Page 58 of The Wedding Engagement

Liv’s shoulders sagged as the invisible weight lifted, and then she spotted Arran coming toward them holding Jayce, with a look of concern on his handsome features.

The edge of her turmoil was softened with his arrival and the soothing sound of his voice. “Are you guys okay? Was that yourdad?” He glanced from Liv to Sam, then back again, taking a step toward her but then stopping as his gaze fell to where Brodie’s arm was still slung over her shoulders.

“Hiya, Lib,” Jayce said, looking a little sleepy-eyed as he reached out for her. Her heart thrummed as she took him from Arran, kissing his soft curls and inhaling his comforting scent. Jayce snuggled into her shoulder and she rested her chin on his head, meeting Arran’s eyes as something warm passed between them. He blinked,his body language slightly awkward as he opened and clenched his hands. He eyed Brodie, who was giving her shoulders another squeeze.

“Yeah,” Liv told Arran, aching for him to hug her. “It was him.”

Arran ran a hand over the top of his hair. “Shit. What did he want?”

“To throw his weight around,” Sam said, his jaw set. “So nothing’s changed in the last decade.”

Arran let out a big breath, darting his eyes back to Liv. “What right has he to throw his weight around?”

“None,” she replied, squeezing Jayce gently. “It’s just his overinflated sense of self talking. Hopefully that’ll be the last we’ll hear from him.” She looked at Sam. “I think he was a bit scared of you. You’re a lot bigger than when you were a teenager.”

Sam managed a small smile as Maya lifted her head from his chest to kiss his cheek.

“Not like me,” Liv continued, smiling back. “I’m still tiny.”

Sam shook his head. “Tiny but deadly. It’s you he should’ve been scared of.”

Arran swallowed, still looking at her. His body language was a little off and he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. She met his eyes, feeling their connection. She wished it was his arm around her shoulders.

“Okay,” Sam said with a sigh. “Let’s forget about him. We’ve got an Easter egg-stravaganza to enjoy and I won’t have him tainting it.”

Maya released him, glancing over to Jack, who was on the bouncy castle, being supervised by Ben. “Let’s get mingling.” She smiled at Jayce, still in Liv’s arms. “Want to come bounce with me and Jack?”

Jayce nodded, his sleepy eyes brightening, and Liv set him down for Maya to take his hand. Brodie released Liv in order towalk over to the bouncy castle with Maya and Jayce, toward where Ben was watching Jack.

Sam shifted over to Arran, who took him into a hug and rubbed his back. “Thanks, man,” Sam said as he pulled away, giving Arran a smile. He turned to Liv. “Don’t leave without me. I want to see you into your car.”

She rolled her eyes. “Who’s the black belt here, me or you?”

He let out a laugh and gave them both a wave as he departed.

Liv waited for Arran to dish out her hug too. But he didn’t.

He rubbed the side of his face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She nodded, feeling somehow a lot colder than she had a few minutes before. “Yes, thanks. It was more Sam who was het up.”

Something shifted in his gaze and he began to lift his hand; then he stopped and used it to run over the top of his hair. “As long as you’re sure.”

Why did it feel like there was a chasm between them? She opened her mouth with the intent to somehow voice that question, but then his phone rang.

Arran let out a frustrated breath and lifted it from his pocket. “Sorry. I need to take this. It’s Jess.” He answered it, moving out of earshot. Liv waited for a minute, wondering if he’d come back to speak to her once the call was over. But whatever the conversation was seemed quite animated and was taking a while, so she left the area for the bouncy castle before he clocked her staring at him like an idiot.

The calls from Jess were clearly still a frequent occurrence, and she could feel in her bones that Jess was having regrets about leaving him. It was only a matter of time before they got back together. She knew she should feel happy about that because it would make Arran happy. Yet she didn’t feel that way at all. The idea made her miserable. And what kind of a horrible person felt miserable about their best friend piecing his family back together?

Chapter

Fourteen

Resting his head back onthe cushions, Arran stared up at the fairy lights adorning the inside of the fort. Being in there felt like he was surrounded by Liv, and yet she seemed to have moved so far beyond his reach.

The events of the day scrolled through his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut in discomfort as he recalled the sickening feeling of looking at her while she was distressed, another man’s arm around her shoulders. He’d been desperate to hug her, but he’d had to physically restrain himself because her new love interest had been hanging off her like a commemorative plaque, one that read “In Memory of Arran Adebayo’s Heart, Which I Broke in Half and Tossed in the Trash.”

She’d been deflecting again, talking about how seeing Dave had been tougher on Sam, and yet he could see it in her eyes, the hurt displayed there in a language he’d recently learned how to read, one he wanted to become fluent in.

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