She grinned at him too. “I know. You know what I mean.” She laid her head against his shoulder, her breath washing across the skin right above his shirt collar. A shiver ran down his back at the nearness of her, at how close he felt to her emotionally and physically.
“I told him I’d text you when he was coming over. If you don’t get a text from me, Trey, he didn’t do what I asked him to. You should send him home to follow through with what I’ve asked him to do.”
“I can do that,” Trey promised. “Now, are you sure I can’t see your wedding dress?”
* * *
“Don’t tie it so tight,”Cayden said. “His neck is bulging.”
“It’s not bulging,” Duke argued. He stood in front of Trey, both hands at his neck, trying to get the bow tie right.
The other brothers continued to argue, but Trey stood still and silent. The days until this Saturday afternoon wedding had passed in a blur of work and sleep, more work, and then more work. He’d also had to interact with his mother a lot more than he usually did, and he couldn’t wait for this day to end.
Then the wedding would be over. The meal finished. The stress of all the prep and the fittings gone.
“Ten minutes,” someone called just as an alarm on Cayden’s phone went off. Of course he had an alarm on his phone. He was a lot like Beth in that regard. He claimed it was because he had a plethora of tasks he had to complete each day, and over half of them were things he didn’t want to do.
He’d learned that he could do anything for fifteen minutes. If there was something he didn’t want to do, but had to be done, he set a fifteen-minute alarm and worked until it went off.
Beth used her alarms so she wouldn’t forget to pick up TJ from school or when to get dinner out of the oven. Either way, the alarms worked.
“Good luck,” Spur said, hugging Trey.
“You’ve got this,” Blaine said. “You’re lucky you don’t have to endure a long engagement.” He embraced Trey too.
Cayden took his turn, grinning at Trey before stepping into his personal space and clapping him on the back. “Happy wedding day.”
Trey should’ve reminded him it wasn’t real, but he didn’t. He and Beth had professed real feelings for each other, and they’d both admitted they wanted to see if they could build something real out of this wedding.
Conrad hugged Trey. “You’re a good example of doing what you think is right.”
Surprise lanced through Trey, and he was so tired of the feeling.
Duke fiddled with his tie again and then hugged him. “Love you, brother.”
“Love you too,” Trey murmured, glad his voice was still working.
Lawrence grinned and hugged him. “I’m happy for you.”
One by one, they left, and it was just Trey and Ian. He hadn’t spoken to his brother much over the past couple of weeks, though he’d wanted to. TJ came to the ranch every afternoon, and Trey had been spending evenings on Beth’s property.
There was a to-do list for Dixon Dreams ten miles long, and Trey didn’t think he’d ever get through it all. He still had work to do at Bluegrass, and he didn’t want to give that up. In addition to all of that, he’d started training Somebody’s Lady.
He loved training the horse, and he felt more awake in the middle of the night while he worked with her than when he woke after sleeping. He’d put out a couple of calls for a jockey, but he hadn’t heard back yet.
Somebody’s Lady could come out of the gate easily. She loved to run—really loved it. But she still tried to lift her head, and Trey needed a lead horse to work with her, and that required two riders. Beth’s hand wasn’t in good enough shape for horseback riding, and she’d admitted she didn’t do a lot of it anyway.
“Good luck,” Ian said, and Trey reached for him. He hugged his brother, plenty to say but no time to say it. The pain radiating from Ian was enough for Trey to know his words wouldn’t matter anyway.
Ian cleared his throat, stepped back, and nodded at Trey. He left the room right as their parents entered.
“It’s almost time,” Daddy said, a wide smile on his face. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know,” Trey said, looking from him to Mom. “I know this isn’t the wedding you wanted for me.”
“It’s lovely,” Mom said, smiling. She reached Trey first and hugged him. “I will always support you when you’re following your convictions.” She stepped back but kept her hands on his shoulders. “My, you look handsome.” She scanned him down to his shiny, black shoes, and then reached up to touch his hair.
“Mom, I’m wearing a hat.” He brushed her hand away and turned to get his cowboy hat.