Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)(74)

“You mean like joining a local organization?”

“Wouldn’t you find that more satisfying? Being able to see a project through?”

“Maybe.” She always enjoyed working with the transplant families and a lot of that was because she got to stay close with them for a while. Often they became friends.

“I want you to be happy,” he told her, his voice gentle.

She hugged him. “Thanks, Sam.”

“You’re welcome.” He kissed her forehead. “No chiweenies.”

She laughed.

* * *

LARISSA, JACK AND Percy got to Jo’s right on time. There was a sign on the door that read Closed for a Private Event.

“Does that mean we can go in?” Larissa asked. “Did Sam know about this?”

“Sam knows,” Jack told her.

She looked at him. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“That you look especially beautiful tonight.”

“Hey,” Percy said as he walked in with them. “It’s still early in the evening. Don’t gross me out with your old-people lovey-dovey talk.”

Larissa laughed. “Hey, we’re not that old.”

The teen’s grin was unrepentant. “You are to me. I’m a man in my prime.”

The bar was filled with forty or fifty people all standing around and talking. Servers circulated with appetizers. Jo and a couple of other bartenders manned the bar.

One of the servers approached and offered them crab puffs. “Dinner will be served upstairs in about an hour,” she said as she held the tray steady.

Larissa took a crab puff. “Thanks.” She turned to Jack. “Do you know what this is about? Sam isn’t leaving Score, is he?”

“No. He wouldn’t make that kind of announcement in public.”

Percy pointed across the room. “Melissa’s here. I gotta go.”

He took off before either of them could say anything.

“Ah, young love,” Larissa said. “Better than old love.”

Jack put his arm around her. “You’re not so old.”

She shoved at him but he didn’t budge. “Gee, thanks.”

“Anytime.”

They went to the bar. While all drinks were offered, most people chose champagne. Larissa took a sip and enjoyed the bubbles bouncing off her tongue. She recognized everyone at the party. There were the Score folks, of course, along with the bodyguard-school folks. Noelle and her husband, Felicia and Gideon. Even Mayor Marsha seemed to be making the rounds.

The older woman spotted them, then headed in their direction.

“Jack, Larissa. Nice to see you both,” the mayor said. “Jack, I understand you made quite an impression on the university committee.”

Jack shrugged modestly. “They’re interested in the possibility of starting a football program. I think it’s a good move.”

“You impressed President Newham very much.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s going to be an ambitious project. Finding a coach will be difficult.” The mayor smiled. “Not my problem, fortunately. If you’ll excuse me, I have a few announcements to make.”

“There are announcements,” Larissa murmured. “At a party?”

“It’s a town thing,” Jack told her and tucked his arm more firmly around her.

Sure enough the mayor walked to the bar where she took a microphone from Jo. Larissa hadn’t known there was a microphone in Jo’s Bar.

“Thank you all for coming,” the mayor said. The room went quiet as everyone turned to her. “I have the most wonderful job. I get to live here and know all of you. I also have presided over a number of weddings and I do try to be in the hospital for every birth I can.” She smiled. “After the messy work is done, of course.”

Several people laughed.

“So it is with great pleasure that I continue the tradition of making wonderful and happy announcements like this one. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Fool’s Gold’s most recently married couple. Dellina and Sam Ridge.”

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. Sam and Dellina walked toward the mayor just as Larissa realized what she’d said. She shrieked and raced toward her friends.

“You’re married?” she asked, hugging them both.

Taryn joined in, as did Dellina’s sisters and several of her friends.

Larissa grabbed Sam. “That’s what you were doing when you were gone?”

He smiled, looking both happy and content. “I don’t need a big ceremony and the last thing Dellina wanted to do was plan another wedding. This is our reception.”

Kenny and Jack joined the crowd. They hugged their friend and kissed the bride. Everyone looked at the diamond eternity band Dellina wore on her ring finger.

Larissa let the happy feelings wash over her. This was how it was supposed to be, she thought. People in love getting married. Because that’s what people in love did. She wanted that.

Her gaze drifted to Jack. He had his arm around Taryn and Dellina, and Kenny was taking pictures. Sam pushed his friend away and claimed his wife with a kiss that had people hooting. Jack laughed.

Would he ever do this? Would he ever give his heart? She wanted to say he would. She wanted to believe, but she’d known Jack a long time and he always kept himself at a distance. Not getting too involved worked for him. There was no reason to think that was going to change, no matter how much she loved him.