The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(48)

Caitlin wondered . . . did she ever look at Dillon like that? She turned to look for him and found him walking toward her. “Hey,” she said with a smile. “What do you think?”

“Uh, that your friends are crazy?”

“You mean my siblings.” She realized he was holding his arm to his chest. “What happened?”

“Walker and I arm wrestled for the last cold beer.”

Walker was lethal. She knew that. She’d once gone to the gym with him and watched him spar in the ring. He was a lean, mean fighting machine, and she’d never bet against him. But she’d also bet her life that he’d never, ever hurt anyone on purpose. “He didn’t hurt you,” she said in disbelief. “He’d never—”

“Wasn’t him, but nice to know you’ll jump to his defense over me.”

She grimaced. “Dillon—”

“I lost the round with Walker, and then Maze took his seat. She jumped the gun and slammed my arm down to the table, taking the win and the last beer.”

“So you’re saying that Maze hurt you.”

“She’s an animal.”

Caitlin laughed, because in a way that was true. Maze, as well as Walker, was incredibly competitive and didn’t recognize anything but the win. “She’s like a hundred twenty-five pounds, and you’re, what, two hundred?”

“One-eighty,” he corrected. “I finally dropped my extra holiday weight, and you’re missing my point. What are we doing here, Caitlin? Having a reception practice? It’s silly and a waste of time.”

“You don’t understand,” she murmured. “You can see your whole family whenever you want. For me, it’s about spending time together with mine when I can get it.”

“Is that why you’ve put more time into this week than you did the actual wedding?”

“Don’t be silly.” But that little voice, the one she was starting to hate, said he was right again.

“And I thought you were supposed to go shopping with Mom today,” Dillon said.

“No, I left her a message that everyone was in town and staying here, and she said that she and your aunt would go together.”

“For the last-minute wedding things,” Dillon said doubtfully. “You’re going to let them have full rein of anything wedding, Ms. Control Freak?”

“Hey, I’m not always a control freak.”

He lifted a brow.

She rolled her eyes and moved off to go check on Maze, but her phone rang. Dillon’s mom. She considered not answering, but she’d just promised Dillon to try harder with her.

“Darling,” his mom said when she picked up. “The baker said your wedding cake is carrot, which can’t possibly be right.”

“No, it’s right,” Caitlin said. “They make the most amazing carrot cake, it’s to die for. But why did they call you?”

“I called them. Just making sure to dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s since I know your mom isn’t here in town yet to assist. But Dillon should’ve told you—my sister doesn’t like nutmeg and my mother hates carrot cake. We were thinking of replacing it with something more . . . wedding-like.”

Caitlin ground her back teeth together. “I understand it’s not the most common choice, but my dad loves carrot cake and it’s his birthday on Saturday. So we thought it’d be a lovely tribute, and since they’re paying for the cake—”

“How about I get the baker to make you and your parents a few carrot cupcakes? And then you can pick a different flavor for the cake. Your choice.”

“My choice is carrot.” Yes, she’d just promised to play nice, but she wasn’t going to lose this battle. “Uh-oh, I think we’ve got a bad connection.” She imitated a crackling sound and then disconnected.

“Gotta put more phlegm into that crackle,” Walker said, having come up beside her.

She rolled her eyes and looked over to find Dillon eyeing his phone with a familiar frown. What now? She went to him, and he gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Mom just texted, needs me to meet her at the cake shop. There’s some sort of misunderstanding and she knows you’re busy.”

Misunderstanding her ass. “But the point of today was to spend it here, with me and my family.”

Everyone was watching her, so she plastered a smile on her face.

“Everything okay with him?” Heather asked after he left. “When he and Maze were arm wrestling, he jumped the gun and I think he hurt himself.”

Maze was looking worried, which meant she’d done nothing wrong. Because when Maze did screw up, she owned it. So Caitlin nodded. “Everything’s fine,” she said. “He just had to go to a meeting.” And if he agreed to change the cake, she’d kill him. That should solve the problem. “Maze? What’s next?”

Maze consulted her itinerary. “Music! More dancing!” She hit Caitlin’s reception playlist. “Uptown Funk” came on.

Heather squealed and ran toward the makeshift dance floor, happily dancing with Sammie in her arms, her little feet swinging off the ground, their laughter filling the air. Jace and Maze joined them, and when Sammie got too heavy for Heather, Jace took her. Maze and Heather danced together until they realized Walker was still in a chair. Heather tugged him toward their little circle, and he good-naturedly let himself be dragged to the others.