Ava motioned him over to where she sat in the front of the room. Guests trickled in and took their seats, including their dad's home teacher from the last ten years, and his wife. Henry changed directions to walk over to shake his hand, but was deterred by the firm grasp his sister had on his arm.
"We have about thirty minutes to talk Dad out of doing this." She tried to drag him to a set of doors toward the front. "Let's go."
"Ava."
She whirled around and pointed at him, her eyes wild. "No. Don't you Ava me. We both know this is a mistake and I need your help to stop it."
Henry glanced at Tessa like she could do something to help. To his surprise, she leaned close to him, so close he caught his breath, and whispered, "Help your sister."
He turned his head so he could whisper back. "You think I should help her break up this wedding?"
Tessa shrugged and he turned his head so he could hear what she had to say, but mostly so he could feel her breath on his ear and against his neck. "I don't know if breaking up the wedding is the answer, but she's hurting."
Henry studied his sister closely. Her eyes were swollen and rimmed in red. Henry knew she was struggling with the idea of their dad getting married. She'd tried to get Henry to help her in her schemes to break up the wedding, but he'd been too busy with school and road show practices to do more than try to convince her that murder—even if she could make it look like an accident—was illegal in all fifty states. And he was once again reminded to never get on his sister's bad side.
"Are you done whispering yet?" Ava said.
Henry sighed. Why he'd thought they could have a drama-free wedding was beyond him. "I can't leave Tessa behind after bringing her here."
"She can keep Nate company."
"Who's Nate?"
Ava pointed at the back of a long-haired man sitting in the front row wearing bright blue head phones. A pile of used tissues sat at his feet.
Tessa's eyes widened, but she headed toward Ava’s date. "I'll be fine. Go find your dad."
He hesitated, but another yank from Ava had him following her into the back area of the hotel.
"Ava."
"You're doing it again," she said, rushing through the hallways. A moment later she knocked once and then opened a door, revealing their dad, who wore a tux similar to Henry's only with a white cummerbund instead of blue. His dad's face broke into a smile when Ava and Henry walked into the room.
"My children! I wish Adam was here too,” their dad said. Adam’s last email hadn’t even mentioned the wedding, and the glaring omission was a message in itself.
"You could wait for him to come home. Think this through a little more," Ava said. Tears filled her eyes.
"Oh, Ava." Dad pulled her into a hug, holding her longer this time, rocking back and forth. "I know this is hard for you. It means so much that you’re here." He beckoned Henry over with one hand, and he joined the circle hug. They'd never done anything like this before their mom died, but now it felt natural.
"Your mom would want me to get remarried. She knew I don’t do well alone."
Ava pulled back and the hug broke up. She swiped at her eyes. "You're doing great alone! We come and visit you, and you're happy!"
"But I'm lonely."
“Clarissa isn’t right for you.”
“She is, honey. You need to get to know her as a friend and not as a boss.”
“She’s awful, Dad! She yells at the interns and she makes sure she gets the best make-up artist and the best lighting so no one looks better than her.”
“None of us are perfect, Ava.”
“I’m forbidding this marriage!” she yelled.
Their dad closed his eyes, the way he used to when he had to search for patience after another one of Ava’s temper tantrums. She looked to Henry for support, and Henry couldn’t give it. Their dad had seemed happier in the last few weeks—smiling more and living life like he had purpose again. If it took Clarissa for those things to happen, then Henry could live with the bit of sadness he felt when he thought of his mom. Mom would have wanted Dad to be happy, and she would want Ava and Henry to support him.
Mostly convinced, he stood beside Ava. “Dad, are you really happy?”
“Yes. More than I’ve been in a long time.”
“Then we’ll find a way to get used to this.” Henry nudged Ava, who refused to look at either of them.
Their dad pulled Ava into a final hug, her body visibly stiff in his arms. “I don’t want to send you out there upset, honey.”
“Then don’t get married,” she pleaded.
“I love her,” their dad responded, kind but firm. “And I love you. Always.”
Ava’s arms finally went around their father. Henry hoped she’d get over this eventually. Life was too short to hold grudges. Their dad pulled back, and cleared his throat a few times. A sure sign that he was close to tears. "You two go take your seats before the ceremony starts." Sadness flitted through his eyes and Henry knew they needed to give their dad some time alone.
Ava looked like she was going to argue, but her phone buzzed and their dad used the distraction as an excuse to shut the door on them.
"Rude," Ava muttered. She pulled her phone out of the tiny purse she held and let out a sound of disgust after reading the text.
"What?" Henry asked.
"Our wicked step-mother wants to make sure we've arrived on time. Should I tell her Dad decided to call the whole thing off?" She ran her fingers over the screen with a deviant smile.
"Ava."
She let out a huff and let her screen go black. "Fine! But if you Ava me one more time tonight, I will not be responsible for what I do."
Henry slung his arm around her stiff shoulders, and walked her back into the assembly room.
Chapter 30
The ceremony went without a hitch, minus Ava’s date, Nate and his constant coughing and nose-blowing. Tessa scooted as far away from him as possible, but could almost feel herself breathing his germs. Still, when she could ignore the nasal symphony beside her, she fell in love with love while watching Mr. White and Clarissa stare into each other's eyes like they were the only two people in the room.
