Unforgettable (Cloverleigh Farms #5)(33)

“And is she?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Good.” Sadie took another sip of tea. “She’s such a good person. I want her to be happy.”

“Me too.” I took a drink of my iced tea. “Any idea why she never got married?”

“No. It’s really surprising to me, actually, because I know she always wanted children. She used to talk about it when she’d babysit me.”

“Huh.”

Sadie shrugged. “Maybe she just hasn’t met the right person.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe it’s you.” One of Sadie’s eyebrows peaked.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not me.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know,” I told her, picking up my iced tea again. “Believe me. We talked about this last night too—she and I are very different, and we are not looking for the same things.”

“What’s she looking for?”

“A husband, two-point-five kids, maybe a cat.”

“And you?”

“A club sandwich. And look at that, dreams do come true.” I leaned back as the server set a plate in front of me.

My sister sighed dramatically. “I don’t even know why I bother.”

I picked up a French fry and stuck it in my mouth. “Me neither.”





After lunch, I drove by my old barber shop, but at the last minute I kept on driving, deciding instead to try a salon up the street that said “WalkIns Welcome.” I figured I had less of a chance of being recognized there, and the encounter with that reporter was fresh on my mind.

Thankfully, I was right. The salon was full of women who either didn’t recognize me or didn’t give a shit, and I got a pretty nice haircut too. Not only that, but it came with a shampoo and a scalp massage that—not gonna lie—made me miss a woman’s hands in my hair. I closed my eyes and imagined the hands were April’s.

At five o’clock that night, I reported for duty at Cloverleigh Farms. Sadie had told me I didn’t have to wear a suit but to please look nice, so I’d added a blue sports jacket and tie to my dark jeans and a white button-down.

April was standing in the entrance hall of a building Sadie had called “the wedding barn,” which was the designated meeting spot for the rehearsal. The way she looked me over—kind of the way she’d gazed at her dessert last night before devouring it—put a little swagger back in my game.

“Hi,” she said, her eyes traveling over me. “You look great.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek without thinking if that was okay or not. She looked great too. It was amazing how she could make such a long skirt—it came down to at least her knees—look sexy. Maybe it’s because it hugged her butt so tight. And the blouse she wore didn’t show any cleavage—it tied around her neck, in fact—but somehow, the whole effect of the outfit was making me sweat.

Was it the heels? They were the same ones she’d been wearing last night—black and high and shiny, with a little hole at the top where the barest suggestion of red polish on her toes peeked out.

I loosened my tie.

The rehearsal was pretty straightforward, although we had to run through it indoors instead of out because of the rain. I stood where they said to stand, moved where they told me to move, and stayed out of the way as much as I could. Mostly I watched April, impressed by the way she handled everything and everyone so smoothly. My sister’s constant questions and requests would have driven me fucking bananas, but April’s patience seemed endless.

By six o’clock, it was over. Sadie seemed happy with everything but the weather, which wasn’t even that awful now that the storms had quieted to a drizzle.

“My weather app says no more rain tonight,” assured April. “And everything should be nice and dry by tomorrow.”

Sadie still looked nervous. “I hope so.”

The dinner was being hosted by Josh’s parents at a restaurant downtown, and on our way out, Sadie invited April to join us.

“Thanks, but I can’t,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of things to get done here.”

“Can’t you get away for a little bit? You still need to eat,” I told her, disappointed she wasn’t coming along.

She shook her head, smiling wistfully. “I wish I could. I’ll grab something to eat later. Go have fun.”

“Okay.” I glanced out the glass door and watched Josh and Sadie walking arm in arm next to his parents. “Hey, what about the dance stuff? My sister was bugging me about it at lunch today, and I told her you were going to help me.”

“Oh, right.” Her forehead wrinkled for a moment.

“Can I come back here later? How long will you be here?”

“A few hours, for sure. That could work.” She looked up at me. “You don’t want to go out with the wedding party?”

I gave her a look. “Are you serious? They’re like twelve. They’ll probably want to go drive go-karts or play paintball or something.”

April laughed. “Okay. Meet me back here after dinner. In the meantime, I’ll think of a song.”

“Something short, please. And not too fast. But not too slow either.”