Maureen beamed a look of utter joy. “I know the girls are so thrilled you two are getting married here. We’re all so happy.”
Johnny sported a grin a mile wide. “It’ll be a good wedding. Happy for you both.”
“Thank you,” Alice said. “Me, too.”
Jason slanted a smile at Clay. He knew how much Clay loved Alice. They could have the wedding at the Henry ranch, here at the vineyard or at the courthouse and Clay wouldn’t care, as long as Alice married him.
Clay smiled back at him. “So, you’ll be my best man, right?”
They’d been friends forever. Clay and Jason and Owen. They’d been through some shit together. Tough times. Good times. To stand up for Clay? Yeah, that would be a highlight.
“I’d be honored.”
“What are you honored about?” Erin asked as she walked around the side of the house.
“Clay asked Jason to be his best man,” Maureen said.
Erin didn’t look at all surprised. “Of course he did.”
Jason gave her the kind of hot smile that made her go weak in the knees. She curved her lips and smiled back at him, then turned her attention back to Alice. ‘We’re going to plan such a fun wedding.”
“And will you be my maid of honor?” Alice asked.
Erin put her hand to her heart. “I’d love to. But what about Lainie? You were her maid of honor at her wedding here at the vineyard.”
“I know. I’ve already talked to her and she agrees that it would be too difficult for her to help me out from out of state. She said she’d love to be a bridesmaid. And I’d really love for you to be my maid of honor.”
Erin grinned. “Then I’m happy to accept.”
The two women hugged, then Erin poured herself a glass of wine and sat next to Alice, the two of them getting out their phones, no doubt to schedule a meeting.
“Planning your future without you, buddy,” Jason said.
Clay smiled over his beer. “I’m fine with that. I’ll dress up, I’ll show up, and that’ll be good enough.”
Jason laughed.
“Hey, have you been over to the brewery to see Owen yet?” Clay asked.
Jason shook his head. “Nah. I figure if he’s got something to say, he’ll call me. He hasn’t even talked to Erin yet.”
“Still? What the hell? Why not?”
“No clue. Maybe he’s scared.”
Clay frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Owen. Then again, none of what happened is like Owen. The guy I know wouldn’t bail on his woman right before the wedding. If he wasn’t happy or changed his mind, he’d man up and tell her, face-to-face.”
Jason nodded. “Yeah. That’s what’s been bugging me all these weeks. Why did he run?”
“I don’t know, man. But I’m not planning on trying to make contact with him until he talks to Erin first.”
“Agreed.”
“You know he bailed on being in Ryan Phillips’s wedding?” Clay asked.
That news shocked him. “I didn’t know that. Kind of last minute, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Clay took a sip of beer. “Fortunately they got someone to fill in, but kind of shitty of him.”
Jason knew the wedding was here at the vineyard, so maybe that was a good thing? He looked over to where Erin was still engaged in conversation with Alice. Did she know? She probably did. She knew everything about every wedding here at the vineyard.
“Damn.” Jason shook his head. It was like some stranger had taken over his best friend’s body. He didn’t know what to make of it. He’d like to talk to Erin about it, but bringing up Owen to her was never a good idea.
Erin got up and disappeared again, no doubt to help her sisters out with the wedding, so Jason turned his attention back to his friends. He figured he’d wait on Erin, and when she was finished with her wedding duties, he’d spend some time with her. But he wasn’t going to bring up Owen.
So they ate and drank and told stories and had a damn good time. Some folks left, and Maureen and Johnny went to bed, leaving Jason alone with Clay and Alice. Jason was telling Alice stories about their teen years, giving her all the dirt on her fiancé.
“Then there was the time one summer when he was fifteen,” Jason said. “He crawled out the bedroom window at one in the morning, thinking he could take his horse into town to meet up with a girl he liked. Only the horse wasn’t that fond of having to get up that early, made one hell of a