“I’d like to think I’m a little miss-able too,” he said with a grin to try to lighten what he was thinking.
“Oh, you are,” she said with a mischievous smile. “I’ll definitely miss that hammock. And I love the shower at your house.”
The shower. Right. The last time they’d really had sex except for the quickie when he’d snuck into her bedroom.
So she’d miss the sex with him.
Well, that was fair. It was amazing between them. Every time. That was what he could give that the others couldn’t.
And the knot in his stomach at that thought was stupid. This was what he’d agreed to. It wasn’t Paige’s fault that it had taken him only two and a half weeks to fall in love with her.
“Call your mom,” Ellie said, pulling Mitch and Paige’s gazes apart. “I want to know about these cookies.”
“Oh.” Paige shook herself slightly.
Yes, her thoughts had drifted to Mitch’s shower, and the last time they’d been in there together. But she’d also been thinking about how much she appreciated that none of these people were pressing her about how she felt about Mitch or what her plans were or saying things like “oh, you don’t mean that” when she talked about not wanting to get married. They were completely accepting of her choices. Of her.
And it made her want to stay forever. With Mitch.
The other day the girls had been going through photos of themselves and their fiancés, putting together a slide show of them all through the years. One big, fun, loving slide show.
The photos went from Sawyer by himself to all of the boys together, including his friend and Maddie’s brother Tommy, to photos of Maddie and Tommy together. There were photos of Maddie and Owen together as kids. Photos of Juliet and her brother Chase, and then photos of Chase with the whole group, including Bailey, his girlfriend. There were photos of Mitch mixed in too. As a little boy with all the others and as a grown man, grinning with his ball cap turned backward, flashing a thumbs up from the deck of an airboat with the other guys gathered around.
Paige had wanted the stories behind every single photo. And, strangely, she’d wanted to call her mom and ask her to send a bunch of photos of her and her friends and family so she could share and tell stories too.
“You all have an amazing history,” she’d commented.
“It sucks you in, doesn’t it?” Tori had asked with a smile. “I’ve only been here for a year, but I feel like they’re all a part of me.”
Paige had nodded. It had only taken about a week for them to soak into her bones.
“History is just the synopsis of the whole story,” Ellie had said.
“What do you mean?”
“When you learn history, you learn the highlights. And those are always told from one viewpoint.”
Paige had nodded. That was a good point. “You’re saying there’s always more to the story.”
“Of course, there is. There’s the Wednesday morning breakfasts, the arguments over why the faucet still isn’t fixed, and the times you’d rather be apart than together.”
“There are times you’d rather be apart from Leo than with him?” Paige had teased. She’d never seen two people more in sync than Ellie and Leo.
But Ellie had laughed. So had the other girls.
“If you want to be together twenty-four-seven, one of you isn’t being real,” Ellie said.
“Ellie and Leo even broke up for a while,” Kennedy had added.
Ellie had nodded. “Yep. We divorced, and I dated Trevor for a bit. But Leo and I couldn’t stay apart.”
Paige had been surprised. But also touched by that. “I guess that makes sense, with a history like yours.”
But Ellie had shaken her head. “History doesn’t make you love someone. Loving someone makes you want to make history with them.”
Paige had been thinking about that for days now.
It was part of why calling her mom for input on some of this wedding stuff felt so good. She would love to bring some of her people into this. Even her people that didn’t accept her choices. They were still the ones she had a history with. And, after all, the history in her head was just from her viewpoint.
Dee Asher picked up the video call after just three rings. “Paige!”
Paige had been texting, and they’d video chatted twice before this, but she’d made sure she was alone when she talked to Dee. “Hi, Mom.”
“How are you?”
“I’m good. Really good. I’m actually at Ellie’s, the restaurant I told you about, with the three girls who are getting married.” She’d filled her mom in on the fact that Tori was now sharing her wedding day with Juliet and Maddie.
“Oh.” Dee was clearly a little puzzled as to why Paige was calling her right now if that was the case.
“Tori’s family is Swedish too, and I was telling her about some of the wedding traditions our family has incorporated.”
“Hi, Mrs. Asher!” Tori called.
Dee smiled. “Hello, Tori.”
Tori slid off her stool and came to stand behind Paige. She waved at the screen. “My mom and dad sent the silver and gold coins for the wealth blessing, but Paige was the one who filled me in on the details.”
Dee lifted both brows. “She’s been paying attention, I guess.”
Paige worked to not roll her eyes. “I even told them about the tradition of the bride and groom walking down the aisle together and having only one or no attendants. It’s all going to make this triple wedding easier.”
“Paige has been so much help in planning all of this,” Tori said. “She has so many great ideas.”
“You’ve been helping plan the weddings?” Dee asked Paige. “Really?”
Paige had to give her mom a pass on her obvious surprise. It really was out of character. Or so it would seem from the things Paige said about her own feelings about marriage. But she really was enjoying all of this. Bringing traditions together, making each ceremony reflect the specific couple, even in the midst of combining the three weddings, making it a true celebration of not just the vows between the two people getting married, but bringing the families all together and honoring everyone involved in their lives.
Yes, the Landry weddings had given Paige a new appreciation for what weddings were and could be. Or rather, they’d given her a chance to really reflect on it more objectively. Those things—the special touches, the traditions, the families coming together—had all been there in the weddings she’d been involved with in Appleby too. She’d just been more intimately involved there because they’d been friends and family, and she knew everyone was looking at her and wondering how she felt and what she was thinking.
Here there had been no pressure, so she’d been able to truly appreciate it all more.
“Yep,” Paige told her mom. “I’ve been helping with the weddings here.”
“She’s been more than helping,” Juliet said, joining Tori behind Paige. “Hi, Mrs. Asher. I’m Juliet. And Paige has truly been the one doing most of the work. She’s made the guys do some of it. Like building an archway and addressing envelopes.” She laughed. “But she’s really taken so much off our plates.”