Once upon a time she thought she'd find her own perfect kind of love. She dreamed she’d get married in the temple to someone who wanted to be with her forever. That concept that now seemed so outside the realm of possibility, it would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. For a little while, she'd hoped Logan might be the one. Yet things were different between them now. Logan was trying hard to catch her, something she used to dream would happen, but on their date, her mind had wandered everywhere but their conversation. And thanks to Henry she had counted his winks all night. (Five.)
Could she be with someone she didn’t completely trust? Even if her family approved of him?
But was she strong enough to walk away from a man who was everything she’d always wanted?
Henry stood at the front beside his dad, handing him the ring when it was time. He looked so handsome Tessa had a difficult time not staring at him, trying to reconcile this man with the one she'd met a few months before. Everything about him looked different, except for those brilliant blue eyes that had drawn her in from the first time she'd noticed them. They weren't hidden behind huge, ugly glasses anymore, but they were still the same—friendly, intelligent, and often looking straight at her.
Once the ceremony was over, Mr. White snagged Henry and Ava for a few photographs before they left. Henry tossed Tessa his hundredth apologetic glance of the night and mouthed, Sorry.
I’m okay, she mouthed back. She was here as a favor to him, not as a real date. He didn't have to worry about her getting offended when he had to take care of wedding things. The murmur of the crowd rose as people stood and walked back through the double doors. Tessa recognized a few people from the local news station, but almost everyone was a stranger. After only a few minutes the room had emptied. Dinner would be served in twenty minutes, just enough time for
everyone to find their assigned spots and grab a drink from the open bar.
"We should head to the restaurant," she told Nate, whose eyes appeared glassy. What she had attributed to allergies before now seemed more severe. His cheeks were flushed, his nose red and chapped, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead even though the hairs on his arms were raised with goosebumps. "Are you sick?"
"Strep throat and fever of a hundred and three last time I checked." He closed his eyes and tipped his head back like he might fall asleep right there in front of the flowered archway.
Tessa held her breath as if would protect her from the last hour of sitting beside him. "Why are you here?"
"What?" He cracked an eye lid. "Me?"
She refrained from shaking him only by reminding herself he didn't feel well. "Yes. Why did you come to the wedding sick?"
"Ava. We have humanities together and she said she'd make me dinner for a week if I came."
"You probably should have backed out when you came down with strep!"
He held his head in his hands. "That's why she asked me in the first place. Told her I'd wait to go on the antibiotics until tonight when I get home."
Tessa's throat itched, and even though she knew it had to be mental, she coughed. An unappealing mound of tissues sat under the chair. The entire wedding video would have the sound of him blowing his nose over and over in it.
Why in the world would Ava pay a sick guy to come to her dad's wedding? Ava had been acting strange all evening. Not that Tessa knew her all that well, but instead of watching the couple getting married, she kept her eyes glued on the door like she was looking for someone.
"I've got to shake the old man's hand and hug the TV lady and then she'll take me home. And I'll have homemade dinners hand-delivered by a beautiful girl for a week."
"That's pathetic," Tessa said, but without fire. He stood with effort and followed her into the restaurant. The room buzzed with excited guests, talking and laughing with each other. Tessa wound her way to the front where she found her name beside Henry's. Long-stemmed red roses sat in a crystal vase in the middle of the table, accented by a white, silky tablecloth. Soft, romantic piano music drifted over the room.
Nate collapsed into his seat, which was right beside hers, of course.
"I'm going to call you a cab."
He laid his head beside his plate without argument.
It only took a few minutes to arrange for a cab company to send someone to pick him up in front of the Hotel Congress. They'd be about fifteen minutes, just long enough for Nate to infect everyone in the room. Lovely.
The crowd began clapping and Tessa stood up to see Mr. White and Clarissa walk into the room, holding hands, both with huge, cheek-breaking smiles. Ava and Henry followed, Ava frowning and Henry searching. When his gaze lit on hers, its intensity sent her heart racing. She placed a hand over the strong thrumming of her chest, willing it to slow down. He beelined over to her and sat down in the chair next to hers. "I'm so sorry I keep leaving you alone."
"That's okay. Me and Nate here have been getting to know each other." She hooked her thumb back to point at Nate, who had fallen asleep. His light snore was almost comical. "I called him a cab, so we'll need to get him to the lobby somehow in about ten minutes."
"Drunk already?"
Ava showed up at the table and set down her purse on Nate's other side. "He's sick."
"Why--"
"If I can't keep them from getting married, I can at least ruin the honeymoon."
Henry's lips turned into straight line. He woke Nate up by taking his arm and hauling him up from the table. "Let's go, buddy. Your ride is almost here."
"No." Ava pulled on his other arm. "He can't leave. Not yet."
"Ava." The warning in his tone even made Tessa pause. Ava's face turned so red it was almost purple, but she stood and followed while Henry practically dragged Nate from the restaurant. Tessa waited for dinner to arrive rather than get in the middle of their fight. Henry was nothing like her brother, she already knew that. Even angry, he wouldn't tear Ava down and embarrass her in front of everyone. She wished she had a brother like him.
