“I think Laurie is going to get Fisher to commit to sticking with the wedding date. June third.” Rose gave me a tight grin, baiting me.
“Oh, I wasn’t sure it was even still an option. So they’re dating, but officially still engaged?” Rory asked.
I shared her surprised sentiment. “I’ll shower.” I grinned at Rose. “Give me twenty minutes.”
She glanced at her watch. “Fifteen.”
I got ready in thirteen minutes and a few seconds, saving my makeup for the car ride.
When we pulled into their big driveway, there must have been ten other cars there. It was more than family. I wasn’t sure how that would play out for me. Would they all be friends who knew Angie? Probably.
One of the grandkids let us into the house filled with people. It was a cooler fall day in the foothills, so it forced the festivities inside.
“Welcome!” Laurie greeted us. “So glad you made it. There’s a table for cards and gifts over there. Don’t forget to sign the guest book. And help yourself to food in the dining room. Games and more seating downstairs. I don’t know where Pat disappeared to, but you’ll find him somewhere.”
I followed Rose and Rory like a shadow to the gift table. To the kitchen. In line for food in the dining room.
“Hey!” Angie appeared in tight black pants and a white sweater. Her curly black hair was softened into big curls. Perfect nails and makeup.
“Hi, hon.” Rory hugged her. “You good?”
She nodded. “I really am. Things are going well. I think this party is exactly what I need, what we need.” She glanced around. “Where’d Fisher go? He’s probably in the garage trying to cut off his cast. He’s been so unruly about it lately. It comes off Monday.”
Angie nodded to my shoes. “Cute shoes, Reese. You always look so adorable.”
I grinned without showing any teeth. Adorable. Exactly what I was going for.
Angie tootled away, the glowing bride-to-be. It had been forty-eight hours since I’d seen Fisher. Did something happen? Did he get his memory back?
We filled our plates with food and cake. We found Pat and wished him happy birthday, and I broke away from my mom and Rose, sneaking downstairs with the kids. All the kids.
And … Arnie and Fisher. They were playing ping-pong with the kids as well as video games on the big TV.
Fisher missed the ball when he looked up at me.
“Champion!” Arnie declared, tossing his paddle aside and throwing his arms in the air.
I cringed, a silent apology for being a distraction and costing him the game.
Arnie looked over his shoulder at me. “Reese! Just in time. You’re my next competitor.”
“Me?” I laughed.
He snagged Fisher’s paddle and handed it to me.
“Scat.” He shooed Fisher away. “You lost. Go play with the kids.”
Fisher shook his head, grin huge and eyes on me. I tried not to stare too long, afraid everyone would see right through me.
After I beat Arnie three times in a row, he tucked his tail between his legs and headed upstairs for more cake.
Fisher handed one of his nephews his controller and made his way toward me as I hung back behind the sofa a few feet, watching the games on the big screen TV.
“Hi.” He grinned.
I rubbed my lips together, fighting to keep from showing him how thrilled I was to see him. “Hi.”
“You killed Arnie. He’ll never recover.”
I laughed. “He’ll manage.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.” He stood right next to me and touched his hand to mine on purpose in a way that no one would notice, especially since we were surrounded by a bunch of distracted kids. “But I honestly had no idea who they invited. My mom called it a small, cozy gathering.” He chuckled.
I laughed. “She might have missed the mark if that’s the case.”
“There you are.” Angie peeked around the corner.
Fisher took a step to the side so our hands no longer touched. “What’s up?”
She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug while kissing his neck. “Come upstairs with the adults. Everyone keeps asking about our wedding, and I don’t know what to say. What do you want me to say?”
Without a word, I slowly drifted away, up the stairs and back in the shadows of Rory and Rose. A few minutes later, Arnie stood on a chair in the middle of the great room and whistled with his thumb and middle finger up to his mouth. It was a loud and impressive whistle that silenced the room.
“Rock star always has to be the center of attention,” Shayla yelled, eliciting a wave of laughter from the room.
Arnie grinned, owning the truth. “Not today. It’s our dad’s big day. The man who showed us what it means to work from sun up to sun down. What it means to put family first. Patrick Mann is my hero.”