Page 2 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
I showed him a large round cookie with chocolate chips. “What do we say?”
“Please!”
I rewarded him with the cookie. Behind him, Nick chuckled. “The boy's got you wrapped around his finger.”
I shrugged, turning to the kitchen counter. So what if I liked my nephew? He was adorable. And I had some lost time to make up for. I'd never met the child before he was three. My husband had made sure of that.
Not that I could shift all the blame to him.
“Tea or coffee?” I asked my twin, trying to distract myself from thoughts of my failed marriage. It was good to have a task, something to do. I hadn't had enough of that lately. Somehow, I had to find myself a job if I wanted to stick around in Oceanport without being a burden to my family.
“Do you have hot chocolate?” Nick asked.
“You're in the house of a chocoholic,” I reminded him. “Of course we have hot chocolate.” Our big brother's spouse had the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I'd ever met. I wasn't judging, though. Griffin had shown me nothing but kindness. Dean had chosen his mate well. I was only sad I hadn’t been there for the wedding.
Don't think about that. Think about preparing some hot chocolate for Nick.
Trying to focus on the task at hand, I picked a mug out for my brother and filled it with hot chocolate powder and water.
“You're not gonna drink anything?” Nick asked from where he'd taken a seat at the small kitchen island.
“I'm good.” To be honest, the thought of food, even liquid food, made my stomach cramp. I could have settled for some tea, but that might have made Nick suspicious. He'd caught me puking the other day, and he'd been giving me the side-eye ever since. He'd asked me if it was at all possible that I was pregnant. I told him no.
I lied.
In truth, the probability of me being pregnant was not zero. It was negligibly low, but it was not zero.
But that was not something I wanted to think about now—and itreallywasn't something I wanted my brother to be thinking about now. He would freak if he knew I still felt sick all the time, even though that could have many reasons other than pregnancy.
Shaking the thought, I put my brother's mug in the microwave and turned it on.
“Where are Dean and Griff?” Nick asked. “Are you alone? Well, aside from the kids, anyway.”
“They went on a shopping trip to IKEA. I told them I don't mind watching the kids while they're gone.” Something that wasn't a lie. I liked children. It wasn't too long ago that I'd been thinking about having some myself, with my husband. Before I realized what a crappy marriage I was stuck in and I had to leave.
“That's too bad,” Nick said. “I had some good news for all of you.”
“Good news?” That sounded fantastic. I could use some good news. The microwave beeped to indicate that it was done, and I served my twin his hot chocolate on the kitchen island. My nephew eyed it curiously, but he was still nibbling on his cookie. He was a slow eater, always savoring his treats as if this house wasn't full of them.
“Thank you,” Nick said as he took the mug from me. “Kade came by our place earlier.” A grin took over my brother's face. “It looks like our cousin actually got his shit together and proposed to him.”
“He did?” I felt my eyes go wide. Our cousin Shane had always been a little... troubled after his first husband died in that horrible car accident—and who could blame him for that?—but I was glad to hear he was able to move on. And with an omega who'd escaped the clutches of the same religious cult I'd married into, no less. The two of them were truly beating the odds.
“Yeah, Kade told me he got down on one knee last night when they were out at dinner. Told me how shell-shocked he was because he didn't expect anything like that.” Nick laughed now, an amused twinkle in his eyes as he pictured the scene. “Kade said it took him so long to even respond that poor Shane got all sorts of nervous. You know, now I'm almost sad that I didn't wait for my alpha to propose to me. I would have liked to see him squirm.”
I made myself laugh too, even as my thoughts strayed far away from the conversation. It was hard to focus on the here and now when my brother called up memories of how I'd been proposed to once upon a time. Jeremiah had swept me off my feet. I really thought I knew what I was doing, and what I was saying yes to, when he fell on one knee and showed me a ring.
I'd been a fool, but a fool in love.
“Rhys, are you listening?”
“Yeah, I'm listening. Sorry.”
Nick's eyes narrowed for the fraction of a second, as if he was suspicious what I'd been thinking of, but then his features smoothed over again. “In any case, we were thinking we might want to get married together.”
“Together? You mean like a double wedding?” Gears started turning in my head—slowly, I had to admit. Part of me was still hung up on memories.
“Yes! We'll make it a real spectacle. At least, I want it to be a spectacle.”
