Page 7 of Another June with You
“I seriously had to buy bigger jeans after the way she fed us that Christmas.” He winked at her.
That Christmas was probably her favorite of any Christmas ever. There had been something so magical about being with him and having him there with her family.
Her thoughts turned somber. “We lost Papi about five years ago.”
“I heard. I’m so sorry. I thought about coming back for the funeral, but I couldn’t get away.”
She waved it off. “Oh, that’s fine. Thanks for thinking of us, though.”
He gave her a sweet, sympathetic smile.
“You should stop by and say hello to Nana,” Shannon told him. “She would love to see you.”
He shifted his eyes away from hers. “Maybe.”
Too much, Shannon. She wished she could keep her mouth shut sometimes. It was true, Nana would love to see him after all these years. But then, she hadn’t really explained to her grandmother what happened with her and Micah, and she would rather not rehash the past, so maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all.
“Hey, did your dad ever find any of his family in Scotland? I remember he was on a search for them.”
She nodded. “A few cousins. I know Dad would love to get to Scotland one of these days to meet them. Especially now that Papi’s gone.”
Micah’s phone suddenly buzzed on the table.
Shannon couldn’t help but notice the name on the screen—Autumn.
He glanced over at her, quickly snatching the phone as he stood and answered. “Hey.” He wandered across the room to talk.
Autumn must be his fiancée. Or soon-to-be fiancée. Her heart sank at the thought, but it served her right after the way she had left things between them. Seeing him again after all these years and knowing he would never be hers was an excruciating torture that she deserved. Even worse would be seeing the two of them together. But she would have to get over it. Autumn would most certainly be joining him for the wedding, and Shannon wondered how soon she would be arriving. Was she pretty? Did she make him happy? Her mind spun out of control. What if they wanted a picture taken together? How humiliating that would be to photograph her ex with his girlfriend. She imagined lifting the camera, peering through the viewfinder, seeing the two of them gazing into each other’s eyes with complete and utter love. A wave of nausea moved through her body. She took a drink of water, praying the little bit of food she’d eaten wouldn’t come back up.
When Micah returned to the table, she smiled politely, still pushing down the queasiness in her stomach.
“Sorry. Work call.”
Was that the truth? Had she jumped to conclusions? Was Autumn really a work colleague? The only way she would know for sure was to ask. “Uh, who’s—”
The clinking of glasses interrupted her question, and she turned to see the happy couple kissing again. She yanked her camera from her lap and fired off a few shots of them at close range. She checked the image on the back of her camera.
“Nice.” Micah had leaned forward to see the photo and was so close his breath tickled her neck.
She swallowed hard as she turned her head to look at him, and he backed slowly away. “It helps that they’re a good-looking couple.”
“There’s always that,” Micah replied with a smile.
“Awww, thanks, Shannon.” Keely had obviously overheard them.
She and Chase moved to the other tables to mingle with their guests, and Shannon scooted her chair out and looked at Micah. “I should really get back to work.”
“Oh, sure.” He motioned toward her camera. “Don’t let me keep you.”
She stood and gathered her equipment, then pushed the chair back in. “It was nice catching up a little.”
“Yeah, it was.”
It took extreme focus to make her feet move away from the table—away from him—but she lifted her camera and snapped a few pictures of Chase and Keely chatting with guests and got back in the groove of photographing the remainder of the event.
When the meal concluded and the event began to wrap up, Shannon hung around until mostly bridal party members and immediate family remained.
“So, we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon for the bridal shower, right?” Keely asked as she gave Shannon a tight hug.
