Violet’s eyes went wide and she pretty much froze at his question.
Not quite the reaction I was hoping for…
“Um…what?”
Hunter almost took the invitation back but figured it was already out there. “Yeah, so my brother Dean is getting married in two weeks and I’d like you to be my date.”
“But…” She paused and cleared her throat. “Aren’t you in the bridal party or something?”
Nodding, he said, “I am, but it’s not a big, formal thing. Not really. The whole thing is being held at my sister Scarlett’s house. She and her husband have a brand-new place on the sound–like right on the water–and the ceremony and reception are going to be held there.”
“Oh…well, sure,” she said, smiling. “I should probably add that as long as Katie’s not in labor, I’ll be there because…”
“I know,” he said, feeling extremely relieved. He had worried he’d have to try harder to convince her. “How’s she feeling? Any more Braxton Hicks issues?”
“Nothing like she experienced the first week I was here, thankfully. But I think she’s seriously ready to give birth. Like if Brian were home, she’d be doing everything humanly possible to induce labor.”
“I’m sure. Those last weeks are the worst.”
“Eli’s mom felt the same way?”
“She was miserable throughout the entire pregnancy, so there was no real difference,” he said, hoping he sounded amused and not resentful. “But I saw it with Scarlett and with multiple expectant mothers I’ve encountered as part of the EMT squad.”
“She’s got the house to herself tonight and is supposed to FaceTime with Brian. I teased her about it being sexy time, and she shot me down. Of course, there’s the possibility she didn’t want to share that with me…”
“Are you trying to tell me the two of you don’t talk about things like that? Because I find that hard to believe.”
With a knowing smirk, she looked him in the eye. “Are you really sure you want to know? Because now that we’re involved, it would mean we would have talked about you too.”
There was no mirror to confirm or deny it, but Hunter was pretty sure he seriously paled. “Um…yeah. No. Never mind.” Jumping to his feet, he quickly looked around and scrambled to change the subject. “So, uh…are you hungry? I thought we’d go out and get something to eat–maybe go to the Sand Bar or something.”
Standing, she walked toward him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Smart man. And yes, I am definitely hungry.”
He had warred with himself about whether to go out to eat or to get takeout or even to grill up some burgers, mainly because he didn’t want any intrusions on their time alone. As it was, they hardly had any, and the thought of wasting any of it going out to a restaurant wasn’t all that appealing. Then he realized he didn’t want Violet to feel like he only wanted to see her for sex.
Sometimes it was damn hard having a conscience.
The drive into town didn’t take long, and they happened to luck out with a short wait for a table. The place was as crowded as it usually was, and as Hunter looked around, he saw a lot of familiar faces. He waved and smiled as they walked to their table, but stopped when he spotted his brother Dean waving them over.
“Who’s that?” Violet asked.
“Dean and Courtney. I’ll just go over and say hello real quick. I’ll meet you at the table.”
“Oh, uh…”
Yeah, it was kind of a dick move, but he wasn’t in the mood to share Violet with anyone tonight. So he quickly wove through the tables and smiled at his brother and future sister-in-law. “Hey, guys.”
Courtney looked beyond him. “Did you seriously just ditch your date to come over here?”
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Violet sitting in the booth, chatting with the waitress. “Uh…maybe? Sort of.” He looked back at them. “Date night, and we don’t get a lot of time to ourselves, so…”
“Why don’t you join us?” Dean asked, grinning.
“Baby,” Courtney said sweetly. “He just said…”
“Hunter, come on, man!” his brother said with a disapproving look. “Go over there and get her and then join us.”
“We really only have this one night to…”
“Although, your booth is roomier than our table, so why don’t we join you?” And before Hunter could utter a protest, Dean and Courtney were on their feet and heading toward Violet.
By the time Hunter joined them, Violet was laughing and smiling, and he was having a hard time being annoyed with his family.
Sliding into the booth beside her, Hunter put his arm around Violet. “So, this is my brother Dean and his fiancé, Courtney.” And then wanted to smack the smile off his brother’s face. “I guess they’re joining us.”
“You’re getting married soon, right?”
“Yes, we are!” Courtney replied excitedly.
The conversation immediately went into talk of wedding plans, followed by how they’d met. Not that it was a particularly exciting of a story–Courtney was his sister’s best friend. She’d been coming to their house since she and Scarlett were in kindergarten. For the life of him, he didn’t get why she loved telling that story so much, but…she did.
They ordered food and Violet answered all kinds of questions about her travel business. No matter what destination Courtney and Dean threw at her, she had information about it.
“So, where are you going on your honeymoon?” Violet asked.
“Well, Dean is not big on travel,” Courtney began, and Hunter and his brother shared a look that essentially said, “Because it’s not a big deal.” Not that anyone noticed. “We were going to go on a cruise, but neither of us felt it was the right choice. So after what felt like months of looking at options, we finally agreed on Sanibel Island down in Florida. Dean’s shop is under construction, so we didn’t want to be away too long. We’re basically only going for a long weekend…”
“Five days, actually,” Dean clarified. “But we hope to take another trip next year to Hawaii.”
“Wow,” Violet said, comfortably leaning into his side. “I would have imagined you’d pick something that wasn’t beachy considering you live at the beach already.”
“Yeah, we thought of that too, but we both just love it so much.” Courtney smiled at Dean before resting her head on his shoulder. “It’s our happy place.”
“It’s hard to argue with that,” Violet commented. “And when you’re ready to plan, if you need any help, you can always reach out and give me a call. I can find you some amazing deals.”
“Ooo! Thank you! I totally will!”
After that, their food was served, the conversation flowed, and Hunter begrudgingly admitted to himself how it was nice to hang out with another couple.
Too bad this will probably be the only time…
He refused to let that thought take hold, and by the time they were all walking out to their cars and saying they should do it again sometime, he simply agreed. No reason to remind everyone how this was temporary.