Page 5 of Our Little Wedding

Ainsley smiled and rested her head on my shoulder as the four of us laughed. I glanced around the room one more time,looking for our younger brother. “Mike, have you seen Max yet?” I questioned.

My brother shook his head. “Not yet. I didn’t even hear from him to know if he was coming or not. I called, but there was no answer. It’s just like Max, wrapped up in his own affairs all the time. Been that way his entire life.”

I chuckled. “Yep, neither did we. Guess that is the thanks I get for giving him the Denver branch of Finding Forever to run.” I shrugged.

Handing over the Denver branch to my brother had been a hard decision for me. After all, I’d built this company, with no help from anyone. I’d originally planned to spend half my time in Denver and the other half here, until I’d found out about the pregnancy. I wasn’t comfortable leaving Ainsley alone now, after we spent a few nights talking about it, and even though she told me that whatever I decided, she’d support, I knew I didn’t want to be far from here. I looked at other options. There were many, but I knew Max needed some help. I just didn’t want to end up regretting the decision.

“Give him a chance. Perhaps something came up last minute at work?”

“That would be hard to believe. The soft launch is next week. Right now, it’s basically employee training week. If something has come up already, we may be in trouble.” I swallowed hard. I wasn’t that much of a control freak, but Max also didn’t have the best track record, and giving him some control over this made me nervous.

“So, how are the plans coming for the wedding?” Trina questioned. “Do we have a venue yet?”

I wrapped my arm around Ainsley tighter, waiting for her to answer.

“Good. We are still waiting to hear from the venues, and I am currently trying to set things up with a couple of caterers and, ofcourse, bakers for the cake. This week is a big week though. I am going shopping for a wedding dress,” Ainsley whispered, like it was a secret.

“Very exciting. If you’d like, I will send you a list of stores to check out.”

“Oh, please,” Ainsley said, smiling up at me. “It would help me a lot.”

“I will. Why don’t you call me this weekend and I’ll give you a list.”

“Thank you, I will do that. I am looking for a certain dress, and I’m hoping one store here will carry the designer I am looking for.”

“Send me the designer and I will see what I can find out.”

“All right, Ainsley, we should get moving. We have many more people to talk to before the night is over. Can we catch up with you in a little while?” I asked.

“Sure thing, and if I see Max, I’ll let him know you are looking for him.”

Mike shook my hand, while Ainsley hugged Trina. Then we quickly switched before making our way to the next couple.

Ainsley was lounging on the couch in one of my T-shirts when I came into the living room carrying a glass of water for her and a scotch on the rocks for me. I was looking forward to relaxing with her. We finally had the house to ourselves for the weekend.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you. God, I really wish I could have a glass of wine,” She muttered, resting her head on a pillow.

“Everything okay?” I questioned, sitting down beside her and pulling her bare foot into my lap, giving her a gentle massage.

She let out a breath and closed her eyes, relaxing farther into the couch. “I don’t know. Tonight just didn’t feel as fun as I thought it would. It seemed like everyone was staring and whispering. To be honest, all I felt was tension.”

“I know what you mean. At one point, I thought it was just my imagination, but I got that feeling as well. Also, I am certain, at one point, I heard Carly whisper to one of your mutual friends something about ‘wrinkled old balls,’” I said, taking a sip of my scotch and placing the glass back down.

She giggled. “I’m sorry. She’s still so hung up on the age difference. It’s not a secret that she has never really approved of us. To be honest, I think she was more shocked when I found out I was pregnant than I was.”

We both grew quiet as I continued rubbing her foot, digging into all the places I knew she loved. My mind was still reeling from the ball comment, and I hoped Ainsley didn’t feel that way. The more I tried to put it out of my mind, the more it kept gnawing at me. “Ainsley?”

“Hmmm?” She opened her sleepy eyes and looked at me.

“Do you think that?” I questioned.

“Think what?”

“That my balls are old and wrinkled?” I asked, trying my best to keep a straight face.

Ainsley was serious for a moment, and then she burst into laughter. “I’m sorry… I can’t answer that.”

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