Page 54 of Wishes on Wildflowers
This was Adriana’s second marriage. Her first husband had died when their kids were very young. Now Sam and Violet stood beside their mom and Myles, beaming with the same happiness that emanated from the couple.
Adriana had loved her firefighter husband with everything in her. Now she was giving herself joyously to Myles. That should give Jasmine hope she could love again, too. Love someone other than Nathan. Of course, he was very much alive, unlike Stephan Diaz, even though he wasn’t present at the wedding. He and Basil were probably together, bonding like the good friends they were. At least he wasn’t here, trying to catch her eye across the sanctuary or, even worse, sitting beside her pretending nothing was wrong.
Everything was wrong. Including the fact that Nathan had planned to come to the wedding and wasn’t here, even though she didn’t want him to be.
Logan’s fingers brushed Jasmine’s shoulder as he gathered Linnea, who sat between them, closer to him. Jasmine shifted away. She shouldn’t be with them. Shouldn’t be anywhere near happy couples.
What a brutal year for weddings. Rob and Bren’s. Eden and Jacob’s. Adriana and Myles’s. Soon it would be Linnea and Logan’s. Jasmine had once held a faint hope in there somewhere that she and Nathan might be headed that direction, too, but not when he interfered between her and her brother.
As soon as she was able to slip out of the church, she did so, avoiding the receiving line. Adriana wouldn’t even notice. Jasmine sidled into the restroom with Hailey on her heels. Great.
“Another lovely wedding,” commented Hailey.
Jasmine avoided eye contact. “Yes, very nice.”
“Where’s Nathan?”
Of course she’d notice. “He couldn’t make it.” That was self-evident. Did she really have to go into the details with Hailey?
“Everything okay with you guys?”
Did she only want to know if the coast were clear to pursue Nathan again herself? Jasmine shoved the uncharitable thought away and shrugged. There had to be more to Hailey than met the eye. They’d never been close, though they’d known each other since kindergarten. But Eden and Hailey were friends, and Eden was great. To say nothing of Kass, who worked with her cousin daily and seemed to like her just fine. So maybe Hailey wasn’t all that bad.
“I was sure sorry to hear about Basil. Is he doing okay?”
The other subject Jasmine definitely didn’t want to talk about. She pivoted and met Hailey’s gaze. “As well as can be expected, I guess.” Truth was, she’d avoided him and cut off anyone who tried to talk about him. She hadn’t been able to avoid the knowledge that his court appearance was nextweek, however.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard. I mean, I knew he drank — I think everyone in Bridgeview did — but I thought he knew better than to—”
“We all thought that.” Jasmine edged past Hailey. “Excuse me, please.” She reached for the door handle. Escape couldn’t come quickly enough.
“You don’t have to be so prickly about your brother. It doesn’t reflect on you.”
Is that what Hailey thought? And it wasn’t even true. “Sure, it does.” She lilted into a falsetto. “Look at that fine, upstanding Santoro family. Except for Basil, of course.”
Hailey shook her head, a half smile poking up one side of her mouth. “It’s not all about you, Jasmine. You can’t fix him, but washing your hands of him won’t help, either.”
The words stabbed deep. “Oh?” How did Hailey have the nerve to prod into her psyche, anyway?
The other woman sighed. “We all know how focused you are.” She caught sight of Jasmine’s face and raised a hand. “I mean that in the nicest possible way. The world needs more people who know what they want and how to get it.”
As if. Jasmine had failed at everything. She’d failed to keep Nathan twice now. She’d backed out of college and taken the easier road to massage therapy. She’d failed to make her passion for foraging into anything but an escape, and Bridgeview Backyards was in danger of folding through her brother’s idiocy. Like she was any good at holding things together.
“You don’t see that, do you?” Hailey shook her head. “I’ve always admired your individuality. That you don’t care what other people think of you.”
“You’re wrong, okay? I do care, and I care what theythink about my stupid brother. He’s likely going to jail for a while, you know. It could be up to a year. His driver’s license will be suspended. Imagine being thirty years old and depending on public transport or your friends to drive you around.”
“Lots of city people don’t own cars. Buses go through Bridgeview every twenty minutes. It’s not that big a deal, Jasmine. I mean, the DUI is, but it’s not like his suspended license will be tattooed on his forehead.”
“It might as well be.”
“I don’t get you. You have all those brothers and all those relatives, and you’re completely bent out of shape about one of them. Don’t you even see the blessings you have? I was an only child, raised by my grandparents because my parents thought a child inconvenienced them in their diplomatic travels. I have one cousin, Jasmine.One cousin.And Kass is awesome. I’m honored to operate a business with her and see her every day.”
Jasmine remembered to close her mouth. Was she really blind to all the good stuff in her life? Did she really try to control everything? But Hailey’s words had a ring of truth to them. Of all people to deliver the message, though.
No. That was diving back into the better-than-everyone thinking that had gotten her into this predicament in the first place.
The restroom door surged open, catching Jasmine’s shoulder. She stepped out of the way as Nonna billowed in.
