“Okay, subject change then,” her father said. “Are you excited about the weekend?”
She shook her head. “Not really. Going to a wedding that lasts all weekend, for a man I’ve never even met, is a little awkward.” She’d never minced her words, never held anything back with her dad. They had that kind of relationship where she could tell him everything, anything, and he’d always be there for her.
“I know, but I want to say thanks for sucking it up,” her dad said sincerely. “I know this last year has been weird and tense, what with me marrying Ginny, you graduating and waiting for those colleges you applied for to contact you, but I want you to know that you’re strong. You’ve always been strong. Even after your mom died you kept it together.” He smiled softly.
“You were, too, Dad. You’re strong, and I’m happy for you. I’ll try and do better with the whole listening on Ginny’s conversations thing.” She gritted her teeth after she said that, because seriously, two times of overhearing Ginny talking didn’t constitute as actively eavesdropping, not in Lake’s eyes at least.
“This weekend will be great. You won’t have to worry about school, and hey, maybe you’ll even meet a nice boy to hang out with while up there.” He started chuckling when she rolled her eyes. Yeah, like she really had issues with controlling herself around guys.
He stood and gave her one more smile before leaving her alone in her room. He’d cracked the door open, and she heard him and Ginny talking. She did like her stepmother, but it was still strange, even a year later. Lake got up and finished packing, knowing that things would work out. They always did. Did she miss her mother even all these years later?
Of course. There were even times Lake could picture her mom coming into her room as if no time had passed, as if no tragedy had struck. And it was those times that she clung on to, that she held close.
Maybe she would find a guy up there, one she could finally just let loose with? There would be people she didn’t know at this wedding, people that didn’t know what a nerd she was in school. She could be anyone, could make herself act like one of those girls that knew what they were doing around a guy.
Hell, that put a little extra bounce in her step as she finished packing and had her thinking about exactly the kind of trouble she could get into by being someone else for the weekend.
2
They’d driven two hours south to Colorado Springs for the wedding. It was a beautiful day, and there were about a hundred people in attendance. It was ninety-eight more people than Lake knew.
It was an outdoor wedding, and Lake sat toward the front with her father. The bridesmaids were just now walking down the aisle, Ginny one of them. Although she knew Ginny and the bride weren’t close, Ginny had still been made a bridesmaid, probably for the sole reason that she was the groom’s sister.
Lake looked over at her father, saw the smile on his face as he stared at Ginny, and knew he was probably thinking about their wedding day. Her dad loved Ginny, and Lake knew that she had to make a better effort to be close to her stepmother.
But even thinking about Ginny as a stepmother was weird. Pushing all of that to the back of her mind, Lake looked to the side when she saw movement. The groom and groomsmen were coming toward the altar. Once at the altar, the groom stood beside the pastor, and she took in the sight of him.
She’d never met Reese, not even when her father and Ginny had gotten married. He’d been overseas in the military, but other than that, she didn’t know much about the man. But as she stared at him, taking in his imposing height, she saw that even with the tux on, he had an impressive, muscular body.
His short dark hair was slightly disheveled—not as though he didn’t care about his appearance, but in a way that was stylish.
And then he grinned, and everyone turned in their seats as the bridal song started playing.
Everyone stood, faced the bride, and of course she was gorgeous. She had long blond hair that was curled and put into some kind of side twist and a dress that molded to her perfect body. She was smiling, but she wasn’t looking at the groom, which Lake would have assumed would be her first reaction, like an instinct.
Instead she was looking at everyone in the audience, smiling brightly, even posing for the cameras.
Lake looked at the groom again, saw that he was standing straight, his attention focused on the bride. Once the bride was at the altar and handed off by her father to Reese, everyone took their seats. For the next twenty minutes they sat there, listened to the vows being taken, and watched the rings being exchanged.