Noelle was angry during dinner. Olivia could feel her sister’s animosity. She wasn’t sure why Noelle felt she had the right to be upset. But every few seconds she’d glance over at Kyle, who was keeping his eyes on his plate, before sending Olivia an accusing glare.
What did she think happened before she came upon them outside?
Olivia didn’t care. Not really. Most of the slights Noelle perceived were imagined. Olivia just wanted to get the wedding favors assembled so she could leave. She couldn’t stay here, as planned. The unspoken hurt and anger were too agonizing.
But she wouldn’t go to Brandon’s. Sacramento wasn’t that far. Although it would waste time and gas, she’d drive home and come back in the morning. She did, however, have to tell Brandon what she’d said to Kyle. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. She’d already embarrassed herself once where he was concerned.
After dinner, Kyle went in to watch a true crime show with her father, Noelle disappeared into her bedroom and Olivia helped her mother wash dishes. Olivia had just started to relax, thanks to the comfort of routine, when Noelle called to her.
“Can you come and tell me how to wear my hair?” she asked, but Olivia wasn’t fooled. Noelle had played nice long enough.
“I’ll be right back,” she told her mother.
Nancy’s forehead creased in worry, as if she, too, suspected that Noelle wasn’t interested in opinions on her hair, but she nodded, and Olivia silently promised to do all she could to keep her temper in check. Noelle and Kyle were going to have a baby. She needed to keep that in mind, especially if she wanted to be part of her niece or nephew’s life. Olivia just hoped that someday she’d be able to look at her sister’s offspring, at Kyle’s offspring, without cringing.
“Are you thinking of an updo?” she asked as she walked down the hall.
Noelle was waiting by the door. She closed it as soon as Olivia walked in. “What are you doing?” she whispered harshly.
Olivia studied her flushed face. She was pretty; there was no denying that. They both had wide blue eyes, long blond hair and even features, but Noelle, shorter by two inches, had a curvier figure. Despite that, Olivia had never been jealous. Due to Noelle’s demanding nature, self-absorption and terrible mood swings, she’d never been particularly popular with the opposite sex. Olivia figured men could sense that her looks wouldn’t be worth the cost of involvement. She’d always thought Kyle understood that, too. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about!”
Did Noelle believe Olivia had said something inappropriate to Kyle? That she was trying to stir up trouble?
Olivia started to explain that she was at a complete loss when Noelle made the reason for her anger clear. “You’re seeing Brandon? Really? Kyle’s stepbrother?”
And then Olivia remembered. For most of one summer, Noelle had had the worst crush imaginable on Brandon. She’d done everything possible to gain his attention, including driving past his house numerous times a day, calling him incessantly, showing up wherever she guessed he might be. Olivia had forgotten that, largely because it’d been so long ago—eight years or more. And he hadn’t given her so much as a second look. When August rolled around, he told her flat-out that he wasn’t remotely interested and she’d better quit stalking him or he was going to the police.
The police threat came—understandable enough—after she’d spied on him with another woman, but his unequivocal rejection had done significant damage to Noelle’s ego.
“Why are you smiling?” Noelle snapped.
Olivia sobered. “I guess I still don’t understand why you’re upset.”
Noelle grabbed her arm. “I’m upset because you’re doing this on purpose! You’re trying to ruin my wedding!”
“What?” Olivia jerked loose. “I’ve been planning your wedding—for free! Not only have I donated hours and hours of my time, I’ve called in favors from all the vendors I’ve ever worked with.”
“For Mom and Dad. Not for me.”
Olivia couldn’t argue with that.
“This is your revenge,” she continued. “This is how you think you’ll get the last laugh.”
“What are you talking about?” Noelle had liked a lot of boys over the years. She couldn’t claim proprietary interest in all of them. Besides, after that summer she’d never had a nice thing to say about Kyle’s stepbrother.
“I’m talking about you sleeping with Brandon!”
So Kyle had shared that information. “I don’t see why my being with Brandon would bother you. You’re in love with Kyle, right? You’re having his baby. And because of that baby, he’s marrying you.”
“Not because of the baby!” she cried, stamping her foot. “Because he loves me! I knew you’d try to cheapen it, try to convince yourself that he’s still in love with you. But he’s not. He hates that the two of you were ever together!”
When they talked on the phone for the last time, Kyle had said the years they’d spent together were the best of his life, but Olivia didn’t give him away. His feelings had probably already changed.