But not him because that would be weird since they’d kissed. A kiss that wouldn’t leave her alone.
* * *
Henry rounded on his sister when Nate left, angrier than he’d been in a long time. It was one thing to complain, but it was another to actively sabotage their dad's wedding.
"You know how wrong that was, I hope."
"What's wrong is Dad marrying again! She's not a good person, Henry."
"Dad’s made his decision."
"He doesn't know her!" Ava stepped closer to him, her voice vehement. "I've worked with her for almost a year. She will push anyone down if it means getting ahead. All she thinks about is money. And did you know she's been married before?"
"So has Dad."
"Three times? Each one wealthier than the last."
Henry was starting to lose what little patience he had left. "You've got to be kidding me!" If she was going to marry someone for their money, it wouldn't be their dad. He did well for himself, but wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination.
"It's true!" She grabbed her hair, messing up the smooth hair style all of Clarissa's bridesmaids had done. "Dad's making a huge mistake."
"Maybe he is. But it's his mistake to make."
"I can't believe you're on their side."
Henry wanted nothing more than to go into the reception hall and sit beside his date, whom he'd had all of two minutes with since arriving at the hotel. "There are no sides, Ava. You can fight this all you want, but all you're going to do is put a wedge in your relationship with Dad. Is that what you want?"
She didn't respond.
He pulled her into a hug she didn't return. "I know this is hard, but it's going to work out. You'll see."
She pushed him away. "Henry, you are the most clueless person I've ever met." And with that, she fled from the hotel.
Henry almost couldn't believe she'd invited a sick guy to their dad's wedding, except he totally believed it. She had a good heart, but was so passionate and didn't always think things through before acting. She wanted what was best for their dad and couldn't see this might be it. Hopefully a little fresh air and some time with the street band outside would cool her down.
He walked back into the busy restaurant and paused to watch Tessa. She sat at the table with her half-eaten dinner in front of her, laughing at a story his dad told her and Clarissa. Her smile reached all the way to her eyes, something he loved. Loved. He shook his head.
He liked Tessa. He respected her. He thought she was beautiful in the way someone might admire a beautiful flower arrangement or the perfect construction of an insect’s exoskeleton. But that was as far as it could ever go. Because in too many ways, she was like Chelsea. She cared a lot about appearances, about what people thought of her, about worldly success. She set herself up to this impossible standard, and he'd never fit into the mold she constructed her world from.
He could take away the hair and glasses, and even put on a tux, but in the end, he was still a guy who studied insects for a living, who would always forget important dates and lose everything, and wanted someone who loved him the way he was.
She caught him watching and smiled uncertainly, making him wonder what kind of expression he was giving her. He smoothed out his features and walked toward her.
The DJ called out the first dance of the night. His dad took Clarissa's hand as the music began, and they shuffled across the floor in slow movements. Henry was almost relieved to see his dad still being himself. He'd half expected them to break out into ballroom dance moves, something suitable for this venue, but his dad's dancing would fit in better with fourteen year olds at the stake dance.
Henry leaned close to Tessa's ear, mostly an excuse to breathe her in. Just because they couldn't be together didn't mean he couldn't appreciate her flowery scent. "I promise I won't leave you alone again tonight.
"
She leaned back to look up at him, their faces inches from each other. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she teased, but it came out breathless. He sat beside her and dug into his dinner, starving. He had most of it finished before his dad's dance with Clarissa was over.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked as the DJ put on another song.
“Yes.” She linked her arm with his. His dad and Clarissa approached them at the edge of the dance floor. "Is Ava okay?" his dad asked.
"She will be," Henry said.
His dad frowned, but then Clarissa whispered something in his ear that turned the tips of his cheeks red, and he ushered her into another slow dance.
"I can't decide if I'm insanely jealous of them or if they make me sick," Tessa said, watching them hold each other close.
"Mine’s mostly the second," Henry replied. One song blended into the next, and Tessa wound up closer with each beat until her cheek rested on his shoulder, making it difficult to think past anything but how perfect she felt in his arms.
"Okay, everyone!" The DJ announced over the speakers, startling Tessa and Henry apart. His arms ached with the instant emptiness of not having her close. "Please gather in the back for the cutting of the cake."
People moved in a slow horde toward the cake, but Henry and Tessa stayed on the dance floor. Something was happening between them. Something undeniable. But they were both going to ignore it.
Henry spotted Ava sitting at their table, drinking a soda, and was glad she'd cooled off enough to return.
The door to the reception hall slammed against the wall only feet away from where Henry and Tessa stood, and a disheveled man in jeans and a plaid shirt stood in the doorway. His grayish blonde hair hung wildly over bloodshot eyes, and his skin was lined with red veins like he'd been drinking for years.
"Where is she?" he slurred. "Where's Clarissa?"
Henry shot Tessa a concerned glance before approaching the man. "Sir, let’s step outside."
One Little Kiss (Christian Romance) Page 16