She swallowed and took some pictures that would probably be crap, but she didn’t care. Pretty people were everywhere, and that was scary.
Then Tom got tohimand paused. “And that is my best friend, and consequently best man, Hunter, whom I’ve known since high school, through rowing and rugby in college, and into our business lives, and beyond. The greatest guy I know, and the most generous, and the single reason I didn’t fail out of the business program at UNC. I am who I am because of him.”
Hunter raised one dark brow, and his mouth curved. “This is your wedding, Tom. I’m supposed to flatter you.”
The room chuckled, and Tom grinned at his friend warmly.
“His name is Hunter?” Taryn murmured out of the corner of her mouth. “I volunteer as tribute.”
“Stop that!” Dan hissed, though he grinned as well.
Tom’s two sisters and their families were introduced, with a surprising number of kids. Mal would never keep them straight, but tomorrow was Kids’ Day, and she was supposed to do a shoot with them on the playground in the afternoon. They were all really adorable, so that could be a lot of fun. They, at least, were fairly casual.
It suddenly occurred to her that the room was silent and everyone was staring at her. She and Taryn and Dan had been close to a corner, intentionally out of the way and unobtrusive, trying to blend in and be invisible. Apparently, that wasn’t going to work.
Jenna grinned at her warmly, as did her cousins and aunt and uncle. “And this is our fantastically talented photographer for this entire shindig and my very favorite cousin, Mallory Hudson.”
Mal felt her cheeks heat, but she smiled all the same. “Come on, Jenna,” she said bashfully. “I’m your only cousin.”
Jenna giggled and winked. “Makes you even more special then, Mal. She’s doing us all a massive favor by being here, y’all. Can’t believe we got her. So, if you see her around, smile pretty and be nice.”
Everyone laughed and there was faint applause, while Lucas whistled loudly and yelled, “Yeah, Mal-Mal!”
Mal cleared her throat. “Actually, pretending I’m not here would be best. If I need you to look at me or do something particular, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, just act natural—except for Lucas.”
They all laughed again, and Lucas saluted her with a grin and loosened his tie. She gave him a bold warning look, which only made everyone laugh more, and he raised his hands in surrender. She smiled and looked around the room, fiddling with her camera involuntarily. She hated being the center of attention, so the sooner they could move on to the others, the better she’d feel.
Hunter was looking at her again, and his expression was hard to read, but he seemed almost impressed. Or intrigued. Or unsettled.
Or maybe that was just her being impressed and intrigued and unsettled by him. And very, very uncomfortable. The tingly sort of uncomfortable that makes you fidget and fuss with your hair and freak out about imaginary things between your teeth. And your neck is suddenly sunburned, your toes ache, and your skin is too tight.
Yeah, she was uncomfortable, to say the least.
She retreated back to the safety of her camera, her only shield from his intensity, and tried to remember the right way to breathe.
“And bonus, we got her assistants, Taryn and Dan, as well,” Jenna continued, making both of their days, if not lives. “So, again, be nice and smile pretty, or they might edit the pictures of you a bit wonky.”
That seemed to terrify the girls, who all looked at each other with wide eyes.
A warning. That was good. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need more.
“Is that everyone?” Tom asked, looking around quickly. “Yep. Okay, dinner is served!”
At that, the catering staff of the lodge came out of the kitchen with steaming trays of the most incredible barbecue and classic Southern comfort foods Mal had ever seen or smelled. And then she looked again and saw that one of the catering staff wasn’t local to the lodge; he was a familiar face from Tennessee. Which meant the food was—
“My baby, Mallory Jo!” Aunt Cady broke through her thoughts, suddenly in front of her and pulling her tightly against her. She smelled exactly the same, like a mixture of Victoria’s Secret perfume and Tide with a splash of honey. Her miraculously still naturally blonde hair had been teased to proper Southern height, and it wasn’t moving from it, but she was just as warm and adorable as Mal remembered.
She hugged her back just as tightly. “Hi, Aunt Cady,” she said into her shoulder. She laughed. “You’re really tall tonight. What shoes are you wearing?”
Aunt Cady laughed merrily and stepped back, pointing her coral heels for Mal to see. “This darling designer Jenna told me about. You ever heard of a cat named Jimmy Choo? Fancy stuff, but I like it.”
Taryn choked on hearing Jimmy Choo referred to as a cat, but Mal just grinned. That was Aunt Cady to a T.
“They look great,” Mal told her.
“Baby, I haven’t seen you in ages,” Cady scolded, looking her over. “You are so skinny. You’d better eat some of that grub over there.”
Mal smiled. “I wanted to ask you about that. How did you get Hal Barney’s to come up here?”