“Good news does travel fast,” I said dryly.
At the mention of the Wright family, my head spun…but not from Landon. It was because of Jensen. Seeing Landon had been…awkward, like seeing an old friend from high school you’d rather avoid. But Jensen…that was a different story. I hated to admit how much he had affected me. So much for swearing off men. It had been a total of one day, and already, I’d made out with Jensen fucking Wright.
“If you had told me that you were in town, I wouldn’t have had to hear it from Barbara,” my mother said. She peered at me in the backseat, and I blankly looked back at her. “Tina was there, too. She said you looked very pretty, and all the boys were staring at you.”
Sometimes, I forgot that, my mother knew everyone. Born and raised and never left. She was a total extrovert and made instant friends with everyone she met. Another thing I had not inherited.
“Heidi did my hair and makeup. Only reason anyone looked at me all night. You know, Landon didn’t even recognize me.”
“What?” Kimber gasped. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“So, funny story, Landon didn’t recognize me, and then his wife showed up and flipped her shit.”
“Language, Emery,” my mother said.
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I did need to watch my language since we were about to walk into a church.
Kimber drove into the parking lot that was already more than half full. I knew Kimber and Noah only still went to this church because my mother had been going since she was a kid. Otherwise, they would find one a bit more…contemporary.
Lubbock was the kind of city that had a church on every street corner. Huge whitewashed buildings and old brick edifices dotted the brick-lined roads downtown. Giant pickup trucks with metal Texas Tech decals on the bumpers filled the parking lots. Jeans and cowboy boots were acceptable attire. The preachers were just as likely to give a sermon as spout political drivel. And, every week, there was a fifteen-minute interlude, mid sermon, for people to shake hands and greet their friends who lived down the street from them. In a town where crosses on walls in the living room were an interior design statement, church was practically mandatory.
We piled out of Kimber’s SUV and meandered over to the entrance. I left my mother behind as she chatted with every Tom, Dick, and Harry—gross!—who stood in the entranceway. I trailed Kimber past the ladies handing out pamphlets, and I took one with a half-smile before going into the sanctuary.
The ceiling was mile high with stained glass windows over the chancel. The choir was already seated off to the right, and the pastor’s wife was playing the piano nearby. A large wooden pulpit was rigged with a microphone, and there was a semicircle of cushioned prayer benches to be used for communion.
This wasn’t exactly where I’d thought I’d be this early in the morning after drinking a couple bottles of champagne last night with Heidi. Mercifully, I didn’t have a hangover. I’d had a bottle of Gatorade and some Tylenol before bed, and Kimber had babied me in the morning. But that still didn’t mean I was prepared for this.
“Kimber,” Noah said.
He waved from his spot near the front of the room. Lilyanne was seated in the pew, tapping away on her iPad.
We moved up the aisle, and Kimber kissed the top of Lily’s head. “Hey, baby girl. Are you excited to see Grandma Autumn?”
“It’s not autumn, Mommy,” Lilyanne said, looking up very seriously. “It’s winter.”
“Actually,” I interjected, “the winter solstice isn’t until the twenty-first. So, it still is autumn.”
“But it’s cold,” Lily said.
“Sound logic.”
Noah cracked up and scooted Lilyanne down so that we could take our seats on the end of the row.
“So, tell me about seeing Landon,” Kimber said, elbowing me in the side.
“Shh, Kim, we shouldn’t gossip in church.”
Kimber rolled her eyes. “It’s not gossip if it comes from the source. Aren’t you all about firsthand accounts in history?”
“Meh. Let’s not talk about history right now. I’ve thought of next to nothing else for nine years. I need a break.”
“A break like Landon Wright?” she whispered.
“Uh, no. Landon is married, remember?”
“Oh, right,” Kimber said, sounding disappointed. “Well, there are a lot of other hot guys in town.”
Noah’s head swiveled around so fast, and Kimber’s cheeks turned pink.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Oh, shush, you!” she said, flustered.
Kimber and Noah were a year older than Austin, the middle brother, so they never had a Wright in their grade. Though they knew the family, of course. Everyone knew the Wrights.
“I’m just asking if you are looking for some fun while you’re here,” Kimber said with a wink.
“Speaking of hook-ups in church?” I said, crossing myself in mock horror.
Kimber laughed and shook her head. “You’re horrible.”