Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Lifting Charlie’s hand, I pretend to be blinded by her engagement ring. “Good God, how do you walk?”
She laughs, angling her wrist so the diamond catches the lights overhead. “I know, right? For six months I just walked around taking photos where I had to casually point at something with my left hand.” She scans the crowd. “Where’s Anna?”
I look up, too, searching the room again. She’s over by the dance floor, jumping around with little Nixon’s hands in hers. The band is playing covers of pop hits, and Anna is entirely in her element: laughing, dancing, blissfully forgetting where she is.
I’m relieved she hasn’t been cornered by some asshole hedge fund bro or senator’s son. As she and Nixon turn and dance, she looks up and her eyes meet mine. Her smile could light up the sky outside.
“Come here,” I mouth, lifting my chin to her.
She nods, bending to say something to Nixon, who turns and holds tight to her hand, unwilling to let her go. But halfway across the room, as she skips over with Nix, Anna’s smile falters. Blinking away, I look to the side, and I see why: my parents are approaching with Alex in tow. And there’s no way for Anna to turn around. She’s headed right into the belly of the beast, about to be the center of attention with all of the Westons together.
Eleven
ANNA
Well, shit.
There’s no way out of this. I know West sees it roll through me—the instinct I have to do an immediate one-eighty and go back to dancing with a five-year-old as far across the room as I can get. But his eyes widen, and he does a quick, warning shake of his head. “It’s okay,” his lips say.
And I can do nothing but trust him.
Little Nixon is smarter than I expected, peeling off and running back to Lincoln just as we approach the circle of his family: Ray, Janet, Jake, and West. And with them, the two people I assume from family resemblance are Alex and Charlotte.
Like his father, Alex is shorter, with Janet’s thin, birdlike frame. Honestly, he looks almost exactly like I imagined he would. Hawkish and intense. But Charlie got the best of all of them: the thick, honey hair, full mouth, and graceful posture. Each child has inherited their father’s eyes, but like West’s, Charlie’s are warm. They’re also playful like Jake’s, and she immediately turns to me, pulling me into her arms.
“Finally!” she sings. “There is no excuse! None! I am never letting you go! Another sister!” Laughing, she pulls back and hello? I am immediately in love.
“It’s so good to meet you,” I say, taking her hands in mine. “It’s crazy that it’s been this long.”
“It must be so amazing, though! To be in medical school and go to Cambodia for a class? Your life is unreal!”
I glance at West, and he avoids my eyes, lifting his glass to his lips. “It is actually unreal, I agree!”
“I was in Thailand a couple weeks ago, and I could have come to visit you in Battambang if I’d known sooner!”
This cover story has made my palms so sweaty I’m tempted to reach up and drag them down West’s chest in retaliation. “No, no. No apologies needed.”
“I hope after the wedding we’ll see each other more?”
“We absolutely will.”
Hoping to head off any questions from Charlie about Cambodia, a place I sadly have only experienced through the LA food scene, I turn to Alex. “Hi,” I say, extending my hand. “You must be Alex. I’m Anna. It’s lovely to finally meet you.”
“Yes.” He loosely clasps my hand in his and then lets go. If Ray Weston gives a grizzly-bear handshake, Alex Weston’s is a jellyfish. He says nothing else and aims a pained smile somewhere over my shoulder.
A brick wall, interesting. I knew West and Alex didn’t get along swimmingly, but this is bigger than I imagined.
West still isn’t looking at me—he appears to be listening to a conversation between Jake and Ray, but I can feel his passive attention anyway. And there are one hundred thousand reasons why I need to up my charming game. Alex seems like a dead end, so I brave the odds that Charlie might ask me about Cambodian geography and turn back to her. “How are you? Ready for everything that’s going to happen this week?”
“I am!” She launches into a happy spiel, describing the events of the week (“The itinerary is amazing!” I agree), how excited she is to see everyone (“I’m sure!”), how I must meet her best friend coming in from New York who just finished her residency in otolaryngology (fuuuuuck me), how she can’t wait for the Old Hollywood party night and she hopes I will make it (“Of course, are you kidding?” I enthuse, because honestly what else would I be doing that night?) before she does an adorable little overwhelmed gesture and hugs me again. I catch West’s eyes over her shoulder and see it on his face, how much he loves her.