Page 57 of Father of the Bride
“What do you think?” she said.
“They seem really nice. All gorgeous. Yall must be quite the attraction when you go out together.”
Brooklyn smiled at that. “I’m the first one to get married. They think I’m gonna turn boring, or that Dav is gonna put a leash on me.”
“Well…you’ll obviously be spending more of your time at home, but I don’t see where you’d need to have a leash on you.”
Brooklyn swallowed hard. “Me and my girls go out. A lot.”
“What’s a lot?”
“Every weekend. And a few times a week.”
Sunny felt exhausted just listening to that.
“Friends are important,” she said slowly. “But when you marry, you should be spending more time with your husband than your friends.”
“I know.” Brooklyn sighed. “It’ll be fine.”
Sunny nodded, her eyebrow raised as she took note of the fact that Brooklyn didn’t sound too sure.
She locked eyes with Davion, putting herself right back in suspicion mode. Was he squinting at her? Did he look mad? Not really, but it was hard to tell. He’d been sour for most of the trip.
She smiled sweetly at her son and busied herself with stacking pancakes onto her plate.
She heard the sound of Mark’s voice somewhere behind her. Resisting the urge to turn and stare at him was a herculean task, but she managed. Just barely.
“Which one of those bridesmaids do you think is in my league?”
Sunny turned to Amari, rolling her eyes. “Not a one,” she said. “You’re gonna need about ten more years and six figures if you wanna talk to one of those girls.”
Amari sucked his teeth. “I got game, though. Mama, you’re supposed to encourage me.”
She chuckled as she grabbed three pieces of bacon and rested them next to the pancakes. “It’s not my fault they’re baddies.”
Amari shook his head. “Don’t ever say that again, Mama.”
“Why? I’m a baddie too!”
His lip curled in disgust before he walked away.
Sunny was pouring on the syrup when a quiet, deep voice sounded in her ear.
“You damn sure are. Baddest in the room, and it ain’t even close.”
She shivered, smiling from ear to ear, but she knew better than to turn around. Someone could be watching.That personcould be watching.
Sunny found her place setting—next to Davion, and diagonal to Mark, who sat at the head of the table—and took her seat, hoping and praying Orion stayed wherever he was at the moment. It was so peaceful without him here.
“You okay?” she asked Davion. “You look stressed.”
He popped the last of his cherry danish into his mouth. “I’m cool.”
“After last night, I just thought—“
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” he snapped, which caught Mark’s attention. “Respectfully.”
She studied his profile, wondering again if he was the mysterious watcher from the night before.
