Dustin
Dustin Shields wasn’t looking forwardto his oldest brother’s wedding. The only good thing about the “Big day” as his overzealous mother liked to call his brother’s wedding day, was the fact that they were getting hitched in France. Maybe a change of scenery would be just what he needed to finally get over being dumped by Daisy. She was supposed to be “The one” according to his mother, but she turned out to like screwing around on him, more than she liked the idea of spending forever as his wife. He asked and having her turn him down hurt like hell until the other men in her life started coming out of the woodwork. That was when Dustin realized that he had dodged a bullet by not marrying Daisy. She would never be faithful to him and when she admitted that to him, he ran as far as he possibly could from her—moving from California back home to his parent’s home in New York.
It took him months not to miss Daisy every day, and even more, time to not think about her every single day. It was a work in progress and being back home helped, except for when his mother reminded him that he wasn’t getting any younger and was the last of her five sons to not settle down. Until now, his oldest brother, Darrin held that title, but once he got married this weekend, Dustin would be the only one of them left—the bachelor of the family. Sure, he’d be the social pariah of the family gatherings and holidays, but he really didn’t give a fuck. He wouldn’t push himself to find a wife if he wasn’t ready to take that step—not again. He needed time to figure out what he wanted in life, and what he wanted from a relationship, and then, he’d start looking again.
Dustin got on with the rest of his life, not wanting to live in his parent’s home forever, he found a job at one of the top accounting firms in town and even bought a house about ten minutes from his mom and dad’s place. It was far enough to give himself privacy but close enough to be there for the both of them if they should need him.
He was on his way home from work when his cell phone rang. Dustin pulled into his driveway and pulled the phone from his pocket, seeing his brother’s face on the screen.
“Hey Darrin,” he said.
“You about ready to party in France?” his brother asked.
“I just got home from work, so no,” Dustin admitted.
“Yeah, crunching numbers sounds like a ton of fun, but we’re talking France, man,” Darrin reminded. His brothers like to give him a ton of shit about becoming an accountant. He loved his job though and crunching numbers, as his brother liked to call it, was something that he absolutely loved. In fact, he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
“Are you sure that it’s okay for me to stay at Danielle’s parent’s home? I’d be happy getting a hotel room like the rest of the guests,” Dustin said. The bride-to-be was from France and the main reason why the wedding ceremony and reception were being held there. Her family owned a beautiful chateau where the wedding was being held and everyone from the bridal party was invited to stay at the chateau, along with his parents. Dustin was honestly not looking forward to staying with his entire family at the chateau. The last time that the five brothers and parents went on vacation together, they rented a huge beach house and everyone—spouses, kids, even dogs, all stayed under the same roof. It was a long damn week and one that he couldn’t wait to end. After that trip, Dustin promised himself that he wasn’t going to go on another family trip where they all stayed under one roof—yet here he was.
“Don’t worry,” Darrin said. “You’ll have your own personal space. I’ve made sure to keep you as far away from all of our nieces and nephews this time.”
“Thanks for that,” Dustin said. “I still have scars from my last run-in with those little devils.” All the kids thought that their beach vacation was the perfect opportunity to beat the crap out of Uncle Dustin. They were vicious too, and he had no desire to repeat their week of torture while they were all staying in France.
“So, we’ll see you at the airport in the morning?” his brother asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he said.
“Great, see you in the morning. Don’t be late—remember, it’s an international flight and you need to be there a couple of hours before we’re due to board.” He already knew all of that, but his oldest brother was the bossy one of the bunch, and he knew that it was best just to let him fulfill his role in the family.
“Got it,” Dustin assured. “I’ll see you in the morning, Darrin.” He ended the call and walked into his house, needing to figure out dinner and hopefully have a few beers while he packed. It was going to be a long week, and he was already looking forward to the flight home.
* * *
He spent most of his first days in France having his future sister-in-law bark orders at him, telling him what he needed to do. Dustin knew that Danielle just wanted her wedding day to be perfect, but he was jet-lagged and crabby, and a nap sounded like just what he needed. He decided to try to sneak off to his room on the second floor of the chateau when Darrin found him.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Um, bathroom,” he lied.
“You’ve always been a bad liar, Dustin,” his brother accused. “We have to go to town and try on our tuxedos. We have the final fitting so that we can pick them up in two days. Plus, I need to pick up our wedding planner, Poppy, and the wedding photographer at the airport.”
“Can’t you do all of that stuff on your own? I’m exhausted,” Dustin said.
“No, I can’t. I’m just as tired as you are, so stop your whining,” he said.
“Right, but you’re living in a love bubble and I’m not. I’m sure that your bride-to-be is worth losing sleep over for you, but that’s not the case for me.”
“Well, thank God for that,” Darrin said. “Otherwise, I’d have to kick your ass. Let’s go get the tuxedos. I can’t be late picking up Poppy or Danielle will kill me.” Dustin mumbled something under his breath about wedded bliss and Darrin shot him a look.
By the time they got to the airport, they were twenty minutes late and his poor brother couldn’t seem to apologize enough to the wedding planner and her sexy photographer. Honestly, when Darrin said the words, “Wedding photographer,” he instantly conjured the picture of an old, fat, balding guy. He wasn’t sure why that was—probably because his three other brothers' wedding photographers seemed to fit that description.
He and his brother loaded their gear and bags into the car and Dustin slipped into the back of the car with the photographer. Poppy sat shotgun with Darrin so that he’d be able to catch her up with what was happening around the chateau.
Dustin held out his hand to the pretty photographer, “I’m Dustin. I’m the groom’s brother,” he said.
She placed her hand into his and shook it. “I’m Rain,” she said.
“That’s an unusual name,” he said. She quickly pulled her hand from his and buckled her seatbelt.