Page 31 of Puck My Stepbrother (Pucked and Possessed #2)

QUINN

“ Y ou look more nervous than I do,” Dad said.

“Maybe I am.”

“Something wrong?”

Oh God. Maybe he knew?

If he didn’t, I couldn’t tell him that something was wrong on his wedding day. Like, that twenty-four hour period was supposed to be about him and his bride and no one else.

I knew it would all come out sooner or later. That wouldn’t stop me from holding back for as long as possible. In the meantime, I’d help my Dad with last-minute wedding preparations.

So far, I hadn’t had to scramble around to put out any fires. I’d kept in touch with the photographer, caterer, and DJ, and it sounded like everything would go off without a hitch. Now it was time to get ready.

I’d rarely seen my father dressed in a suit, let alone a tuxedo, and I couldn’t believe how nicely he cleaned up. I normally never dressed up either, and I rarely felt good about my looks. My own tuxedo changed all of that.

“Is this about Levi?” he asked.

“Nope.”

He eyed me as if to say he knew I was full of shit, so I might as well come clean.

“Come on, son. You know I don’t like to have secrets between us.”

“It’s not Levi…it’s actually about Jeff.”

Now Dad lifted an eyebrow.

“Jeff? Seriously? I thought things were great between you two.”

“They are. I mean, they were…God, I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

I didn’t know what I was saying, partly because I didn’t know if I truly had a problem yet. We’d reached the day of the wedding, and I hadn’t heard from Jeff yet. Even when I’d been falling into Levi’s arms, Jeff and I had texted one another nonstop.

Even at ten in the morning, I’d heard nothing, despite texting him several times. But it wasn’t completely sudden. Communication from him had really tapered off during the last week. You know, ever since we’d made love on the couch…and since I’d rubbed the whole thing in Levi’s face.

He’d attended the rehearsal dinner last night, but I’d noticed something off about him. He’d seemed really quiet when he was normally so talkative with everyone. Worse, he seemed quiet around me, too.

All of that could’ve been a coincidence, sure, but I didn’t feel certain of that.

“I haven’t heard anything from him yet,” I said. “Like, radio silence. I can’t help feeling like there’s something wrong.”

“Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself? It’s morning. The wedding isn’t until later this afternoon.”

“Yeah, but we’re both getting dressed up now.”

Dad half-smiled in a father-knows-best sort of way.

“It’s different for us,” he said. “You know that.”

“I guess so. I’m sorry to get on that topic.”

“It’s no trouble, Quinn. Now, do you think you two have been communicating enough in general?”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess I’m asking if you two are on the same page. Is he looking for more of a commitment than you’ve made to him? Is he getting mixed signals?”

Dad had me there. I couldn’t deny that I’d taken my sweet time with the guy. Anyone else would’ve given up on me by now.

“I don’t know exactly what he’s looking for,” I said. “We talked about getting together—you know, exclusively—but we’ve mostly been going with the flow.”

“That could be the problem, you know. You’re both grown-up and partway through college. Never hurts to consider the long game.”

Memories of our entire relationship came flooding back.

Sure, Jeff had shown a ton of patience in terms of moving to the next stage, especially when it came to having sex.

For a moment, I wondered if the sex itself had been the real problem.

I’d finally put out for him, and he’d wound up disappointed.

I hadn’t been worth the wait. I hated to consider that, but I couldn’t deny the possibility.

“I think he wants to get married one day,” I said.

“And you don’t want to?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But maybe he thinks you feel that way.”

“Maybe.”

“Or maybe he thinks you’re focusing your attention elsewhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, that was the trouble with your mother and me, at least in the beginning. Sure, she’d go out with me and we’d have a great time, but I sometimes had the distinct feeling she’d rather be with someone else.”

“Like who?”

“Oh, I didn’t know that there was anyone at all. It was just a feeling I had. Now, I had my share of insecurities, so it probably came from that.”

“That makes sense.”

Dad’s words made me feel at least a little better, but I doubted I’d hold on to that feeling for long.

“Let me ask you,” he said. “Is there anyone else?”

I froze, feeling tense. Of course he’d ask that question right now. He hadn’t meant to dig for anything, so he couldn’t have meant Levi. Not unless he’d noticed something going on between us. Dad was the smartest guy I knew. He might’ve picked up on something, but he had enough tact to keep quiet.

But there was nothing between Levi and me. I’d made sure of that.

“Oh, I don’t mean anyone in particular,” he said. “But I get the feeling your mind’s telling you something. Or your heart.”

Or Jeff’s heart is telling him something, I wanted to say.

I checked my phone again, hoping like crazy to hear something from him, but found nothing.

“No,” I said, “there’s no one else.”

“Well, if you’re sure…”

Dad stood in the mirror, adjusting his bowtie even though the wedding was still hours away.

“Maybe your mind is getting the best of you,” he said. “We’ve all been a little on edge, haven’t we?”

“You’re probably right. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing?”

“If there’s nothing else going on, that’s likely. Don’t let it get you down either way. It’s hard not to worry. I did plenty of that with your mother, and I repeated the same crap this time. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s hard not to overthink sometimes.”

“So the same thing is happening to you even now that you’re practically a fossil?”

“Nobody likes a smartass, Quinn.”

We laughed. Most guys couldn’t joke with their dads like that, but I always could.

“But yes, it still happened,” he said. “At first, I thought your stepmother wasn’t the one for me. I never saw myself remarrying or being happy with anyone. But she hooked me. Once things got going, she told me she felt the exact same way.”

“That she never saw herself remarrying, but you hooked her?”

“Something like that, yes. She had a lot of suitors.”

“Suitors?” I struggled not to laugh.

“It’s a nice way of saying she had a million boyfriends that didn’t work out. She’d shut herself off to the idea of marrying any of them. We were both sort of reserved, and changing that was a matter of giving ourselves over to one another. If we hadn’t done that…”

“You wouldn’t be getting married today?”

“Right!” He snapped his fingers and smiled.

I realized that I hadn’t seen Dad so happy…maybe ever. If he hadn’t given himself over to my new stepmother, he wouldn’t be wearing the smile on his face right now.

“I can’t tell you what to do, Quinn,” he said, “but I want to make sure you don’t overthink yourself out of a good thing. But don’t ignore the signs of a real problem once you see them.”

I drew a deep breath and looked away from him. Had our eyes met, I would’ve had to admit he had a point.

Dad turned back to the mirror to take another look at himself.

“Just think about it, Quinn,” he said. “This could be you in a couple of years.”

“Getting married, you mean?”

“Right.”

“To Jeff?”

“To the person you’re really supposed to be with—the person you ultimately give yourself to.”

He was right in the sense that I wanted to be married. I’d been dying to meet my one and only for the longest time. I wanted Jeff to be my one and only. If not him, then someone like Jeff. Anyone who thought I could achieve any kind of happily-ever-after with Levi Dunn was crazy.

I checked my phone again. Still nothing from Jeff.

“You really shouldn’t worry about that, son.”

“Why not?”

“Listen, I’ve told you already that it’s probably a coincidence that you haven’t heard from this guy. Or maybe something happened, like an emergency.”

“And what if it isn’t?”

He shrugged and said, “Then you have to ask yourself: is this the guy you really want to spend your life with?”

It was my turn to shrug. “That’s a fair question.”