Chapter 5

CHAPTER

FIVE

TREY

I t took fourteen months of planning to get to the moment where the string quartet struck up a waltz and I got to have my first dance with my husband.

Fourteen months, not counting the almost ten years since I'd been told I had to share a room at Alpha Tau with Scout Talbot-Smith. Scout Talbot-Smith, who never cracked a smile. Scout Talbot-Smith, who was so white that the Inuit had fifty different names for him. Scout Talbot-Smith, who was so tightly buttoned up... right until he wasn't.

I smiled at him as we moved across the ballroom, the chandeliers leaving glittering shards of light on the floor.

Until today, I would have said that unbuttoning Scout Talbot-Smith had been the greatest achievement of my life. But actually marrying him blew that out of the water. And I knew Scout felt the same, because right now he was smiling, and he was gonna hate himself in the morning for that. Not that Scout didn't smile—he smiled plenty when he was with me. Laughed, too. It was just that he didn't usually do it publicly .

We moved in time to the string quartet, the hours of dance lessons we'd taken at Mrs. Talbot-Smith's insistence paying off as we glided around the dance floor, and if in my head I was still chanting ‘one, two, three' so I didn't make Scout look like an idiot, well that was nobody's business but mine.

The music changed as the waltz ended, and our moms cut in.

"Scout, you're smiling ," Mrs. Talbot-Smith said before they moved away.

My mom smiled up at me. Her eyes shone. "Baby, I'm so proud of you!"

"Momma, you said you wouldn't cry," I teased.

"Oh, that ship has sailed, Treyvon! The moment I saw you standing up in that church, I was a goner! Your daddy too."

My family was demonstrative when it came to big occasions, unlike Scout's family, who, if you were on your deathbed, would probably offer you a nod and a firm handshake. I'd caught Mrs. Talbot-Smith dabbing at the corner of her eye with a lace handkerchief during the service though, so maybe my mom had rubbed off on her during all those Saturday morning brunches at the country club.

"Archer's speech was so lovely," Momma said, and then her brow creased. "Marty's speech was..."

"Not scheduled," I said. Like most of Marty's speeches, it had been free-ranging and made a lot of leaps in logic that were difficult to follow. You would never have guessed the man was a lawyer; how the hell he put a brief together, let alone spoke in a courtroom, was a mystery. I was just glad he hadn't told everyone how he'd been the first person to know that Scout and I were together back in college. I had a feeling that wouldn't have been G-rated.

"Well, it was heartfelt," Momma said. "And his babies are so cute!"

"Mmm-hmm," I said. That was a hint if I ever heard one, and I wasn't going to take the bait today. "If you want grandbabies, you need to talk to Tamika."

"Did I mention grandbabies?" Momma said, all innocence. " I just said Marty's children are adorable. You're the one who brought up grandbabies."

"Mmm-hmm," I said again, and Momma's innocent expression dissolved into giggles. We both knew Scout and I had no intention of starting a family any time soon, but that didn't stop Momma teasing me about it—mainly because I could bet five dollars that Scout and his mother were having the same conversation right now, only she was serious. I would have thought that Bax and Mak's three kids were enough to keep her happy.

Marty's kids were hella cute, but it wasn't a decision we were going to make today, or for at least a few more years, whatever our moms thought about it. They could complain about it at next week's brunch.

The photographer snapped a few pictures of me and my mom dancing, then moved on to Scout and his mom. Scout caught my eye over his mom's shoulder and flashed me a grin, eyes bright.

The ballroom looked like something out of a fairytale, in shades of white and gold, which was all down to Briar and his impeccable sense of style. Although the Talbot-Smiths and their checkbook had a lot to do with that as well. I didn't even want to think about what all this had cost, but it was all part of marrying into a family like the Talbot-Smiths. Things had to be done a certain way. Half of Richmond high society was here tonight, and the other half wished they were.

But mostly, even though it was by far the best day of my life so far, I was relieved it was over. No more looking at color swatches or seating plans or guest lists. No more tasting menus or location visits or suit fittings. The past fourteen months had been stressful as hell, despite Briar's efforts to insulate us from the worst of it, and I couldn't be happier that the wedding part was over and the marriage part was just beginning. Because that's the part I'd signed up for. Every day of the rest of my life with Scout.

When the music ended, Scout and I found each other again. More people joined us on the dance floor, and, for the first time today, the spotlight was off us at last. I let out a breath it felt I'd been holding for hours, and Scout did the same. He gazed up at me, leaned in close, and whispered, "The carpet in here looks like someone threw up on it."

I let out a startled laugh. He wasn't wrong. The carpet was the sort of design that was only ever seen at really expensive venues, colored with splashes of red and gold in garish swirling patterns that spoke of more money than taste. "It's ugly as hell," I agreed. "Lucky I've got your pretty face to look at instead."

Scout's smile widened. "You're such a sap."

"Maybe. But you still married me."

God, that still seemed surreal. Scout and I were married.

My smile was as big as his.

The night passed in what felt like a whirlwind of greeting relatives and friends and accepting their congratulations, and saying, over and over again, "We have to catch up!" before moving onto the next person. At some point I realized I'd lost track of Scout, and couldn't see him anywhere in the ballroom.

I ducked my way through the clusters of people talking, past the tables where ladies sat with their high heels off—a sign the night was drawing to a close—and dodged a server with a tray of drinks as I left the room. The wide hallway led back to reception, but my attention was caught by the door off the side to the gardens. There was a gazebo out there where we'd had some photographs taken earlier.

