My Ex Hired Me to Ruin Her Sister's Wedding novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Correction

Dylan's father wanted a word on the Treadwell terrace, in front of nine witnesses.

He wanted it politely.

"We've heard such good things about your work, Jo," he said, holding a glass of iced tea he had not touched.

"Dylan tells me you're a friend of Priya's sister."

"I used to be."

"Good. Then you understand the family situation. There have been a few delays, a few small changes, and my wife is concerned."

"The florist had an emergency."

"I'm sure." He smiled. "I'd like to say that I take a personal interest in this wedding. Two families, two businesses. It's very important that it happens on Saturday."

"It will be a Saturday," I said.

His smile did not change at all.

Behind him, through the glass doors, Priya was standing with Dylan beside a table of gifts.

Dylan was fixing her collar.

He did it lightly.

As he fussed with the lace, I heard his voice come through the open door.

"Babe, you spilled on your sleeve."

"It's just iced tea."

"It's noticeable. Go change into something else, I'll find you a shirt."

"I'm fine, Dylan."

"You don't mean that."

He said it so gently.

He said it in front of his mother, and four aunts, and a table of people holding sandwiches.

Priya's face did not move at all, except that for one half of a second her eyes went to me.

Across the terrace, and what was in them made my ribs ache.

"All right," she said. "I'll change."

She went inside with him.

I stood on the terrace with his father's smile on me.

"Do you have any more questions, Jo?" the old man said.

"No, sir," I said. "I think I've learned everything I came for."

I drove her home to Allandale at four.

She sat in the Bronco's passenger seat in the borrowed shirt, with her hands in her lap, and she said nothing for twelve minutes.

Cass was out at a hardware store buying duct tape for some scheme.

The house was empty.

Priya let us in through the kitchen, and then she stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"He does that all the time," she said. "Fixes me. In front of people."

"I know."

"I used to think it was love. That he paid so much attention."

"Come here."

She came.

I kissed her at the bottom of the staircase, hard, with both my hands in her hair and the pins coming loose.

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