“I’m betting she’s either trying to get famous or hoping you’ll pay out to make everything go away,” Landon offers.
“At this point it could be either, but none of it matters because I’m not paying her a dime. Ava’s the only one I care about when it comes to believing me. Anyways, I don’t want to talk about it. We have this fabulous meal to eat and a wedding to plan.”
“Oh my goodness! We get to plan a wedding.” Lara bounces around in her seat, clapping her hands like a child at Christmas while Ava blushes. “So when is the big day?”
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“Well, how about this summer?” Lara suggests with an evil smirk directed at me. I want to kick her in her shins myself.
I let out a groan at the suggestion. I want to marry Ava right now. “Is that too soon?” Ava asks, looking upset.
Before I can answer, Landon does. “No. He’s thinking about how soon he can tie you to him forever. I’m betting yesterday wasn’t fast enough.”
“He’s right. I’ll give you whatever kind of wedding you want, but I’m not sure I care to wait so damn long.”
“Do you have a lot of friends or family you want to invite?” Ava asks me.
“Nope. Less than twenty people for me.” I could have a thousand people here, but I want it to be as intimate as possible and as little of the press snooping about as well. Those fuckers really pissed me off to the point of pure hatred for them and what they do.
“I really don’t have any people I want to come either. Is it so terrible if we make it something small in the house?”
“We can come back in a month or so,” Landon offers.
“How about Saint Patrick’s Day?” Lara squeals. “And we can make all the plans over the phone or online. Whatever. I can have things brought in from Chicago.” My sister is loving this too much, but not if it doesn’t make Ava happy. She looks a little uncomfortable.
I roll my eyes at my sister. “Don’t listen to her. This is your day, babe. Whatever and whenever you want.”
“Actually I think it’s perfect too. If it’s not too cheesy. It will be our lucky day?”
“Woman, it’s wonderful. The sooner I get you to be my wife, the better.” I lean over and kiss her again. I’ll never get enough of her.
“Yay! So the date is set approximately six weeks from now. I can start getting the ball rolling after dinner if you’d like.”
“That sounds like fun.”
The rest of the dinner is spent talking about the boys and tomorrow’s plans for a snowball fight.
Landon brings Lara’s hand to his lips, kissing it before saying, “Beautiful, you will not be participating, okay?”
“I’ll make sure you all have a hot drink for afterward,” Lara says, agreeing easily with Landon. I love that he’s so damn protective over her. His love and desire to keep her safe and happy does my heart a lot of good. My parents loved him from the first time they met him despite the age gap. I suppose Ava and I are pretty far apart in age as well, and I want her giving me my own football team soon.
In six weeks, she’ll be my wife. Six fucking weeks. I love it.
Chapter 13
Ava
It’s quiet on the ranch since the reporters left almost six weeks ago. Tomorrow’s our wedding on Saint Patrick’s Day, and I’m glad it’s finally here. We’ve kept it extremely minimal, but Lara has added all the beautiful touches effortlessly from Chicago. It’s great to have her in my life. We talk every single day and add to what it feels like to have a family. My nerves have my stomach in knots. I’m a bundle of nerves because I feel like something’s going to get in the way of my happiness. Getting married at twenty-one does seem smart, but after all that’s happened, I know in my heart that Tobias is the one.
My phone rings, and I expect it’s Lara for our everyday chit chat so I answer it. “So when is your flight getting in?”
“Flight? You need to be more careful of who you answer for,” the woman hisses on the other end.
I’m caught off guard because only a few women know this number: Louisa, Lara, and Marisa. “Who is this?”
“Tobias’s real love. I don’t know what spell you got him under, but he belongs to me.” Fucking hell, who is this woman?
“I’ve never heard of you, so you can’t be his love,” I toss out with a laugh, trying to coax more information out of her. Tobias must have a crazy ex he failed to mention. Or rather he chose not to mention while grilling me about my past.
“Bitch, keep laughing, Ava. I’m going to kill you soon.” I blanch, stepping backward against the washing machine.