I hefted the bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel whiskey at her. “Your brothers tried to drink the bottle before you got here, but I thought, a toast?”
She sagged in disappointment. “You know I can’t have that.”
I grinned devilishly and then grabbed a bottle of apple juice that I’d tucked away, knowing she couldn’t drink. “How about this?”
“Yes! Make mine a double,” she told me.
I laughed and poured out the shots. She was definitely part of the family. Addictive personalities ran in the Wright line. I had my fair share of vices, but I was lucky that alcohol wasn’t one of them.
“Annnd,” Sutton drawled out, “while I have you here, Jensen, I wanted to run one teensy little thing by you.”
She widened her big blue eyes like she was about to ask me for a million dollars. She’d been giving me that same look for years. Once, it was a blowout sweet sixteen to rival that TV show My Super Sweet 16. Another time, it was for a trip to Europe with all her sorority sisters. I couldn’t imagine what more she could want from me right now. We’d put together her wedding in six weeks, and she was flying first class to Cabo for two weeks. Still, she was upset that I wouldn’t give her the jet.
“Oh no,” I muttered. “What is it?”
“Look, I was talking to Maverick last night, and I know that he already signed the prenup, but—”
My face instantly hardened. “No.”
“I didn’t even ask anything!”
“I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is no.”
“But it’s silly, Jensen. Really! He’s the love of my life. We’re going to spend eternity together. A prenup is ridiculous. It’s a bad way to enter a marriage. If you’re thinking about how it’s going to end before it even starts, then what does that say about a person?”
Morgan, Austin, and Landon had all gone still behind her. They could probably read the fury on my face. I didn’t want to blow up on her on her wedding day, but I was dangerously close to doing so.
“You are worth a small fortune, Sutton. And I don’t give a fuck who you’re marrying. You get a prenup to protect yourself in case something happens. Thinking about the future is a way to ensure that you are not getting scammed. No matter how much somebody loves you.”
“But, Jensen—” Sutton said, trying to reason with me.
“Sutton,” Austin said, cutting in, “do you really want to do this right now? I mean, Jensen and Landon both had a prenup. No one marries a Wright without it.”
“That’s right,” I said, silently thanking Austin for his backup.
“Plus, you’re only twenty-one,” Morgan said. “Who knows what could happen?”
“Oh, wow. Thanks, Morgan,” Sutton grumbled.
“I didn’t mean that Maverick isn’t ‘the one,’” she said with air quotes. “I just mean, Jensen didn’t think he’d divorce Vanessa under any circumstances and look what happened.”
I gritted my teeth at the mention of my ex-wife. Vanessa Hendricks wasn’t a name that was usually brought up in polite conversation. But she certainly was a cautionary tale as to why a prenup was necessary.
“If Maverick really wants to throw out the prenup, I’d be happy to talk to him about it,” I said to Sutton with raised eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not that stupid. You’d scare him half to death.”
“Well, if he’s trying to take you for your money, then he’d deserve it.”
“Okay, fine. I get it. I just thought I’d ask. Maverick and I had a long talk about it.”
“I bet,” Landon muttered under his breath.
“Anyway, shots!” Sutton cried.
I passed out shots of whiskey to Austin, Landon, and Morgan and then handed Sutton the shot of apple juice.
I raised my glass high. “To Sutton, on the happiest day of her life and to many more amazing years to come.”
We all tipped back our glasses. The whiskey burned all the way down my throat, but I just grinned at my siblings.
The world felt right when we were all together. No matter what challenges we might face, at least we had each other.
Three
Emery
“Heidi, what are you doing to my hair?” I asked.
Heidi laughed hysterically behind me. “I’m making you look presentable, Em. You just wait. It will come together at the end.”
She threaded a few more strands of my hair into this crazy braid.
If Heidi and I hadn’t been best friends since kindergarten and if I hadn’t known all her deep, dark secrets, I was sure she would have dumped me for the cool crowd. Despite her obsession with geometry, her all black attire, and her pool-slinging skills, she had been a cheerleader and obsessed with popularity.
My sister, Kimber, had been the girlie girl—prom queen, homecoming queen, voted most attractive. The whole shebang.
But not me. Though I never had a problem with finding a date, I had not been the typical teenager. I had played varsity soccer my freshman year, I’d skateboarded circles around the dude-bros in town, and I had made up my mind that my dream job was to become a vampire slayer.
At the time, Landon Wright had tested my friendship with Heidi. Why would the star quarterback have any interest in the loner tomboy? I hadn’t understood it any more than Heidi.
I closed my eyes and pushed the thoughts aside. I was only thinking about Landon because I knew he would be at the wedding this afternoon. He hadn’t crossed my mind in a long time, and I hadn’t seen him in longer.
“I swear, it’s going to be cute,” Heidi assured me.
“I know. I trust you,” I said. “I cannot believe that you talked me into going to this wedding with you. Is it going to be like a high school reunion? I don’t know if I’m prepared for that.”
“It’s not a high school reunion,” Heidi said. “I got invited because I work for the Wrights and, like, half of the company was invited. It’s going to be a big wedding. I doubt you’ll even run into him.”
“I am not worried about running into Landon. It’s been almost ten years since we broke up,” I told her.
“Didn’t he get married anyway?” Heidi asked.