Page 26 of Fall Surprises
Sam pulled out her phone, her mouth forming a tight line as she dialed. No answer, apparently. She tried again. Nothing.
Ten minutes later, they reappeared from around a corner. Raven immediately pulled out her phone to check her reflection in the camera. Jett adjusted his collar, looking far too pleasedwith himself. Blaze didn't even notice they'd been gone. He was too busy trying to convince the pastor that he should ride in on a white horse tomorrow.
"There's no horse in the plan," Sam said firmly. "And even if there were, you're too drunk to ride it."
"I'm a professional athlete!" Blaze protested.
"You're a drunk former athlete who's about to fall over. Please just walk through the ceremony so we can move on to dinner."
I had to admire her composure. I'd have told him to fuck off by now.
Finally, mercifully, they made it through the basic movements. Sam declared the rehearsal complete and herded everyone toward the dining room. As the group filed past my window, I caught her eye. Her patience had clearly reached its limit.
I gestured toward the kitchen door—an invitation.
She glanced at the wedding party heading inside, then back at me. Nodded once.
Two minutes later, she slipped through the door, leaned against the counter, and closed her eyes.
I poured her a glass of wine from the bottle I'd been planning to use for the reduction, handed it to her without a word.
She took a long drink. "That was a nightmare."
"I saw." I leaned against the counter beside her, our shoulders touching. "Blaze is wasted."
"And Raven keeps disappearing with Jett." She took another drink. "And Stormi's been crying for hours."
"You think she's having second thoughts about being maid of honor?"
"No." Sam set down her glass, turned to face me. Her expression was troubled. "She's in love with Blaze."
I blinked. "What?"
"She told me during a break. Just broke down and confessed the whole thing—she's been in love with him for years, never said anything because of Raven, and now she has to stand up there tomorrow and watch them get married." Sam rubbed her temples. "The network doesn't need to worry about manufacturing drama for entertainment. This wedding party already has more than enough."
"Jesus." The confessional scene Diana would edit together practically wrote itself—Stormi tearful in close-up, whispering to millions of viewers at home munching on bags of popcorn—the perfect reality TV moment. "Does Blaze know?"
"I doubt he knows anything beyond his next drink." Bitterness edged her voice. "And Raven certainly doesn't know. Or care. She's too busy sneaking off with Jett to notice her sister's falling apart."
"Or that her groom is three sheets to the wind."
"Or that." She picked up her wine again. "Diana's going to have a field day."
Through the wall, I could hear the wedding party settling into the dining room—loud voices, laughter, phones going off constantly. Jake and Molly moved around us, finishing the salad prep, but gave us space.
"I should get back out there," Sam said without moving.
"In a minute." I wasn't ready to let her go yet. "Drink your wine. Take a breath. They can wait five minutes."
She took another sip, then turned to face me fully. "Thank you. For this. For being my escape hatch."
"Anytime."
Her gaze held mine, and something shifted in the air between us. The noise from the dining room faded. Even Jake and Molly seemed to disappear.
"I should go," she said again, but didn't move.
"Yeah." I didn't step back either.
