But there is another option…
I take Millie’s hand in mine, marveling at how perfect her small hand fits my larger one.
“What are you doing?” Millie hisses through a fake smile.
“I’m getting us through this with the least bit of embarrassment possible.”
“How?”
“Trust me.”
She snickers. “I don’t even know you.”
“Well, then it wasn’t very smart for you to marry me, was it?”
She frowns, but at least she doesn’t look embarrassed anymore, which is an improvement.
“Thanks! I’m so lucky to have found the love of my life. Millie is the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Only she could get me to settle down,” I say, gripping Millie’s hand as we walk into the banquet room covered in flowers. Everyone is either holding a mimosa or bloody mary.
There is a table at the far end that says bride and groom on each of the seats. I notice that Oaklee is sitting to the left of the table, which means we are expected to sit in the chairs.
“We can’t sit there. That’s for—“ Millie starts.
“Oaklee isn’t sitting in the chair, and I don’t know where Boden is. Come on, just follow along, and we will get out of here unscathed.”
Millie reluctantly follows me to the chairs labeled Bride and Groom and takes a seat next to me.
“How did you meet?” Val asks. “Tell us your love story!” She practically squeaks.
“Umm,” Millie is expected to answer, but I take over.
“Millie got a job in my marketing department. We’ve been dating secretly for months. Millie didn’t think it was appropriate to let it be known that she was dating her boss.”
Everyone laughs. “No way, Millie is wild. She wouldn’t care that she’s dating the boss,” Val teases.
Millie’s eyes cut to mine, and I raise a brow. Apparently, Millie is wilder than I thought.
“Just how wild we talking?” I ask Millie at the same time Millie asks me, “You work at a marketing firm?”
“Not really,” but I don’t say more about my job.
“My wild ways are overblown.”
I smile and throw an arm around the back of a chair as a waitress places two mimosas in front of us.
I look up
and find Larkyn looking at me curiously. If my story checked out, there would be no way she wouldn’t know that Millie and I were dating. She knows everything that happens in the center. And she’s one of my best friends. I tell her everything. I’ll tell her the truth later. Kade is looking at me with a surprising amount of pride on his face, not usual coming from my brother. So I’m going to enjoy this ride for as long as I can.
I reach forward, grabbing my glass before realizing I picked up the damn mimosa instead of the water glass. I set it down abruptly and pick up the water glass.
“You okay?” Millie asks, noticing my move.
“Yes, just still hungover and don’t want to drink.”
“I know what you mean. I’d be happy never drinking again.”
I nod and stare at the mimosa. I’m surprised the cravings haven’t kicked in. But so far, I don’t crave alcohol any more than usual. It’s going to be damn embarrassing when I go back to the center and have to start my sober countdown all over again.