Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,118

Disney princess. Seemed like the vast majority of them ended up getting married in a castle, so I nodded.

Bailey and Sawyer exchanged air kisses. They’d been BFFs since nursery school and could have been mistaken for twins. Sawyer was pulling double duty as the event coordinator at the distillery and maid of honor. Mom asked if Bailey hurt my feelings by choosing Sawyer over me, but I felt lucky I’d been passed over for that dubious honor. I didn’t know how she’d wrangled the rest of the women in the wedding party and was thrilled to be providing support from the sidelines.

“Is that your dress?” Bailey asked, eyeing the garment bag.

Sawyer nodded. “I thought it might be fun to try them on together.”

Sensing the perfect moment to escape, I tested Bailey’s mood. “Y’all don’t need me for this, do you?”

“Guess what.” Bailey grabbed Sawyer by the arm. “Tori’s bringing a date to the wedding.”

Sawyer’s penciled-in brows rose to her hairline. “Really?”

I tried to play it off. “Just someone I met recently. You know Bailey needs the head table to have even numbers.”

“Is he coming to the rehearsal dinner because I’ve already submitted numbers to the kitchen.” Sawyer’s gaze bounced between us.

“Nope, he has plans. You’ll have to wait to meet him at the wedding.”

“Good for you.” Sawyer nodded, like I’d been anxiously awaiting her approval. Then she turned to Bailey. “You’ll never believe what happened at work yesterday. Ruby Bishop tried to tell me you decided on the ivory votives instead of white. I swear that woman’s trying to ruin your wedding and run me out of a job.”

Always one to take her bestie’s side, Bailey groaned. “I’m sorry, hon. Any word on old man Bishop’s will?”

“Not yet. They said they had to wait for some hoity-toity lawyer to get into town before they’d review it.” Sawyer tossed the garment bag down on the bed and lifted her shirt over her head.

Crap on a cracker. The hoity-toity lawyer they were waiting on was Deacon. It had to be. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a problem at my sister’s wedding, but if I didn’t take Deacon, I’d be stuck with Toby, the turtle lover. He wouldn’t be the worst set up I’d ever had. I once dated a guy who dressed up in a beaver costume for work. But I liked Deacon. Showing up on his arm would be like giving everyone who ever thought I’d be single forever a proverbial middle finger.

“Enough talk about the damn Bishops,” Sawyer said. “Let’s see how the bridesmaids’ dresses look next to yours and then we can practice your makeup.”

It was my chance to escape. “If y’all don’t need me, I’m going to head home and finish up the wedding favors.”

I’d make the pie, take it to Deacon, and we’d figure this out. It was time the damn feud between the Bishops and the Stewarts stopped dictating everyone’s lives.

Chapter Six

Deacon

I glanced at my phone, checking the time. The attorney was just about done reading the will, but I was going to be late meeting Tori if I didn’t get out of here soon.

Nothing had gone as expected today, especially the reading of the will. Evidently my uncle had passed on his inheritance and my cousins would split their grandfather’s interest in the distillery equally. It had come as a shock to everyone but my uncle. He sat there while the attorney read the specifics with a smile on his face so wide it could have held all fourteen lanes of traffic on the 405 in LA.

“We need to celebrate.” My cousin Vaughn clapped me on the shoulder. “I’ve got some work to finish but can meet up in a few hours. You in? I’m buying.”

“Where are you heading? I can meet you later.” First, I had a date with a gorgeous curvy brunette. Oh, and a pie.

“Let’s go to the tasting room at the distillery. Granddad had a few bottles set aside for special occasions and I’m pretty sure something like this qualifies.”

His twin, Cole, joined us. “Anybody else not see that coming? The Stewarts are going to lose their shit when they hear they have to deal with the five of us instead of running everything through Dad.”

“Aren’t you tired of one-upping the Stewarts?” I asked. The feud between the two families had gone on long enough as far as I was concerned.

Cole nudged me with a shoulder. “Tired of one-upping the Stewarts? Whose side are you on, cuz?”

“Sides?