Nope. She shook her head and stalked down the stairs.
She was never going to L-word again. L-word made you stupid and unable to see when the guy right in front of you didn’t L-word you back. That wasn’t going to happen to her. Besides, Jason didn’t even feel the same way. He was in this for the same thing—good times and hot sex.
“Good times and hot sex.”
“What are you muttering about?”
She looked up to find herself standing right in front of her mother.
Shit.
“Uhh . . . that we needed to make sure to have plenty of cooled wine and hot crab dip.”
Her mother frowned, then arched a brow, studying her. “You’re acting strange. And your cheeks are pink.” She lifted the back of her hand to Erin’s forehead. “You’re not coming down with anything, are you?”
Yeah, a case of the mumbling stupids. “No, I’m fine, Mom. I really do need to go check on the food.”
“The food is already being set out, and I just saw Clay’s parents pull up. That’s where I was headed.”
“Okay. I’ll go to the barn and make sure everything’s ready.”
“You do that.” Her mom started to walk away, then stopped. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
She could never slide anything past her mother. “I’m good, Mom, really. But thank you for always looking after me.”
She kissed her mom on the cheek.
“Okay. If you need me for anything, you know I’m always here.”
It must have been written on Erin’s face—the indecision, the emotion—because her mom had always known when something was off with her. But this? This she couldn’t talk about with her mother. Not when she didn’t even really know how she felt.
“I know. Thank you.”
Her mother walked out the front door, and Erin slipped out the side, heading over to the barn. It was simply decorated because Alice insisted that they didn’t go overboard for the engagement party. It was more important to both Alice and Clay that it just be a joyful get-together to celebrate their engagement, not a fussy party.
Erin was all about fussy parties, but she and her sisters also knew to give the clients what they wanted. Not that Clay and Alice were clients. This event was being done out of love for Clay and his family, and for Alice, their new friend.
Erin’s new best friend. She and Alice had shared so much since they met six months ago, and it was like they’d known each other forever. It was funny how that had worked out. She had friends from childhood and from college, but she wasn’t as close to them as she’d grown with Alice.
She dashed into the house to grab the fresh flowers and took them over to the barn, setting two vases down at the main table where Alice and Clay would sit with their families. They looked so pretty. Alice would love that. Then she went back to the main house to wait on the porch for Alice and Clay to show up. Her nerves were on high alert and she didn’t know why. They had everything set up, and it was all going to be fine. But she wanted so much for this day to go well.
She’d done weddings for a couple of her high school girlfriends, and she’d never felt jittery about it. Of course, after high school and moving on to college, those friendships had lost that closeness they’d once had.
Maybe it was because Erin was so close with her sisters, shared so much with Brenna and with Honor that she had never formed intimate bonds with any women beyond her sisters. Until she had met Alice and forged an immediate friendship with her.
Which was why she wanted this engagement party to be everything for Alice. She knew they could have thrown hot dogs on a grill and had beer available and Clay would have been happy, because Clay was all about family and friends, which was one of the reasons Erin liked him so much, knew he was the perfect guy for Alice. He wasn’t fussy, didn’t care all that much about his own needs. But he’d bent over backward to carve out a life for himself and for Alice, to make sure Alice’s career came first, that she could make a life with him and still be able to do the work she did. He prioritized Alice in a way that made Erin see what had been missing in her relationship with Owen.