Page 5 of Father of the Bride
“Of course not. You have her cake and you’re eating mine, too.”
“Whatever, Sunny. You so mean to me.”
“As I should be.” She stood and threw her purse over her shoulder. “Truthfully, I just don’t care about a relationship. This is good enough a few times a month. Everything else just feels like too much work.”
“Yeah, yeah. You just tryna keep that body count low.”
“Shut up.”
He laughed at his own joke. He’d been her first, and as far as he knew, her only. She had plenty of wiggle room, body-count wise, but he didn’t want to put ideas in her head.
“I guess I’ll see you in South Carolina,” she said as she came to a stop at his bedroom door.
“You will. Safe travels, baby.”
“Don’t call me that. Those days are over.”
He watched her sashay out of his bedroom, calling out, “If you say so.”
And he meant that.
There was a world in which he could have his wife and his sons back. It wouldn’t be exactly the same, but it was surely better than this.
All he had to do was convince Sunny to come back to him.
Chapter 3
Wednesday:Threedaysuntilthe wedding
Brooklyn Angelique Bennett came shooting into the world during a tornado.
Mark had never been so scared in his entire life, because as a man who prided himself on being a protector and provider, he was faced with two simultaneous events that were completely outside of his control. All he could do was reassure Alayna and pretend everything was fine. Thankfully, in the end, it was.
The hospital sustained serious damage, but little Brooklyn was perfect. She was so serene. She barely made a sound.
Now, she tore around the villa like an EF5, barking orders at anyone who would listen. Her brothers weren’t on that list, but her daddy sure was. He watched her cycle between ranting, staring wistfully into space, and frantically texting, her fingers flying a mile a minute.
“Would you please calm down?” he finally said after he noticed what appeared to be her hyperventilating.
She looked up at him and poked her bottom lip out. “It’s my wedding!”
“We’re all aware,” Mark said. “Most of all, me.”
She stopped moving long enough to give Mark the puppy dog eyes he’d never been able to refuse.
“Daddy, you know I’m grateful. You know that, right?”
“I do.”
“Good.” She plopped herself down on the champagne colored chaise lounge Alayna had insisted on getting for the sitting room despite having two dirty boys running around. “No matter how stressed out and irritable I get this week, please know I appreciate everything.”
He sighed. “What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing, right now. But…” she trailed off, pulling out her iPad. “Dav’s family will be here any minute. I’ll let you know when they’re pulling up so we can go out and greet them.”
“And you’ve never met these people before?”
She ran her finger across the touch screen. “I met his mom over the phone. I’ve hung out with his brothers. I told you that, remember?”
