Four Weddings and a Swamp Boat Tour - Erin Nicholas Page 0,25
months?” Maddie asked.
“Because every time she turns down a proposal, her mom gets more worried.” Mitch sighed. This wasn’t really that hard to understand when Paige explained it. “She was engaged,” he told them, backing up in the story Paige had told him in Iowa last week. “She and her mom’s best friend’s son were dating, and the families were thrilled. He proposed right after graduation, and she said yes. Then she broke things off in the middle of wedding planning. Broke his heart and everyone else’s. Disappointed her mother deeply. Now her mom worries that she’ll never settle down and have a family.”
“Well, getting married and having kids isn’t for everyone,” Maddie said.
Juliet nodded. “I have girlfriends who are nearing thirty and have no plans to get married. At least not yet. Twenty-two is really young.”
Mitch nodded. “Exactly. But where she’s from, it’s just… expected. Her family is big and all lives in her hometown and is all in everyone else’s business.” He looked around the table and got several smiles. Yeah, that sounded very familiar to all of them. “So, with all of these expectations and her mother’s constant desire to set her up and with this most recent proposal…” He frowned thinking about that. Jesus. He thought she was amazing, of course, but these Appleby guys just pulled engagement rings out left and right, it seemed.
“How recent?” Josh asked.
“Two days ago. At her sister’s wedding reception.”
Josh’s brows shot up. “She was just with you at the festival. Well, me. Everyone saw us there. We were holding hands and everything.”
“You were holding Paige’s hand?” Kennedy asked her brother. “Where was Tori?
“Pretending to be Mitch’s fiancée,” Josh said with a grin.
Mitch sighed as the group’s attention swung back to him. Yeah, this all seemed simple when he thought about it, but explaining it made it seem convoluted.
“I showed up in Appleby to surprise Paige,” Mitch said. “Everyone wanted to know why. Paige panicked and told them I was there to repair her furnace. And that I was her friend Tori’s fiancé. Then Josh and Tori came over to the festival the next day and, obviously, I had to play that part. That left Josh as the extra cousin who had tagged along and who was then flirting with Paige on the impromptu double date.”
Everyone took a second to process that.
“Anyway,” Mitch said. “I guess her having a blind date to the Apple Festival didn’t faze this guy at the wedding reception.”
“Wow, deep and abiding love there,” Juliet said dryly.
“For obvious reasons, she’s a little skittish about the ideas of proposals and weddings and settling down,” Mitch said. “So, I offered her a place to get away to for a while and—” He shrugged. “She took me up on it.”
“But you have no intention of getting serious?” Kennedy asked.
“Nope.”
But only because Paige doesn’t want that.
The truth was, proposing to her didn’t seem that crazy to him. For him to do. Not some Iowa jackass.
“You’re just going to be… what then?” Kennedy pressed, “Just friends?”
“Well… yeah.”
Sure. They could just be friends.
He was pretty sure.
6
“Uh-huh.”
“Sure.”
“Okay.”
Those were the general reactions around the table to Mitch’s claim.
“What?” He scowled at them. “Paige doesn’t want anything serious, so I’m not going to get serious.”
It’s not like he got serious with women anyway. This shouldn’t be so hard to believe. He dated very casually. More often than not, he just hooked up. Sometimes more than once with the same woman, of course, but they never made promises.
Finally, Ellie spoke. “So, Paige came here because she needs an emotionally safe place to be until her job in Colorado starts. She trusted Mitch to be a friend and not put expectations or pressures on her. She clearly feels comfortable staying with him, and he’s now here asking us to support him and have both of their backs.”
Mitch nodded as his grandmother summarized the situation.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” she said. “We will help you and Paige have exactly what you want—a friendship that is safe and supportive and happy without anyone getting hurt.”
Mitch nodded again. He felt everyone’s eyes on him, but he focused on Ellie. “That’s what I need from you all.”
“Then that’s what you’ll get.” She gave him a smile that was full of love. “Whatever you need.”
“Thank you.”
Ellie looked around the table. “Everyone got that?”
Everyone nodded, though not many looked totally convinced.
“Do you really think she should be living with you then?” Sawyer asked from the end of the table.