Gram looked over at Blair and reached for her, pulling her into a bear hug. “You think you’re getting out of some lovin’?”
Blair found herself hugging the woman back. Gram held tight and whispered in her ear, “You got a lot of people who love you, girl, me included. Don’t you ever forget it.”
Blair leaned back and looked up into her face. Gram had been around as long as the three women had been friends. And while she and Libby were much closer, Blair had always loved her antics. Still, she’d never guessed that Gram was so sentimental about her. “Thank you,” she whispered. It was as if Gram had known exactly what she’d needed to hear.
Gram winked. “Now someone make me a bride!”
Megan laughed and handed her a roll.
Neil’s grandmother sat close to his group, of which she was technically a member, but she didn’t participate. She watched everything around her with an expressionless face, and Blair couldn’t help but wonder what the older woman was plotting. She was definitely the polar opposite of Megan’s grandmother.
“Hold still, Neil!” Debra cried out, stumbling as she tried to wrap the toilet paper more firmly around his chest. “I think the patio must be uneven. I can’t seem to stay upright.”
Neil rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to Blair. “Do we get to play-act the wedding ceremony, Blair?” There was a huge grin on his face as held out his arms so his sister could give him sleeves. “We can practice our kiss.”
“Only if you win!” someone in the third group shouted.
Blair watched him, wondering what in the hell she was doing. Neil wasn’t fireworks and rollercoaster feelings, but did she really want that? There was no doubt she and Garrett still had chemistry, but a fire could only burn so long before it became a pile of ashes—a lesson she’d already learned the hard way.
And as she watched Neil good-naturedly play along with the game, she realized he really was a great guy. He had a respectable career. He was responsible. He was good-looking. And he was capable of adapting to social situations. Neil wasn’t a stupid man. He had to know something had happened between her and Garrett, and yet here he was making an effort to have fun.
Was she really willing to throw away everything they had together? And for what? A few months with Garrett before he changed his mind again? She needed stability and respect, and she got both of those things from the man she was engaged to marry in a few days.
“You can have one now.” It went against her nature to show public displays of affection, but she wanted to offer him an olive branch. She walked over and lifted her mouth to his, expecting a brief kiss. But Neil glanced over her head as she moved to kiss him. Something flickered in his eyes, and his arms snaked around her back, pulling her tight against him, his kiss all teeth and tongue, catching her off guard. When she tried to pull loose, he held her close for a couple seconds longer before finally lifting his head.
Several of the women squealed and tittered, but Blair’s face burned with embarrassment.
“Neil!” his mother shouted, throwing up her hands in disgust. “Look what you’ve done! You’ve gone and ruined your dress.”
“But I got the girl,” he said smugly, glancing back toward the deck again. “That’s all that really matters.”
It was only then that Blair realized Noah and Garrett were on the deck. They’d seen the whole thing. Garrett’s body was rigid, but he let Noah lead him to the patio area.
Neil had staged the entire thing to prove a point to Garrett. They saw her as the prize for a competition. Was that why Garrett was pressing her so hard? To get one up on his cousin? Anger simmered below the surface, but guilt rose above it, catching her by surprise. Sure she had reason to feel guilty over her kiss with Garrett, but strangely enough, her guilt was over the way Garrett was watching her now. He didn’t look like besting Neil was his end goal.
“Hot damn!” Gram shouted. “Somebody needs to hose that boy down!”
Debra gasped, grabbing her cat and shaking it. “One dollar!”
“WTF?” Gram asked, walking toward her.
“Gram!” Megan gasped, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
She looked back at her granddaughter. “What? Isn’t that what you kids say?”
Libby giggled. “Do you even know what WTF means, Gram?”
“Yeah. Wild turkey fun.”
The women burst out laughing. But Knickers was wringing her hands as she assessed the situation.
One of Blair’s old friends groaned. “What’s the point of doing this if Blair’s just going to pick her fiancé anyway?” Then, as if in agreement, everyone stopped decorating their models.
Knickers’s eyes were wild with dismay. She was used to running things her way, and everything she’d planned was going to shit. “Well, okay . . . We can move to the next game.”
Blair stifled a groan. She wasn’t sure how much more of this evening she could take. Especially with the way Neil was clinging to her.
Knickers grabbed several trash bags and handed them out. “Let’s clean up, and then we’ll start.” She turned to look at the new additions and frowned. “Even the men can play this one.”
The toilet paper was cleaned up within minutes, and now that everyone was listening to Megan’s mother, she seemed much more self-assured. She picked up a shallow bowl filled with small pieces of paper and pens. “Everyone sit down and take two pieces of paper and a pen.” She walked around with the bowl, allowing each guest to pick his or her own slips. “Answer the questions you’ve selected, and then we’ll put them into the bowl. I’ll read the answers out loud, and Blair will have to guess who wrote them.”
Blair couldn’t restrain her groan this time. This sounded like pure torture. She hadn’t seen half the women in this group since high school and early college, and she’d spent as little time as possible with Neil’s family.
Knickers heard her sound of dismay and flashed her a toothy smile. There was no way she was getting out of this. Part of Blair couldn’t help wondering if this was Megan’s mother’s way of seeking revenge for all the shit the three of them had given her over the years. Truth be told, Blair probably deserved it.
She sat dutifully in the tall stool Knickers had assigned her, watching as everyone scrawled down their responses. Some finished quickly, and Blair took note of who they were, hoping it would give her a better chance at guessing who had written the short answers. Neil kept looking up at her with playful eyes that caught her off guard. What was he doing? Their relationship had been many things over the last two years, but it had never been playful. Megan and Libby looked tense, splitting their attention between their assigned task and the two men who were vying for Blair’s attention.
Garrett. Her gaze landed on the man who made her want to forget about responsibility and just say to hell with it all. But she was scared. Garrett Lowry was about the furthest thing from a safe bet, and while Blair might play high stakes with her work, she always thought through every move carefully before making it, even if she appeared to do otherwise. There would be no safety net with Garrett. Yet watching him now, bent over his paper, still writing when everyone else had finished and handed their papers to Knickers, part of her wondered . . . what if?