Page 37 of Mine

“Well…” I trailed off, scratching my scruff and trying to think of how I could tell him that I was married. It wasn’t like I was going to keep it a secret forever, I just hoped to be able to tell everyone at Sunday dinner.

“What the fuck?” Easton yelled, pushing off the wall. I looked around, wondering what had him stirred up again, only to realize he was staring at my hand. “Are you married?”

“Well…” I said again. I was never at a loss for words when it came to doing what I wanted, when I wanted, but ever since the day I told Mr. McConnell that I was engaged, I had been a completely different person.

“You married Blue,” Easton whispered slowly, as if I’d told him I was joining the circus. “You. The guy who schedules his dentist appointments a year in advance so no one surprises him with a drill. You got married?”

“Surprise.”

“Do Grams and Gramps know?”

“No. I was going to tell them at Sunday dinner when I told you and Jesse. So much for that plan.”

Easton barked a laugh. “That was a shitty plan anyway. There is no Sunday dinner.”

That made me sit up straighter. “What?”

“Miles sent tickets. For all of us. Loxley’s got a show in Virginia Beach and everyone’s going. Remember? Grams, Gramps, me, Jesse. He sent one for Max but he’s staying with Ms. Ellison. So I guess that is Blue’s ticket now because you wouldn’t want not to bring your wife.”

“I didn’t agree to that,” I muttered.

“You said you were in, that you’d book us a charter and even pay for the hotel. Sure, it was a mere two weeks ago and apparently a lot has changed since then. But when I confirmed in the group text the other night, you gave a thumbs-up emoji.”

“Jesus.” I must have been completely out of it to have missed an entire group chat exchange with my family. Not to mention I never use emojis and apparently I was using them like punctuation these days. My brain was short-circuiting.

Virginia Beach? My whole family? With Blue?

“I’ll take care of the travel stuff,” Easton continued. “You want me to book the same hotel they’re staying in? The suites are taken by the event team, but the other rooms are nice.”

“Yes,” I muttered, already regretting it, but too panicked to refuse.

“And you still want to do a charter? I know you don’t fly coach.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, fishing my wallet out and handing Easton my credit card. “Just tell us where to be.”

“Damn,” Easton laughed, “You’re so fucked.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.” He looked down at the card, then back at me. “You’re freaking out because this wasn’t your plan and it's out of your control.”

I didn’t answer.

“Seriously, West. What is really going on? Because you getting married to Blue? You would never do something that spontaneous.”

“What can I say…” I was barely able to get the words out. My heart was racing. “it was a crazy impulse and we are just trying to figure out how to blend our lives.”

He whistled. “You’re really in deep.”

“We will figure it out.”

Easton pushed off the wall and walked to where I had my head hung as I sat on the couch. His hand landed on my shoulder and he squeezed, making me feel worse for not telling him it was all temporary.

“We leave Sunday morning, the show is Sunday night, and we will be back Monday.”

“Sounds good.”

“Want to discuss it with Blue before I use this?” He waved my card around.