“Fine. I don’t care. He’s all yours now. You got exactly what you wanted. So enjoy him and leave me alone.”
“I didn’t get pregnant on purpose. I know you think I did.”
“At this point, it doesn’t matter what I think.” She turned to go but Noelle wasn’t finished yet.
“Your relationship with Brandon won’t last,” she said suddenly, changing tactics. “He isn’t the marrying kind.”
“Fortunately, after what I’ve been through in the past few months, I’m only looking for some fun.” Unable to resist, she lowered her voice. “And, God, can he provide it!”
Kyle had the hardest time keeping his eyes from gravitating to Olivia. She looked better than ever—tall, tan, hair streaked from the sun. But she’d always been beautiful to him, the only woman he’d ever loved. Just seeing her made his determination falter.
How had he gotten into such a terrible mess? These days, he constantly asked himself that. But he had no answer—except the obvious. He’d been an idiot, foolish enough to make the kind of mistake that would change his life forever.
“Honey, you have to put three hugs and three kisses in each box,” Noelle said.
He blinked at the foil-wrapped chocolate candies. Wasn’t that what he’d been doing? He opened the last wedding favor he’d assembled. She was right. He’d put in five kisses and only one hug. He’d thought as long as they each included six pieces, it wouldn’t matter. But every little detail mattered to Noelle.
“Got it.” He smiled as congenially as possible to keep Olivia and her parents from knowing how badly Noelle’s voice grated on him.
Three kisses, he silently mimicked. And three hugs.
“Kyle, is something wrong?”
He glanced up to see his future mother-in-law watching him. He hadn’t realized he’d slipped into inactivity.
“No.” His cheek muscles ached with the effort of yet another smile. “I was just wondering if I’d remembered to invite my aunt Georgia.”
“You invited her,” Noelle said without looking up. “You had so many on your list I had to cut twenty from mine, remember?”
He didn’t know if he was supposed to apologize. He’d tried to keep his list small. His was certainly smaller than hers, by a significant margin. He hadn’t wanted a big wedding.
But thanks to Noelle’s insistence on creating the fanfare she’d always craved for her wedding, they were looking at a long, painful weekend. One that included Olivia, making it impossible to avoid the fact that, if not for one foolish night, this could’ve been their wedding.
Actually, he’d been with Noelle more than one night. It had been a whirlwind couple of weeks, during which she’d flirted and teased and cajoled and pleased. Caught in the aftermath of Olivia’s proposing a break and moving to Sacramento because she didn’t want to settle down without experiencing a little more of life, he’d been feeling rejected, unsure she’d ever really come back and angry enough to tell himself he didn’t have to suffer while she was gone. Their break hadn’t been his idea. The fact that they weren’t together but weren’t really apart left him feeling irritable and foolish.
And this was where it had gotten him...
Suppressing a groan, he started filling boxes again.
“Did you find the right tie and cummerbund for your tux?” Olivia asked. It was the first time she’d initiated any conversation between them. He would’ve been grateful for her attention, except he knew she was only asking as the wedding planner.
“I have.”
“And your groomsmen have the right ones, as well?”
“Probably. I’ve told them where to go.”
“You need to check.”
“I will.”
“Do they know the rehearsal dinner tomorrow has been moved to seven instead of six thirty?”
He kept forming little boxes and filling them with the appropriate chocolate candy before adding them to the stack in the middle of the table. The women took over from there, tying on a delicate pink ribbon imprinted with Kyle’s and Noelle’s names and the date of their wedding.
Two days. The worst will be over in two days... “I’ve notified them of that, too.”
“Even Brandon?”
He’d invited Brandon to be in the wedding party for the sake of his parents. He felt it would be too obvious a slight to leave him out. But other than receiving a brief email confirming his participation, Kyle hadn’t heard from his stepbrother. “Even Brandon.”
“I’ll double-check with him tonight.”
The idea of Olivia spending time with Brandon for any reason made Kyle flinch. She hadn’t meant much to him when the two of them went to a prom together years ago. But she meant a lot to him now. “I can email him again.”
“Why don’t you just call him?”
He met her gaze. “Maybe I will.”
Ham, as Olivia’s father was called, paused in his work to raise his eyebrows at this exchange. But, as usual, he didn’t say anything. Sometimes Kyle wished he would. He wished someone would admit that this wedding was a huge mistake. Because he couldn’t.