My Almost Ex (The Greene Family #2) - Piper Rayne Page 0,51

come back from Idaho and said I shouldn’t be marrying into the Greene family. They were people who took from others.

I’d grown up in Sunrise Bay, so I knew that when Hank and Marla got together, it wasn’t brushed under the rug. Marla was Hank’s cousin’s ex-wife. She’d returned to town after Jeff Greene cheated on her, and she and Hank rekindled a relationship they’d had when they were in their senior year of high school. Marla had told me it happened fast, and that she quickly knew Hank was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She’d told me that story when I came to her crying that my family wouldn’t agree to me getting married. They thought I was too young and didn’t know what I wanted.

Happiness radiated from me that Adam was my future. I turned away from the mirror and allowed everyone to ahh over my dress.

Hank knocked on the door and stood outside the room in a tuxedo. “Ready, ladies?”

“We’re ready,” Marla said, looking back at me to make sure.

I nodded.

“Good. The boys will meet us there.”

Tires squealed out of their driveway—the groomsmen, who consisted of all the Greene men, along with Toby.

“Fucking Toby. We’ll be lucky if Adam gets there alive.” Cora rolled her eyes.

“They’ll be fine,” Marla assured me.

We all went down the stairs, through the Greenes’ big house, and out to the cars that would take us to the spot where we were to get married. Adam and I had toyed with the idea of eloping somewhere, but I’d wanted everyone to witness me marrying the love of my life. So Adam had found the perfect spot since he’d been working at the park ranger office.

“Not too far in that your dress will get dirty, but far enough that we won’t have spectators,” he’d said.

I sat in the back of a rented limo with Marla and Hank and Cora. The rest of the bridesmaids were in another car. Cora smiled at me.

Marla took my hand. “Hank and I would like to give you one last thing you need before you get married. Something old.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t been worried about that superstition, but it seemed important to Marla.

“Adam’s mom received quite the jewelry collection when her mom passed. The collection has been passed down for generations. Chevelle’s already picked out what she wants, and each of the boys picked out the items they’d like to give their significant others once they marry,” Hank said.

“Really?” Adam hadn’t said anything. It must’ve hurt him to go through things his mother loved.

“Well, we didn’t expect to be at that stage yet, but here we are. Fate is fate.” Hank smiled and pulled a small box out of his pocket. He cleared his throat. “Adam would like you to wear this on the way down the aisle.”

Hank opened the box, revealing a sapphire stone surrounded by diamonds nestled inside.

“Holy shit!” Cora exclaimed next to Hank. “That’s huge.”

Hank laughed, familiar with my best friend’s lack of a filter.

Marla took the necklace from the box and held it out in front of me. “May I?”

Tears stung my eyes, but I tried to push them back because I didn’t want to ruin my makeup. “Please.”

She removed the necklace I’d bought from the bridal store. It wasn’t a sentimental piece anyway. My hair had been styled up, so she easily clasped the necklace for me. My thumb and forefinger held the sapphire while I felt the rough edges and smoothness of the jewel.

Hank stared at it around my neck for a moment, then he relaxed in his seat and stared out the window. Marla squeezed his knee as though she understood what this moment meant to him. Then he grabbed her hand and smiled at her.

When we reached the area Adam had picked, it was covered in peonies. The sky had been glowing with pinks and blues. Since we couldn’t have candles, we’d opted to have battery-operated ones, but the effect was the same.

“Let’s get you married.” Marla kissed my cheek and rushed up the flower petal path toward where the ceremony would take place.

I caught a glimpse of Jed, who’d been holding out his arm and waiting to walk his mom down to her seat. The rest of the groomsmen and bridesmaids then lined up and walked down the aisle.

Toby and Cora walked up the aisle, leaving only me and Hank.

Hank held out his arm. “I know you wish it was your father walking you