cater to her mother’s pettiness. She only ever challenged it in private.
And she definitely wasn’t going to let their mom ruin her sister’s wedding. Stacey was happy right now, and she would stay that way if Amanda had anything to do with it.
Since she had about a quarter of the champagne left in the bottle, she wandered over to the next table to see if anyone else needed a top off. She grinned at Taylor, who was scowling down at her phone with a malevolent expression that was typical of her.
“It’s a wedding,” Amanda said, filling her friend’s half empty glass. “Can’t you smile or chat or dance or something?”
Taylor’s gorgeous dark eyes widened in horror. “Dance? You think there’s any world in existence where I’d be likely to dance?”
Amanda laughed and glanced over at the man next to Taylor. Robert Castleman. He’d moved from the wall to the table and was watching her with a silently amused tilt to his lips. She topped off his glass as she replied to Taylor, “Not really. But a smile wouldn’t kill you, would it?”
“I hate weddings.”
“Yes. You hate weddings. And dressing up. And being friendly. And social events of any kind. I suppose we should be grateful you even managed to come today.”
“Yes. You should be grateful. I could be home with a book and a cup of tea and my dog right now, so I hope you appreciate the sacrifice.” Taylor was tall, slim, and gorgeous with sleek dark hair and perfect skin, but she never spent any time on her appearance. If she hadn’t been so oblivious to her beauty, it might have been hard not to be jealous.
But Taylor sincerely cared nothing for how she looked. She was unrepentantly anti-social. She liked being by herself, and she hated getting stuck in a crowd. But her pose of resentment was mostly put on. Amanda could see a glint of humor in her eyes behind the scowl.
So she laughed again. “Your sacrifice is noted and appreciated.” She intended to move on after that, but instead her gaze moved once again to Robert. She wasn’t sure why she lingered, but she did. “I’m glad you could come, Robert.”
He shrugged. He had some of his niece’s anti-social characteristics, although not so pronounced. “Are you?”
She’d been about to turn away, but the unexpected question stilled her. She frowned. “Yes?”
“Was that an answer or a question?”
Her frowned deepened. She’d never had more than generic, superficial interaction with this man, so there was no reason for him to be obnoxious right now. “It was supposed to be an answer, but if you’re annoying you’ll make me second-guess it.”
He gave a soft huff of what looked like dry amusement. “I didn’t intend to be annoying.”
She rolled her eyes, wondering why he was distracting her so much this afternoon. He was the much younger brother of Taylor’s father, so he was only around ten years older than them. She’d always just thought of him as an unimportant appendage to Taylor’s family, but he looked unexpectedly attractive today. Maybe it was the expensive, well-cut suit. The fine pair of shoulders beneath it. The dark eyes and hair with a sprinkling of silver in it.
He was a handsome man. And intelligent. And his presence was bugging her today for some reason.
“I think you did intend to be annoying, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the least important thing on my list of concerns today.” Amanda was known for being blunt. People expected it of her. So neither Robert nor Taylor raised an eyebrow at her tone.
Taylor snickered. “I guess that put you in your place, Uncle Robert. You’re there at the bottom of her list. Are you really stressed out, Amanda? You seem so cool and composed about everything.”
“It’s fine. Everything is going pretty smoothly. Just my mom being my mom.”
“Let me know if you need any help,” Taylor said. “I’d much rather sit here and avoid talking to people, but if you really need anything, I’ll summon the will to get up.”
“Thanks for the very generous offer, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” With another flash of a smile, Amanda moved on, acutely aware of Robert’s eyes following her as she did.
What the hell?
Why was he watching her at all?
And why did she even care about it right now?
Attempting to put it out of her mind, she continued circulating around the room, stopping to chat with each table in turn and making sure that everyone felt acknowledged and was enjoying themselves.
That was what she did. Take care of other people and pretend she didn’t need to be taken care of herself.
***
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