Page 46 of Wild Then Wed
She turns back to Wren, her smile as warm as the smell of bread still hanging in the air. “Don’t be shy now, Wren! There’s plenty. You sure you don’t want some of this green bean casserole?”
Wren, who hasn’t touched much more than a leaf of spinach, shakes her head again. “I’m good, really. Thank you.”
I nudge her with my elbow, just enough to get her attention. “You trying to waste away over there or what?”
Her teeth catch on her bottom lip for a second like she’s debating something. Then she sighs and says, “No, I promise I’m not trying to be rude or anything. I…uh, I have a dairy allergy.” A pause. Then, like it costs her to admit it, “And gluten.”
The table goes a little quieter around us. Not silent, just…aware.
Mom’s face crumples with instant sympathy. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” She sets down the bowl of rolls like they’ve personally offended her. “If I’d known, I would’ve made something special for you.”
Wren waves a hand, brushing it off like she’s swatting a fly. “It’s no big deal. Totally fine.” She nudges my elbow back with hers, just enough to jolt me out of my own head. “Someone doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”
I open my mouth to apologize, but she cuts me off before I can even get the words out.
“Seriously,” she says, reaching for the vegetables. “It’s not a big deal, Sawyer. It happens all the time.”
I sit back in my chair, feeling like a piece of shit.
I dragged her in here like it was no big thing when she was probably just trying to get home to her own fridge full of food that wouldn’t make her sick.
Riley whistles low under his breath. “Damn. That sucks. You can’t eat, like, anything.”
Crew shoots him a look from across the table. “Real nice, man.”
Riley just shrugs, unbothered as ever. “What? It’s true.”
Mom glares at him like she’s two seconds from smacking him upside the head with a wooden spoon. I fight the urge to rub a hand over my face. Riley’s only a few years younger than me, but sometimes it feels like twenty. Always the first to say something that doesn’t need saying. Always the first to make everyone else laugh about it, too.
He’s a bartender at the Lucky Devil, the only dive bar in town, and the people love him. Something about his shit-eating grin and that zero-filter mouth makes folks want to buy beers and tell him their life stories.
Right now, though, it’s not helping.
Wren lets out a small laugh. “It’s okay. He’s right. Itdoessuck.”
“See?” he says, smug as hell, taking a bite of green bean casserole.
Crew mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot likejackassand throws a dinner roll at him anyway. It bounces off Riley’s shoulder and hits the floor, but Riley doesn’t even flinch. Just picks it up and takes a bite out of it.
Mom points a warning finger across the table like she’s debating whether lunch is even worth salvaging at this point.
Emily leans in, her brown hair swinging over her shoulder. “So what do you eat then, if you can’t have like…anything?”
Wren shrugs one shoulder, casual. “A lot of meat. Vegetables. Rice. Salad. Potatoes. Things like that.”
Mason, who’s been quietly buttering his biscuit in the corner, glances up. “What about snacks? Sweets?”
Wren purses her lips together as she thinks. “There’s an ice cream brand I love calledSwoon. Gluten-free, dairy-free. It doesn’t taste like you’re licking a cardboard box, which is rare. But it’s only in the Stedford grocery store in Bozeman.”
“Let me guess,” Nathan says. “You don’t get out that way much.”
She shakes her head. “Not unless I have a reason to.”
Mom sets her fork down and wipes her mouth with a napkin. “I’ve never heard ofSwoon, but I’ll have to try it. I need to start eating healthier anyway.”
Then she leans in a little, like it’s a secret between them. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
Wren tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “The s’mores one. It’s the best.”
