Page 56 of Kissing for Keeps
My luck may be out with Siena, but thankfully, things go smoothly talking to the chateau, and I schedule the party for 7:00. It’s a family-run establishment, meaning we’ll be done before 10:00. Hopefully that’s not a problem. Rémy isn’t the partying type, so I’m hopeful.
Feeling more anxious than usual, I hop on my laptop to do some brainstorming, hoping it’ll pass the time before Siena comes back. I’d like to be more helpful, but I have no way of knowing what to do without that spreadsheet. I’m also nervous about doing more harm than good. I couldn’t help but notice a few tweaks Siena made to the favor bags this morning. She has a particular way of tying bows, and the bags I worked on last night looked suspiciously different.
When the gravel crunches and the front door finally opens, I slam my laptop lid shut—super graceful and not at all in a way anyone could call “overeager”—and hop off the bed. Realizing it’s not going to help anything for me to slide into the kitchen breathlessly, I force myself to stop in front of my door for a minute before opening it.
“Oh, hey,” I say, the picture of not-at-all-studied nonchalance.
“Hey.” The forced quality of her smile tells me I wasn’t wrong about her avoiding me. I hate that I’ve complicated her life when I came here to relieve some of her burden.
“How did it go?” I ask as she opens the fridge and pulls out her water bottle.
“Good. I got a lot done.”
“You should’ve woken me up. I would’ve helped.”
“You needed sleep. I’m sure you were up late doing all that work. I still feel bad about it.”
“Don’t. I’m here to help, Siena.”
I don’t usually call her by her first name, and the way she looks at me tells me she realizes that. There’s wariness in her eyes, like any second I might jump on her and kiss her to death or something.
“Hey, I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have done that, and Ireallydidn’t mean to stress you out. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s not your fault,” she says, playing with her water bottle lid. “I wasn’t thinking either.” She takes in a breath. “Let’s put it behind us and focus on Madi, yeah? I really want her wedding to be perfect.”
“Yeah. Definitely.” How exactly do you put something behind you when you’re thinking about it constantly? “Oh, I called about the bachelor party. We’re all set for 7 o’clock on Monday.”
“Perfect. Thanks so much for doing that. It was such a great idea.”
“Even if the bachelor party is over by 10:00?”
She laughs, and I relax a little to see a genuine smile from her. “You’ll win points from Madi, that’s for sure. And I doubt Rémy wants to be out till all hours of the night two days before the wedding. Besides, the bachelorette party will end pretty early, too. Madi wanted to spend a quiet, relaxing evening with the girls.”
Crunching gravel brings both of our heads around, and Siena hurries over to the window.
“They’re here!” She looks at me, and in her eyes is… a lot. She’s probably worried Madi will be able to see we kissed last night just by looking at us. To be honest, I have some of those fears, too. But I’m also afraid shewon’tknow. I don’t like being dishonest, especially given the history. But the alternative is to cause major problems, and it seems selfish to do that just to relieve my conscience on the week of Madi’s wedding.
I like Siena, and yeah, I’ll probably dream about kissing her every night going forward, but Idon’twant to ruin Madi’s wedding, and her finding out about what happened would do just that. It would be ugly for all of us.
So, I pull up my bootstraps. “Let’s go greet the guests of honor.”
Rémy’s just coming around the car to open Madi’s door when we get outside. Madi steps out, and her gaze lands on me, then Siena. Her eyes light up, and she runs over and throws herself at Siena in a way that a guy like me can only dream of doing.
While the two of them have their reunion, Rémy comes over and gives me a hug. I’m a big Rémy fan. For a long time, I thought I was going to end up with Madi’s ex-boyfriend Josh for a brother-in-law. That was the other reason I kept a distance from Madi for a couple of years—I couldn’t stop myself from making comments about him. Not only was it making Madi hate me more, it was putting me in the place I had avoided my entire life: in the shoes of Dad.
Thankfully, things worked out. Rémy isn’t just better than Josh; he’s probably the best I could have asked for in a brother-in-law: chill, funny, and he loves Madi the way she deserves.
When Madi turns to greet me, she’s happy, but it’s nowhere near the same level of excitement she showed for Siena. Silly as it is to hope for that type of enthusiasm about my presence, it stings a little to see her shift from fifth gear to the clunky energy of first.
The chateau door opens, and out come the bellhop and Philippe. Hooray.
I glance at Siena, who notices him and tucks her hair behind her ear in a self-conscious way that strikes my heart with a lightning bolt of jealousy.
Philippe greets Madi and Rémy in a way that some might call calmly confident, but I would describe as annoyingly arrogant, then smiles at Siena. “Bonjour, Siena.”
Madi and Rémy exchange a meaningful glance, clearly realizing exactly who he is, and I’m left with a smoking, obliterated heart and my first sense of actual regret for last night’s kiss. It took me an inordinately long time to stop thinking about the first one, given how little I knew Siena, and it looks like I’m in for the same delightful treat this time.
“You guys must be exhausted from the wedding and travel,” Siena says.
