He’s nothing to me.
Vi lightly hugged Hayden, then Charlie shook Hayden’s hand.
Charlie was the opposite of Hayden. He was short, with blond hair and freckles. He wore a suit and tie, not his best pair of blue jeans and a shirt with pearly buttons. “Nice to see you, Hayden.”
“Likewise.” Hayden had nothing else to say. He stood silently as the Fisher women greeted each other. Like he and Charlie, Violet and Evie were different too.
Violet wore a sleek, black sleeveless dress with high heels. Her blond hair was as flat as fresh paper, with no life to it. Vi blinked thick, curly black eyelashes, the fake kind. She looked like a city slicker. While Evie…
Evie was showing her Montana roots. Her long blue dress showed off her delicate curves, aided by a silver conch belt at her waist. Her cowboy boots had heels and were white. She’d put a light coat of mascara on her lashes and a casual layer of soft red lipstick on those kissable lips.
Of the two, Hayden much preferred his wife.
I should thank Charlie.
Hayden settled into a seat close to Evie, easing his arm over her shoulders. “What do you say? Nachos for appetizers? I’m starved.”
“Sounds great,” Charlie seconded.
The waitress arrived to collect their drink orders. Hayden ordered nachos and a pitcher of beer for the table.
“Attention, everybody.” The lead singer of the band spoke into a microphone and then waited for the patrons to quiet down. “We’ve got a pair of newlyweds in the room.”
Cheers rose.
“I asked them to make an announcement.” Vi looked pleased with herself. “I wasn’t there to wish you well on the day of your wedding.”
But she had seemed to accept their union at the Spring Festival when they’d all shared that group hug.
The lead singer of the band pointed toward their table. “Let’s give Eve and Hayden a big round of applause!”
The applause, hoots, and hollers were deafening. A crowd of well-wishers with familiar faces swarmed their table as the music came back on. All during the onslaught, Evie held Hayden’s hand snugly and let him field questions.
“Excuse us.” Hayden had enough of the spotlight. He got to his feet, taking Evie with him. “I promised my wife a dance.”
The well-wishers parted, allowing their escape.
Soon enough, Hayden and Evie were on the small dance floor in front of the band. He drew her tenderly into his arms.
“That was nice. We’ve established to the world that all is forgiven between you and Violet and Charlie.” Evie stared up at him, blue eyes sparkling. “All you need to do now is tell Vi and Charlie you harbor no hard feelings.”
Hayden twirled her around, trying to shake off the feeling of being molded into something he wasn’t. “Can we dance and not talk about Vi?”
“I’m not talking about Vi. I’m talking about you.” Evie started to lead. She spun them around, guiding Hayden toward the darkest corner of the tiny dance floor. “I’m talking about you being the bigger man, which makes me proud.”
“Careful now, Evie.” Hayden pulled his wife closer, regaining the lead and a measure of control over this conversation. “It sounds as if you’ve been trying to change me. I do things in my own time.”
“I like you just the way you are.” Evie’s fingers crept into the fringe of hair at the back of his neck. “But I want you to be happy. You can’t deny there’s a healing power in forgiveness. Don’t think I didn’t notice you cleared all those boxes from the front porch this week.”
“It was time to clear the deck.” Literally and figuratively, not that he wanted to admit it. But Evie was right. Forgiving himself and his role in those arguments with Grandpa had been freeing.
“Admit it.” Evie’s smile was both teasing and approving. “Forgiveness lets you move on with your life.”
“I moved on long before I forgave anyone,” Hayden said gruffly, not sure why he couldn’t just agree. “By marrying you.”
Smile fading, Evie studied his face, searching for something important with those bright blue eyes. If only he knew what it was. Hayden wanted to give her the moon.
“Kiss-kiss-kiss-kiss!” Someone on the dance floor started the chant.