“He did what?” Dani dropped the wedding gown she was trying on and it pooled around her ankles in a sea of satin and lace. “He punched Jackson?”

“Don’t freak out,” Clay insisted.

“Don’t freak—oh my God! Is he okay?” Her mom gathered up the gown, pulling it up and over her boobs. “Mason punched Jackson,” she repeated to Gabby, holding the gown in place with her free hand as Gabby began to fasten the hundred-plus ridiculously tiny buttons in the back. Gabby met her gaze in the mirror and Dani gasped. “You knew! And you didn’t tell me?”

“Your dads called me early this morning,” Gabby confirmed with an exasperated sigh. “It was a misunderstanding. I didn’t want you to freak out and ruin today.”

“I’m not freaking out.” Dani jerked away from her mom’s reach and paced out of the dressing room. “I’m pissed and embarrassed, and-and not even completely shocked, but I’m not freaking out.”

“I can hear you pacing, beautiful,” Clay laughed.

“Yeah. So?” Dani snipped into the phone, pulling at the top of the heavy gown to keep it in place. The dress slipped again when she reached for her purse, nearly flashing everyone in the store. “Ugh!”

Chloe handed her the purse as Breezy stepped around behind her to hold up the yards of fabric while she searched for the mini bottle of Jack Daniels Molly’d slipped her earlier. Best maid-of-honor ever. When she didn’t find it, she glanced up at Molly, who held the empty bottle between her fingers.

“Sorry,” she mouthed with a wince.

“So…” Clay chuckled. “You pace when you freak out.”

Dani rolled her eyes. She’d known better than to let them go to Texas alone. “What happened?”

Clay told her about Jackson skipping dinner and coming in late with a random buckle bunny he’d picked up at his dad’s girlfriend’s bar on the way home. “Mason thought it was me, but don’t worry—“

“He thought you were making out with someone else right down the hall from where they were sleeping?” The boutique owner turned and gave her a curious look, and Dani cringed.

“Don’t worry, baby. We worked it out.”

“He accused you of cheating on me?”

“No, not after he figured it out.”

“Of course. He just thought you were.” And then punched his brother in the face, thinking it was him. She sank down onto the bench beside the dressing room, the gown tangling around her feet. She kicked at the heavy satin but it was no use. No matter how much her mom loved it, there was no way she’d ever wear the dress.

“I won’t lie.” Clay chuckled again. “I did get some twisted satisfaction this morning when Jackson stumbled into the kitchen with a busted lip.”

“This isn’t funny,” Dani snapped. She couldn’t believe Mason would lose it like that. Grey, maybe, but not Mason. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he insisted. “Like I said, we talked through it. And, in a weird way, I think it helped settle things between us.”

“It did?” How the heck could punching Clay’s brother in the face have helped?

“Yep. He even bought me breakfast this morning.”

“Men are so weird,” Dani scoffed.

“And yet, you’re about to marry one.”

She looked down at the ring on her finger, Clay’s mother’s ring, and grinned.

“What are you wearing?” he asked with a flirty timbre that always made her stomach flutter.

The weight of the gown seemed to grow with the reminder, and she blew out a strangled breath as she looked down at the miles of frills and miniscule beads. “A wedding dress,” she grumbled and started to stand, but without someone holding the back, the dress slipped again.

“The dress?”

“God no,” she said without hesitation. She’d suffocate before she reached the alter. “Can’t we just wear jeans?” she asked with a huff.

“No!” Gabby objected from across the boutique as she browsed through a display of lacy veils.

Clay laughed. “Was that your mom?”

“Yes.”

“Who else is there?”

“Everyone,” she snipped. It was a good thing the small boutique was by appointment only, because they’d be breaking any number of fire codes if someone else came in.

“What are you wearing under the dress?” he asked huskily.

Breezy and Chloe grinned at her like two mules eating a cactus, and heat flooded her cheeks.

“C’mon,” he pleaded when she didn’t reply. “Just a hint.”

“Clay.” She clutched the front of the gown and paced back into the dressing room.

“Please?”

“No.” She couldn’t play this game in front of her family.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his tone equally concerned and confused. “You sound tired.”

I am tired. She stared at herself in the full-length mirror, the glamour lights above highlighting the very unglamorous dark circles beneath her eyes.

“You stayed up all night studying, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted freely, stifling back a yawn. She’d stayed up late studying every night. “My tests are only two weeks away and I haven’t looked at half the material.”

Stuffing a year’s worth of courses into only a few weeks was a lot harder than she thought it would be. She was beginning to doubt her promise to her dads to finish school before the wedding. Pushing the wedding back was out of the question now that the invitations were mailed, and she didn’t want to do that anyway. Since his episode after dinner the previous week, Uncle Cade seemed to be going downhill fast and he had to be there.

“Babe—”

“I’m not overdoing it,” she rushed to cut him off.

“Yes, you are, but—”

“I’m fine.”

“I know,” he conceded, derailing her next argument. “You can do this.”

Dani’s brows dipped. “I can?” Was he agreeing with her?

Clay chuckled. “Damn straight, you can. You’re the smartest, strongest, most stubborn woman I know.”

Dani rolled her eyes despite her grin. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Only speakin’ the truth.”

Her stomach fluttered when she heard his flirty grin.

“You can do this, beautiful.”

The knots in Dani’s shoulders released their relentless grip and she leaned back against the dressing room wall with a sigh.

“Are you going to the airport to pick up your dads later?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She pushed to her feet and faced the mirror again. She turned and considered the low-cut back that dipped all the way to her hips. Clay would appreciate that. The dress was pretty, but it just wasn’t her. “We have two more appointments, and then we’ll pick them up after lunch.”

“Good,” Clay said. “I sent something I thought you’d like.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said, and she could almost see him wink.

“You know I hate surprises.”

“Oh, I think you’ll like this one.”

A flare of excitement bloomed in her chest. “Is it you?” Please say it’s you. She’d missed him so damn much since his last visit. Several times since he’d left she’d had to stop herself from getting in her truck and driving to the airport to catch the next flight to Texas.

“I’m not telling you.”

“Please?” She tried for the pouty effect, but it didn’t quite hit the mark thanks to the mile-wide smile on her face she couldn’t contain at the mere thought of seeing him.

“I love you,” he said, “but I have to go.”

She looked at her phone to check the time. Her dads would be boarding their flight soon. She knew it wouldn’t happen, but she couldn’t help but imagine him walking through the gate with them. “I love you, too. I miss you.”

“Miss you, too,” he replied in a rush. “I’ll call you later.”

“Bye.”