“Oh, there you are,” Hailey said when she emerged from the dressing room. “I thought you left—oh, those are so pretty! Tell me you’re buying them.”
“I’m buying them.” It was stupid and maybe a little irresponsible, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d splurged for herself.
She was forced to try on an endless stream of dresses in an endless stream of stores before Hailey finally declared they’d found the right one.
Lauren looked at her reflection in the mirror. The dress had long sleeves and was shimmery and clingy, but with a loose drape to the neck and back. And it was a pale silvery-blue, while she’d been thinking of going with autumnal shades like a hunter-green or russet or navy. “Are you sure?”
“It’s gorgeous and, when you’re wearing the bra you just bought under it, it’ll be killer. I swear. Every guy there will drop their jaw when you walk in the room.”
That wasn’t a big selling point for Lauren, who preferred not to be the center of that kind of attention, but she had to admit she wouldn’t mind seeing Ryan’s reaction to the dress.
And if she did dance with him, not that she planned to, his hands would glide over the dress, and she wondered if she’d be able to feel the heat of his skin through the fabric. “I’ll take it.”
Chapter Nine
Ryan watched his sister retying Mitch’s tie for what seemed like the hundredth time and, though he chuckled at the very unweddinglike word that crossed Liz’s lips, he was having a hard time swallowing past the lump in his throat. His big brother was getting married today.
All five of them were in Mitch’s room. Liz was fussing over Mitch while Ryan leaned against the door and watched. Josh was stretched out on the bed and Sean was sitting in the wingback chair in the corner.
Paige hadn’t wanted anything too fancy, so they were all wearing simple button-up shirts with dress pants, while Mitch had on one of his business suits. His brother probably could have tied his own tie in about two seconds flat, but it seemed to mean something to Liz to do it for him, so they were all waiting for her to figure it out.
It took her another three tries before she patted the knot and took a step back. “There.”
Even from his vantage point, Ryan could see it was a little loose and crooked, but Mitch kissed her cheek and left it alone. “Thanks, Liz.”
“Getting cold feet yet?” Josh asked. “We can tell her you shimmied down the rain gutter and took off into the woods.”
“We haven’t changed the brackets on the gutters yet,” Ryan pointed out. “If he tries to shimmy down that pipe, he’ll spend his honeymoon in traction.”
Sean laughed. “With all those pulleys to elevate body parts, maybe he can keep it up more than two minutes.”
“I’m not shimmying anywhere,” Mitch said. “I don’t shimmy. And my feet aren’t cold and I don’t need pulleys to keep anything up, thank you very much. Stop deflecting your dysfunction onto other people.”
“Hey, Emma doesn’t complain.”
Liz gave him a sweet smile. “Not to you, anyway.”
They all laughed, except Sean, whose expression just made them laugh harder. “She’s kidding! Jesus, Liz, tell them you’re kidding.”
They heard the sound of feet running down the hall and then a fist pounded on the door. Ryan stepped aside and pulled it open.
Bobby, Mike and Lisa’s youngest son, had already messed up his hair, and his shirt was half-untucked. “Grammy said the bride—that’s Paige—is ready so you all need to come down now.”
“I’m glad you specified. I’d hate for Mitch to marry the wrong woman.” The kid just blinked at Ryan. “Tell her we’re on our way.”
Bobby took off at a trot, which seemed to be the slowest speed setting he had, and Ryan closed the door again. “You ready?”
Mitch nodded, and Ryan couldn’t see even a hint of doubt or hesitation on his brother’s face. He was happier than he’d ever seen him before.
“Oh, for chrissake, Liz,” he heard Josh mutter and he turned to see Liz struggling to open a travel pack of tissues she must have dug out of her purse.
Sean took it from her and a few seconds later handed her an unfolded tissue. “If you’re crying already, you’ll be dehydrated before it’s over.”
“Did you see how much wine Fran ordered? Nobody’s dehydrating today.”
“You didn’t cry at my wedding.” Sean almost sounded insulted.
“How do you know? You never took your eyes off Emma. And I didn’t think Mitch would ever get married.”
Ryan suspected the tears had more to do with the end of her relationship leaving Liz emotionally raw, but he kept his mouth shut. With the lodge damn near overflowing with love and laughter, he could understand why she didn’t tell anybody she’d left Darren yet.
“Jilly Crenshaw is taking pictures, right?” Josh asked.
Mitch nodded. “Yeah. She’s always had a thing for photography, I guess. She’s pretty good at it and, since her son really loves cooking for Paige at the diner, she offered to do it as our wedding present.”