Read Online The Wedding She Always Wanted by Stacy Connelly - Free Book Online Page B

checking out of the hotel, but most of the talk would center on the wedding, and she’d had enough. “I left word at the restaurant that I wasn’t going to make it.”
    “I know. The maître d’ told us you weren’t coming, but of course, he couldn’t tell us why .”
    Emily sighed. “I just needed some time alone.”
    “ All alone?” Aileen stressed.
    Emily shook her head. She loved her sister, but the woman was anything but subtle. Still, that didn’t mean Emily would make it easy on her. “What do you mean?”
    “One minute you’re dancing with the best man, and the next minute you’ve both left the reception.”
    And of course, Aileen would have heard all about what had happened after the reception. Some babysitters might have tried to keep the kids’ escape a secret, but Meg wasn’t the type to lie. Just as well, since Emily doubted anything would have kept Ginny quiet when it came to a “superhero” rescuing her little brother.
    “What exactly do you think happened, Aileen?”
    “I don’t know.” A sly note entering her voice, her sister said, “That’s what I’m calling to find out.”
    “ Nothing happened,” Emily insisted, keeping the amazing kiss to herself. “Except for the part about Duncan getting stuck in the tree.”
    “Well, I’m proud of you for going to the wedding, and I hope you’ll be able to put this behind you and move on.”
    “That is my plan,” Emily agreed, thinking of her decision to move and find her own place.
    “Speaking of plans, Mother has a dinner party in the works. Dad’s thinking of asking Dan Rogers to become a partner in the business.”
    “He’s…Really?”
    Good thing she’d already pulled over. Emily wasn’t sure how many more unexpected announcements she could take in one day.
    “You sound surprised,” Aileen ventured carefully.
    “Aren’t you?” Emily questioned. “Doesn’t this whole thing seem too fast?”
    “Well, no. You know Dad wants to cut back his hours and start an early semiretirement. He’s been talking about bringing in a partner for months.”
    “I know.” Her father had gold starred Todd for that position. The wedding would have been not only a “welcome to the family” but also a welcome to the family business. With Todd out of the picture, her father was still moving forward, substituting Plan B, in the form of Dan Rogers.
    And what about you? What are you doing with Javier Delgado?
    It’s not the same , she argued, with the annoying voice poking guilty needles in her conscience. And okay, kissing a guy on the day she was supposed to have married another man might have some shades of Plan B, but Emily wasn’t going to marry Javy.
    Everything Emily knew about him told her he was the last man to want to get married, and as long as she kept that firmly in mind, that made him just about perfect.
     
    Half an hour later Emily pulled up to her parents’ circular driveway. A familiar brown delivery truck blocked access to the four-car garage on the side of the sprawling Scottsdale home. She cut the engine and climbed from her car as a uniformed man circled the back of the truck. The door was rolled up, revealing dozens of boxes in every shape and size, and the driver had three packages stacked high in his arms.
    Packages he’d clearly carried away from the house.
    A combination of humiliation and anger wrestled inside Emily, twisting and turning until she didn’t know which emotion was winning.
    “Oh, hi.” Looking at her from over the top of a box, herushed to put the packages down. Emily didn’t know what the guy saw in her face, but he immediately said, “Give me two seconds and I’ll move the truck.”
    “Is that the last of the packages?” Emily asked.
    “Nah, there’s like a ton more, but I’m blocking the way and—”
    “It’s all right,” she insisted. “I can park here for now.”
    The front door was open, revealing a travertine foyer crowded by various boxes waiting to be sent back. Only days