Save the Date by Annabeth Albert & Wendy Qualls

Author:Annabeth Albert & Wendy Qualls
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 7

As much as Randall would have liked to jump Hunter (or be jumped by him—either was appealing) the moment they got back to the hotel, they both got pulled into a whirlwind of last-minute errands and socializing instead. Autumn tore a contact lens, which meant Randall got tasked with the pleasure of undertaking another two-hour round trip to go rifle through the bathroom drawers back at her apartment to retrieve her backup pair. He got back just in time to talk his mother through the last fifteen minutes of increasingly rural roads between the highway and the hotel and then to help her get her luggage and her wheelchair unpacked from her car when she finally made it to the parking lot.

Autumn’s nervous flutter had become more random. Like the Brownian-motion studies he’d done in high school physics and not something jettisoned by the multi-billion-dollar particle collider he’d used for research in grad school. She was able to perform basic introductions, help him get their mother settled in a properly accessible room instead of the “upgrade” the hotel put her in by mistake and more introductions were made as other out-of-town wedding guests arrived and Randall had gone through three and a half of Autumn’s wedding checklists to ensure everyone and everything was present and accounted for, he was exhausted from all the social interaction.

His mother noticed and sent him up to his room for a nap. The command made him feel four years old again, but he was too tired to care. Autumn had informed him that Hunter, Beau, and Rick were swimming, so Randall slogged upstairs and sprawled out on his mattress and tried to push away the image of Hunter in swim trunks. Wet. Working out, his pecs and biceps shifting as he swam laps while Randall watched. Shit.

The nap wasn’t all that restful.

He got downstairs again just in time to not be the last one to dinner. Autumn’s extensive to-the-minute planning called for a seven o’clock “out of towners’ meal,” and—because he knew his mother’s views on tardiness all too well—Randall was kicking himself for showing up at 7:02. It was nice, then, that Beau and Hunter walked in a full ten minutes later. Hunter’s hair was damp—he’d probably showered after his swim. Randall had intimate knowledge of Hunter’s “wet look,” and that knowledge made his skin heat. Hunter looked really damn amazing in a dress shirt. Randall shifted in his seat and prayed his mother didn’t notice his flushed cheeks.

Since most of Autumn’s guests were more or less local, the vast majority of folks in the large private room were people from Alabama. Randall did his typical thing—he sat quietly and observed. Hunter and Beau kept catching his eyes. And his ears. Their accents deepened as they circulated around the tables, greeting most guests by name, apparently more than happy to exchange long hugs with absolutely everyone. Beau was one of the most inclusive people Randall knew, but he couldn’t help but notice the difference between Beau’s friends and family and Autumn’s.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.