His Best Friend's Wife (Bachelor Best Friends 2)

“Come see our auction tables,” Emma urged, motioning toward them all. “My mom and I set them up earlier and we’re quite proud of them.”

The red-and-green-draped tables lined a back wall of the room. The items available in the silent auction were beautifully displayed with pads and pens arranged so that guests could leave their bids. A list of the four charities that would benefit from the auction was displayed on a cheery poster on the wall. The Jason Sanchez Memorial Scholarship was second on the list. Her gaze lingering on the name for a moment, Renae felt a small lump in her throat as she thought of how touched Jason would be.

The variety of auction items was impressive, from the designer sunglasses donated by Renae’s bosses to weekends at Arkansas fishing resorts, gift certificates for meals, services and merchandise, autographed sports memorabilia, and other attractive prizes. The Graingers were obviously well connected to have procured all these nice donations. It gratified Renae to see Lucy’s snowy-white lap blanket displayed with special care, temptingly draped as though to illustrate how comfy it would be. Already several bids were written on the pad.

“I’m hoping to win that myself,” Emma confided in a low voice to Renae. “I’m going to wait until the last minute, then ‘snipe’ my own bid onto the sheet. It will be fair—Dad will let everyone know when the bidding’s about to come to an end. But I’m determined to get that lovely lap blanket.”

Renae laughed. “We have quite a few of them at home. If this one gets away from you, I’ll see what I can do to get you one.”

“No, it’s the principle of the thing now. I want this one.”

“She’s very competitive,” Lynette said with a grin that slowly faded. “I’m going to miss her so much.”

“Now, Lynette, don’t start,” Emma warned quickly, looking around to see if anyone else at the party had overheard. “Especially where my mom might hear you. She’s having a hard enough time dealing with this—I don’t want her to make a scene at the party.”

Seeing that Renae looked confused, Evan explained in a low voice. “Emma’s taking a leave of absence from her job at the rehab center to take a temporary job on the West Coast after the first of the year. Her friends and family are having trouble accepting her decision.”

Emma sighed and shook her head. “I’m not moving away forever. I just want to experience something different for once in my life. On my own.”

Lynette didn’t look notably cheered. “Everything’s changing,” she grumbled. “It’s hard for me to process change.”

Tate laughed and patted his sister’s back. “Deal with it, sis. Nothing stays the same forever, no matter how much you wish it would.”

Unexpectedly struck by his words, Renae swallowed hard. She’d been struggling with her own fear of change since Evan had come back into her life. She understood all too well that changes could be both thrilling and unnerving—exactly the way she felt right now. It was a relief when Emma nudged them all into the crowd to start mingling.

Chapter Nine

The evening was more pleasant than Renae had expected. Though she met quite a few people during the course of the party, her time was spent primarily with Evan’s group of close friends. She liked Emma, Kim and Lynette very much, talking with them very easily considering they had just met. She and Kim talked about their children, sharing funny stories of that first year of child rearing while Tate and Evan did some networking with a couple of local business bigwigs. Lynette’s companion, Ken, stood by one of the food tables, chatting with another acquaintance, giving the four women a chance to visit over glasses of champagne.

“I can’t imagine having two infants to take care of,” Kim said with an impressed shake of her head. “It’s been challenging enough with just one, especially with a full-time job, too. I went back to work when Daryn was six weeks old, putting her in an excellent day care program a friend had recommended. Tate and I married in October, and he’s been great to help with her, but I was on my own for her first ten months. I don’t know how I’d have gotten by with twins.”

Renae had heard a little of the story of Tate’s whirlwind courtship with the pretty single mom, but she was still curious about some of the details. She didn’t ask, of course, merely responding to Kim’s comments.

“I was lucky enough to have my mother-in-law to help me with the babies, or I don’t know how I’d have coped. I was six months pregnant with them when I lost my husband, so I didn’t have long to prepare for them afterward. I went back to work when they were three months old, and Lucy was amazing with

them.”

“That must have been a very hard time for you,” Lynette said sympathetically. “I met your husband a few times and he always seemed so nice. That’s why I wanted to help with the scholarship.”

Emma nodded. “Lynette secured several of our auction items for tonight. She can be very persuasive,” she added with a wry smile.

“Anyway, I’m so glad you came tonight,” Lynette continued to Renae. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Our little gang gets together occasionally for dinner or game night. Maybe you’ll come with Evan next time?”

It didn’t escape Renae’s notice that Lynette had basically invited her to come as Evan’s companion rather than on her own. She suspected the implication had been unintentional, but it was a sign that Evan’s friends were beginning to view them as a couple. Had he said anything to them about seeing her, or were they intuitive enough about their friend to have put the clues together? Knowing Evan, she suspected the latter was true.

“That sounds like fun,” she said when she realized the others were waiting for some sort of response from her. “Maybe I will sometime.”

“Oh, and feel free to bring the kids. Kim and Tate usually have Daryn with them, and she loves seeing other children,” Lynette added.

This time Renae merely smiled. She wasn’t sure how to explain that she’d been deliberately keeping Evan and her family apart. Emma gave her a look, but didn’t say anything. Emma, of course, had seen that the kids didn’t know Evan when they’d run into each other at the River Market.

“We also get together every Wednesday for lunch,” Lynette rattled on.

“Yes, Evan told me about your lunches.”

“You should join us sometime—especially before Emma leaves,” Lynette added with a distinct pout.

“Lynette—”