“And I’m not one of your typically scheduled brides. I’ve got this, Honor. I’ll handle it.”
“We’ll all handle it,” their mom said. “As a family. It’s not one person’s job, Honor. It’s not just your job. It’s all of ours. Understood?”
“Yes, Mom,” Honor said.
“Hey,” Erin said. “When we meet on Monday I’ll astound you with my wedding checklist. You’ll see how much I’ve already got checked off. Jason and I are nailing down cakes and a deejay this weekend.”
Mom looked from Erin back to Honor. “See? Not just your job.”
Honor raised her hands in acquiescence. “Fine. Okay. I can see you do, in fact, have this, Erin.”
Erin smiled. “Good. So stop stressing over me. I’m not doing this alone. I not only have all of you, I have Jason, who for some reason is totally pumped about wedding planning.”
Brenna grinned. “Because he’s crazy in love with you.”
“He is. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Not so amazing,” Mom said. “It’s what you deserve.”
Erin laid her head on their mom’s shoulder. “I love you.”
They ate dinner, which was another amazing thing because who knew dress shopping could work up such an appetite? Brenna cleaned her entire plate of salmon and asparagus tips, then had cheesecake for dessert. By the time they got back to the house, she needed to walk off dinner. She hugged Erin, who had to leave for home, then went upstairs and changed out of her dress and into a pair of shorts and a tank top before slipping into her tennis shoes. Even though the sun had set, it was still oppressively hot. There was no breeze and the humidity was high. It wasn’t even like she was moving at a fast clip, just needing to walk.
She’d meant to discuss her ludicrous fake fiancé plan with her mom and her sisters tonight, but they’d been so busy discussing everything else, it hadn’t come up.
Or maybe she was just a coward, and the whole idea was stupid and she should give it up.
She should do just that. Forget the thought of pretending to have a fiancé, and go about her business as a successful single woman. Finn had been the one to suggest that, and he was probably right.
Though she could already picture Allison’s smug expression that she’d have to live with for four freaking days. Brenna had been married to Mitchell before. She knew from experience that he wasn’t someone to brag about.
Still, they’d been divorced for four years. What exactly had Brenna done with her life since then?
Not much. She’d moved back home, where she still lived. She worked at the winery, which she’d been doing when she was married to Mitchell. And . . . and . . .
And nothing.
She looked around at her surroundings, realizing that for some reason she’d ended up at Finn’s place. His lights were on, so he must be home. She hesitated, thought about turning around and heading back to the house. Just as she did, she caught sight of him walking up the path from the other side. She couldn’t exactly hide from him since he’d already seen her, so she continued her walk, hoping he wouldn’t think she’d been coming to his place. Which maybe she subconsciously had been for reasons she couldn’t fathom.
“Out for a stroll?” he asked as he stopped in front of her.
“Yes. I had a big dinner that I’m walking off.”
“I hope you didn’t have a date. I frown on my fiancée going out with other men.”
She rolled her eyes. “Funny. I went shopping for a wedding dress for Erin.”
“Jason told me they moved up the wedding. It’ll be tight.”
“We’ll get it handled.”
“I have no doubt.”
She looked at him, realizing he had a rifle at his side. “What are you doing? Squirrel hunting?”
“No. Taking a walk. I heard some noises out by the pond so I took the rifle to check it out.”
She peeked around him. They sometimes got trespassers since their property butted up against public land where hunters or kids might wander. “Find anything?”
“No. But I’ll keep an eye out.”
Brenna knew the family liked having Finn on this side of their land because he kept an eye on potential trespassers. He’d already run off teens several times who’d come out to party in the woods. Nothing like a tall, lean, but well-muscled badass carrying a rifle to scare the bejeezus out of you and keep you from thinking of ever doing it again.
“It’s a good hiding place to hang out,” she said as she continued to walk.
Finn slung the rifle over his shoulder and walked with her. “Yeah? You’ve been there?”
She shrugged. “I did my share of partying there when I was a teen.”
“In the woods. Over there.”
“Of course. Didn’t have to leave the family property, and it was easy to sneak my friends in over the property fence. Plus . . . easy access to wine.”
He slanted a grin at her. “Aren’t you the sly one?”
She shrugged. “I had my moments. And some fun. Until the night Dad caught us.”
“I definitely want to hear that story.”
They had made their way to the pond. There was a bench with a comfortable back, so they took a seat there. She was glad she remembered to put bug spray on before she left the house so she wouldn’t get eaten up by mosquitoes.
“I was seventeen. It was me and William, the boy I was dating, then my friend Rachel and her boyfriend, Oliver, and four other friends. I snuck three bottles of chardonnay from the cellars and stored them in an ice chest in the woods, then met my friends at the fence. They climbed over and we ate chips and drank the wine, laughed and had a great time. Got totally blitzed on that chardonnay, too. And then Rachel and Oliver decided they wanted to go skinny-dipping in the pond.”
He motioned with his head. “This one?”
She nodded. “Yes. I didn’t think that was a good idea since the moon was full and it was too light out, but we were all drunk so we decided to go for it. I was down to my underwear when Dad walked to the edge of the pond.”
“Oh, Christ. What happened?”
“Everyone grabbed their clothes and scattered, including William, leaving me standing there to face my dad, alone in my underwear.”
Finn winced. “That had to be awkward.”
“Like you would not believe. He turned away from me and told me to get dressed, then he walked with me to pick up the bottles of wine we’d left in the woods. He informed me that I owed him for the wine, and he wanted to know the names of everyone who’d been there with me besides William and Rachel, both of whom he already knew. I wasn’t about to snitch on my other friends.