With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

Pushing aside all my bullshit, I smile back at him and wrap my hand around his arm, determined to enjoy the reception and celebrate the evening with my family.

“Lead the way, good sir. I could use about a gallon of wine right now.”

Chapter 22

Laura

“Fuck yeah, it’s tee time!”

“You doing okay?”

Karen pulls out a chair and sits down next to me at the empty table I decided to rest my feet at, while everyone is out on the dance floor.

I don’t even know how to answer her question right now. After spending all night walking around the room, talking to guests, friends, and distant relatives who made the trip, making sure everything ran smoothly so Birdie and Palmer wouldn’t have to do anything but enjoy their reception, my feet are killing me, my head is killing me, and I’m all talked out. I just feel… emotionally exhausted. I didn’t want to be sad thinking about Dean, and I didn’t want to be sad thinking about my baby being married and leaving on a two-week honeymoon in the morning, so I decided to spend the evening just not feeling anything at all, while I performed all of my mother-of-the-bride duties. Nothing except for happiness that the day went off smoothly and Birdie loved every minute of it, while I smiled, and I chatted, and I stayed in the moment with my family, enjoying the reception and appreciating the memories we were making.

But after being alone with my thoughts for the first time tonight, I’m feeling entirely too much right now, and I’d like it to stop.

“I don’t know what I am,” I finally tell Karen honestly with a sigh. “I am on emotional overload at the moment.”

“Well, you guys pulled off an absolutely perfect wedding, and everyone is happy. So we can at least cheers to that.”

Picking up my wine glass from the table, I clink it with Karen’s and take a sip, glad that this day went exactly how Birdie planned and dreamed.

After the ceremony, the guys all shuttled the guests back up here to the restaurant at the clubhouse. The reception immediately got underway with drinks and hors d’oeuvres while Birdie and Palmer had some photographs taken out on the course before the daylight disappeared completely. Dinner went off without a hitch, and the guests have been raving about everything. From the wedding cake—a giant tower of maple bacon donuts from Dolphin Donuts with a small, white frosted cake on top for the traditional cutting—to the centerpieces on the table—glass bowls filled with golf balls, a bouquet of yellow tulips coming up out of them, and a small golf flag jutting out the top with the table numbers printed on them.

“Also, I’m going to steal like ten of these table favors before I leave. I don’t know what I’ll do with them, but I want them,” Karen informs me.

I laugh as she pulls a few closer to her, grabbing them from the empty places at the table. During the boys’ crafting day, they put together over a hundred little square glasses with real grass planted in them. Each one has a yellow ribbon tied around it and a golf ball nestled down in the grass with Birdie and Palmer’s names and the wedding date printed on them.

Along with all the other little golf-themed touches Birdie added throughout the room, she really made this day special and personal. The guests enjoyed the food, they enjoyed the location, and they’re definitely enjoying the music the DJ plays and the beverages the bartenders serve, going by all the laughter and fun being had out on the dance floor. All the out-of-town guests wouldn’t stop talking about what a good time they had this week on the island, and all the locals in attendance are happy they’ve gotten to hang out at a great party with a few celebrities this evening while celebrating Birdie and Palmer.

The reception will be winding down soon, and I can’t believe after so many months of planning that this day is almost over. And it couldn’t have gone more perfectly, and like Karen said, everyone—including my family—couldn’t be happier.

I spot Wren sitting at another empty table on the other side of the room. Her shoes are kicked off, and her feet are resting on a chair in front of her with Shepherd sitting next to her. He’s leaning down with his face right by her stomach, making Wren throw her head back and laugh at whatever he’s currently saying to the baby, while she runs her fingers through his hair.

The bride and groom disappeared a little bit ago, both of them claiming they forgot something out at the maintenance shed next to the 8th hole. They were both acting a little weird and giggly when they quickly slipped out the side door and promised me they’d be back before anyone noticed. A few feet away from Wren and Shepherd’s table, the double glass doors that lead out onto the deck are wide open, and with the glow from the lights hanging on the railing, I can see Palmer and Birdie did indeed make it back without anyone noticing, and they’re out there all by themselves.

They’re wrapped in each other’s arms as they slow dance, even though the song the DJ is currently playing is a fast one. Palmer seems to be missing his tie and his tuxedo jacket, and Birdie’s veil is no longer on her head, and her hair is a little disheveled, but they don’t seem to care as they rock back and forth, never taking their eyes off each other.

Turning my head toward the dance floor, I spot Emily trying to teach Quinn the moves to the dance that goes along with “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode, which is currently blasting from the sound system. Quinn moves left when he should have gone right, and the two bump into each other, laughing and pointing fingers about who was in the wrong. Quinn immediately gives up on the dancing to scoop Emily into his arms and kisses her in the middle of all the guests while they dance around the couple.

“In case anyone is wondering, the lighting in the photobooth is horrendous if you’re trying to take dick pics to surprise your wife.”

I look away from the dance floor just in time to see Bodhi zipping up his pants as he steps out of the photobooth a few feet away that Birdie and Palmer rented for this evening.

Almost like she has a homing beacon that notifies her as soon as her husband does something stupid, Tess shows up out of nowhere, saving me from having to scold him. With one hand resting on her belly, she grabs the strip of photos with her other hand as soon as the machine spits it out, crumpling Bodhi’s surprise in her fist.

“Every time you open your mouth, I question my love for you,” she mutters to him.

“That’s not what you said a half hour ago in Birdie’s office when I opened my mouth between your—”

Bodhi’s words are immediately cut off when Tess takes her hand off her belly to clamp it over said mouth. A blush colors her cheeks as she shakes her head at him, while Karen and I share a laugh, and Bodhi grins behind her hand. When she slowly lowers her hand away from him, Bodhi grabs her face and gives her a kiss that makes Karen and me shield our eyes and look away for a few minutes.

“See? The lighting is all wrong. My dick is way bigger than that.”

We finally look back when the two have broken apart, after Bodhi snatched the crumbled strip of photos out of Tess’s hand and smoothed it out.

“It sure is, sweetie,” Tess reassures him with a placating pat to his chest.