on her. Slowly, carefully, she reached across the bed and lightly stroked his fur. He growled and promptly jumped off the bed. Renee smiled as she rolled over to her other side. She finally had a pet and while she could guess what was going on with him, she really had no idea what he was thinking. And it was wonderful.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RENEE DIDN’T EVER want to not like one of her brides, but Asia was really pushing her buttons. The tall, willowy blonde had been difficult from their very first meeting. Not mean so much as demanding in unexpected ways. She would want to start a meeting at 10:22 in the morning and she meant 10:22 a.m. Not 10:15 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. Nope, she would walk in precisely at 10:22 a.m. and things got going.
From Renee’s perspective, she overmonitored her fiancé, bossed around her parents and acted like the princess she wasn’t. But, Renee reminded herself as she tried to get everyone in place for the rehearsal the Thursday before their wedding, weddings were stressful and maybe Asia was a lovely person in her regular life.
“Jack is late,” Asia said, glaring at her parents, the Thursday evening before the Saturday wedding. “I told you he was too irresponsible to put in the wedding, but you said I had to.”
“He’s your brother, Asia.” Her mother’s voice was pleading.
“Come on, pumpkin,” her father added.
“Don’t call me that.” She glared at both of them before turning to Andrew, her fiancé. “Do something.”
“I’m going to take Buster for a walk.”
Buster was the gorgeous golden retriever who would be acting as best man. The dog belonged to Asia, but Andrew wanted him to participate in the wedding, so the dog wouldn’t feel he was replaced. From what Renee had been able to observe, Andrew and Buster were great friends and the new man of the house would be accepted with a wagging tail.
But instead of going with Andrew when called, Buster whined and retreated to a stack of folding chairs and huddled next to them.
“That’s the second time he’s done that,” Andrew said. “Is he feeling all right?”
“How would I know?” Asia snapped.
“He’s your dog. Did he eat his breakfast?”
Asia rubbed her temples. “I’m sure he did.”
“You can’t remember?”
She glared at him. “It was hours ago. Look, you just have to show up and put on a tux. I’m the one handling all the details for our three-hundred-person wedding. It’s been a lot, so forgive me if I can’t remember how much the dog ate for breakfast.”
Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting. Both sets of parents flinched. Out of the corner of her eye, Renee saw Jack, Asia’s younger brother, walk into the room, take one look at his sister, then turn on his heel and quickly escape before anyone saw him.
At times like this, Renee really wanted to take the groom aside so he could explain what it was he saw in his bride-to-be. What was she like when they were alone, because out in public, she was a bitch. But she’d never asked the question before and she wasn’t going to start now. To almost quote Shakespeare, that way lay madness.
“Why don’t we start without Jack?” Renee said, keeping her voice as soothing as possible. “All he has to do is seat the mothers, then take his place next to Andrew. I’ll go over everything with him later.”
“No matter how many times you tell him what to do, he’ll screw it up,” Asia grumbled.
“Asia!”
“You know I’m right, Mom.” Asia looked at Renee. “Fine. Let’s get going. Come on, Buster. Time to stand with Andrew.”
Buster whined, but didn’t budge from his place by the chairs.
“He’s been upset for a while now,” Andrew said.
Asia rolled her eyes. “How would you know? You see him for like five seconds when you come over.”
“That’s not true. I hang out with him while I’m waiting for you. I take him for walks every night I’m there. When you went away for your bachelorette party, I kept him for three days. I’m the one who took him to the vet for his last checkup.”
“Whatever.”
Renee realized that both sets of parents had followed Jack’s lead and darted out of the room. Great. Twenty minutes into the rehearsal and nearly everyone had disappeared.
“Did you want to take a break?” Renee asked quietly. “I could—”
“Take a break? We just got here. It’s a rehearsal. Let’s rehearse and be done with it.” Asia marched over to her dog.