Page 9 of Masked

Chapter 3

Nine Months Later

Reva

“Reva!” Thank you so much for coming on such short notice.

Mandy Jasper pulled her into a hug, and Reva patted her back. “Of course. I’m so sorry about Sarah and Jay.”

Tomorrow, Mandy would get married to her long-time boyfriend, Liam, and they were all in a Château in the south of France for the big day. Except, one of the bridesmaids and groomsmen were stuck in the United States because they didn’t realize their passports were expired.

“It’s fine. We’ll miss them, but these things happen. I’m just glad you were here to step in. And now I’m glad I didn’t go for having all the bridesmaids in the same dress. The design team brought extra dresses with them. Let’s go pick the one you like so the designer can get started on the alterations.”

Reva was so glad Mandy didn’t want her to go on some crazy shopping trip. She hated shopping and avoided it. Even fancy shopping in France. Or maybe especially fancy shopping in France.

“So, how are things with you and my brother?” Mandy asked as they walked down a hall and up a flight of stairs to get to the sewing room.

Talking about Parker with his family made her uncomfortable. She liked him, but she didn’t know what kind of future they had. They had fun together, and he wasn’t a douchey guy. But did she see him as her forever relationship? She didn’t know. So far, though, all the pro-con lists she liked to make worked out in his favor.

“Good. We’re still getting to know each other.” It seemed like the safest response.

They entered the sewing room where four dresses were hung neatly on a rack. “Oh wow. These are gorgeous.”

The dresses were probably worth more than her entire wardrobe. She’d learned that the Jasper family had billions. But she didn’t care about the money. In fact, it made her uncomfortable. The fact that attending this wedding would cost over four months of her bills and she could never afford it on her own made coming awkward, but she was going to do her best to enjoy the adventure.

“Now. I hope you don’t mind, but you’ll be walking down the aisle with my dad. We asked him to step in to fill the other groomsmen spot.”

Reva’s eyes grew wide. Why not Parker? And why wasn’t her dad walking her down the aisle.

“Monica and Parker are almost identical in height; I didn’t want to switch that up at the last minute. And my dad needs a role in the wedding. I’m just not having anyone escort me down the aisle and I’m sure he’s hurt about that. This will be good for him. And also, he hates Monica, but I don’t have the details on why, so I can’t cause drama by making them walk together. Planning a wedding is a lot, Reva.”

She gave a little laugh at Mandy’s rapid-fire explanation despite the small bit of panic bubbling on the inside. “Don’t worry about it, Mandy. It’s your wedding. I’ll walk with whoever you need me to.” If she was honest, she was nervous about seeing Dr. Noah Jasper again. They hadn’t spoken since the funeral, but his voice often appeared in her dreams.

“I really appreciate this. We considered not replacing Sarah and Jay, but Liam’s mom insists we need to have a big wedding party for the pictures we release to the public. It’s a whole thing. You’re really doing me a huge favor.”

The bride-to-be clapped her hands together, changing the subject. “So, which dress do you like?”

Reva studied the dresses for a few seconds before choosing the halter style neckline with a flowing waist. “This one. The others don’t seem like they would hang right on me.”

“Excellent. I loved that one when the designer brought it to me.”

God, how much were they spending on this wedding? Something told her she didn’t want to see the accounting. It would just depress her, given the fact that she was facing the prospect of losing funding for her graduate program soon.

“What’s your shoe size? I’ll get you a pair to match.”

“Seven.”

“Great. Let’s get Jasmine in here to get your measurements and then you can get out of here and find Parker. I’m sure this was not how you planned to spend your day.”

To be honest, she was planning to curl up in hers and Parker’s room—which was bigger than her entire apartment back in D.C.—and read a book all day while he spent time with the other groomsmen.

A gorgeous older woman came floating into the room with a tape measure around her neck and Reva swore birds should have been following her. She looked familiar, but Reva had no idea why.

“Oh, goody. She picked one of my designs,” the woman said as she approached Reva and started turning her this way and that.

“It’s beautiful, Jasmine. Thank you so much. I’m so excited you were free to be here this week,” Mandy gushed.

“Your mother was very insistent. And my Simon has been after me to take another vacation, so we’re staying an extra week after the wedding. I should thank you, darling.”

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