“So?” she asked.
“So . . . it would have been nice if someone had brought that to my attention before right now.”
“Why? Oh,” she said in a serious tone. “Because of your boyfriend.”
“Seriously? I’m going to get more of this from you?”
“I can’t help myself. It’s hilarious. From my perspective, anyway. Plus, I never have things to tease you about and this is too much fun.”
Her calling Camden my “boyfriend” made me question whether he was seeing someone. If he was flirting with me solely to seduce information out of me, that meant he wasn’t interested in really pursuing me. He might have someone back home waiting for him.
The thought made me uneasy.
This party was listed as being “casual.” Not sure what that meant in wedding planner Troy’s world, I’d opted for my favorite lavender sundress. Most of the women were in skirts or dresses and a bunch of the men were wearing linen shirts and cargo shorts. Like some kind of uniform.
Knowing Sadie’s sponsors, it might actually be a uniform.
“There’s Dan’s mom. I’m off to socialize,” I told her. Krista said goodbye as I approached Irene. Dan’s mother looked peaceful, her headscarf a pink and gray mixture, just like the wedding colors. I thought it was a particularly sweet touch.
“Irene, right? I’m Rachel. The maid of honor. May I join you?”
“Please do.” I sat down next to her on the couch, putting my purse by my feet. “So you’re Rachel! You’re the one Camden’s been going on and on about.”
My heart did flips at her words. Until I realized that it might not have been positive. “Good things, I hope.”
She patted my hand. “Nothing but good things!”
It would be wrong for me to accuse someone who had cancer of being a liar, right? Because this was something I’d dealt with a lot before—weddings did tend to bring out the matchmakers in people. All that love and happiness. They wanted to spread it around, like Sadie had been doing. Apparently Irene was on board.
I settled on, “I find that a little hard to believe.” I had no idea how far he’d spread his corporate-espionage theory.
Irene gave me a motherly smile. “He said he thought you were beautiful.”
Whoa, that sent my stomach into free fall. “Did he? Well . . . I’m sure his girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate that.”
I couldn’t help myself. Even if I couldn’t date him, even if he suspected me of trying to ruin his company, I wanted to know if, under different circumstances, there might have been a chance for us.
“Camden doesn’t have a girlfriend. He hasn’t seriously dated anyone in . . . well, it’s been quite some time.”
“Oh.” I didn’t have a better response because I was far too happy about her statement and knew I shouldn’t be. What if she was just guessing? How could she have any real insider information into Camden’s love life?
While I was wrestling internally with trying to figure out if I could trust what she said, Irene asked where I was from and our conversation grew from there. I genuinely enjoyed getting to know people and talking to them. It was one of the things that made my job so enjoyable. I’d been defensive and on edge at this particular wedding only because of Camden’s shenanigans.
She had just finished telling me an adorable story about her knitting club and how they made hats for infants at the local hospital when she tacked on, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a restroom.”
I’d noted earlier that she’d either been sitting or on Dan’s arm whenever I saw her and so I said, “Do you need any help?”
“You’re a dear, but no thank you. People fuss over me all the time. I can manage.”
She scooted carefully to the end of the sofa and had a bit of a struggle standing up. I wanted to assist her but didn’t interfere because it seemed important to her to do it on her own.
My phone dinged with a notification and I flipped it on to see the final score of the Michigan game. Yes! They’d won! That meant they were moving on in the March Madness tournament.
“Is this seat taken?” a man asked, and I looked up to see that it was Camden.
I had this strange mixture of emotions—I was internally celebrating over the Michigan win, annoyed that Camden had found me and was looking too handsome for his own good in a green linen shirt that matched his eyes, and . . . excited to see him again. Like I’d spent so much time thinking about him that I was happy he was here and I got to see his face.