I stepped outside into the cool night air, closing my eyes and taking a moment to just breathe. Then I followed the lights along the path to the gazebo, and discovered Scout lurking there in the darkness, a wreath of smoke curling around his head.

"Just like old times," I said, climbing the steps to join him.

"Hmm. It was more fun when I was twenty."

I put my arm around him and pressed a kiss to his temple. "Where did you even get weed?"

"Bought it off one of the servers."

"Are you gonna share?" I asked.

"I believe that you're legally entitled to half my weed now that we're married." He passed the joint over.

"The crowd was getting to you, huh?"

Scout let out a weary sound, and nodded. "I just needed some alone time."

"Alone time?"

"Not from you." His fingers brushed against mine. "Not ever. What time can we leave this thing anyway?"

"Ten p.m., according to Briar's schedule."

"We're paying him though. We can do what we want."

"We sure can. And then Grandma Talbot-Smith can party the night away with our fraternity brothers, just like the last Talbot-Smith wedding we went to."

Scout laughed under his breath. "She's on her second plastic hip. You'd think she'd slow down at some point."

"Grandma loves to dance."

Scout laughed again, and took the joint back. "She's not the only one."

"Is that so?" I pulled him into my arms and swayed us from side to side.

He turned so I was the big spoon, keeping one hand on mine where they joined in front of his abdomen and holding the joint away with the other. We stayed like that, moving in time to the faint strains of music that were filtering out from inside the ballroom.

Archer was the first of our friends to find us, although by the way he and Eli were clinging to each other, maybe they'd come out here looking for privacy.

"Hey!" He climbed the steps, pulling Eli by the hand. "Here you guys are. Reminds me of Bax's wedding."

"Except Marty hasn't thrown up," Scout said, and we all answered, at the same time, "Yet."

"Actually," Scout said, "he's only had two beers. "

"Not that you were counting," I said.

Scout hummed. "Not really. But Briar was. Briar in full wedding planner mode is fucking terrifying , by the way. He was determined that tonight go off without a hitch. He specifically told me he was on the lookout for shenanigans."

I snorted. "I have bad news for him about Grandma Talbot-Smith, then. Last I saw she was ordering double shots and threatening to limbo."

Eli leaned against the railing. "How are you guys holding up? It's been a long day."

I tightened my grip on Scout, who was now high enough that he just hummed happily. "Yeah, we're both pretty wiped. We were just talking about when we can get out of here. It's been hectic. Not that we don't want to catch up with everyone."

"Jesus, bro," Archer said. "You don't have to explain. We get it. I mean, we were all out late last night at the bachelor party, and we're not twenty any more."

"Didn't anyone tell you the wedding isn't about the couple?" Briar said, sidling up the steps with an arm around Casey's waist. He was holding a glass that he knocked back in one swift motion, so I guessed he'd finally clocked off for the night.

Charlie and Tanner trailed behind them.

"Oh, I've known that my whole life," Scout said. "You've met my mother, right? She's been planning my wedding since the day I was born."

"It's true," Briar said. "She arrived at the first appointment with twelve binders."

I snorted, because I knew it wasn't an exaggeration. "I feel like we should be congratulating you, Briar."

"Just doing my job." Briar waved a hand.

Casey pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You did an awesome job, babe."

"Do we need more weed?" Scout asked suddenly. "I can see if that server has more." He disengaged from my embrace long enough to give Charlie a hug. "Hey, little bro."

"Hey, big bro," Charlie said, beaming.

"Scout, you don't need to get more weed," Archer said. "I am not getting stoned with half of Virginia's legal fraternity inside that ballroom."

"Listen to Archer being all responsible. We're upstanding citizens these days, babe," I told Scout, and he snorted.

"Who's an upstanding citizen?" Marty asked, his voice hushed as he joined us with a sleeping Amina cradled against his shoulder. "Is it me? I feel like it should be me."

"Bro, it's never gonna be you," Archer said. "We were just talking about the last time we were all together at a wedding, and you threw up on your shoes."

"And you pissed on the ice sculpture," Scout said.

"I did not!" Marty's expression was one of outraged innocence. "Well, okay, I threw up on my shoes, and probably a lot of other things, but I didn't piss on the ice sculpture!"

I hid a laugh behind my hand, but Marty caught it. He narrowed his eyes. "Wait. Treyvon Montgomery Talbot-Smith, was that you? "

"First off, like hell are we having a triple-barreled name," I said.

Marty pointed a finger at me. "It was you!"

"Come on! You seriously think that?" But I couldn't hold back the laugh, and the cat was out of the bag now.

Scout gasped. "Trey?"

"Babe, it was a plantation wedding! It was practically my duty!"

"I can't believe you kept this from me all these years!" Scout said. His expression was sour, but his eyes were bright with delight. "I am aghast! Aghast !"

"A man needs his secrets," I said with a shrug.

"You're telling Mak, not me," he said .

"Please," I said. "I told her years ago. She thought it was hilarious."

Scout gasped. "Both me and Bax have been betrayed by our spouses. Like a dagger through my heart."

"Holy shit. You have a heart ?" I asked.

For a second I thought he wouldn't break, but his expression wavered, and suddenly that brilliant smile that had been appearing all day made another appearance and Scout's laugh echoed around the gazebo.