Page 42 of Storm in a Teacup (Love in Edinburgh #3)

Ben

I head into the church and choose a seat on the bride’s side.

I couldn’t sleep last night. For a while, at least. I held Linny until she fell asleep, then, when I realized my brain was not turning off, I slipped out of the bed quietly, going to her kitchen for water.

Oscar Wilde met me at the sink, weaving around my legs.

I had picked him up with a grunt and admitted, “I’m falling in love with your mother, Oscar. ”

He stared back at me with big, black eyes that said, “Duh.”

I stare at my phone while I wait, not having anyone to talk to since I don’t know anyone here. Except that doesn’t last for long. A hand grabs me on the shoulder, so I turn quickly to see Linny’s father. I shoot to my feet.

“Sir,” I say, but don’t attempt a handshake this time.

He sticks out his hand, which I gratefully meet. “Ben, I thought that was you. I told you, you could call me Harry.”

“Right,” I say, the thought of it making me a tad uncomfortable. “Harry.”

He gestures to the two women behind him, whom I am just now seeing, one with ginger hair the same color as Linny’s and the other with deep brunette hair. “These are my other daughters, Chelsea and Sarah. Girls, this is Linny’s boyfriend, Ben.”

The way he says boyfriend, I wonder if her sisters don’t know about the whole fake dating thing—it came out naturally. Maybe he’s just a good liar. I say hellos to them as well, and both take their time scanning me up and down, studying me with full suspicion.

I squirm under their prying eyes and say, “Well, I’ll let you guys find your seats.”

Harry shakes his head. “No, no. Come sit up front with us. You’re honorary family.”

I shake my head back at him. “Harry, you know…” I trail off, hoping he will understand the end of that sentence.

He winks at me and says, “Today, I don’t know a thing.”

Harry puts a hand on my shoulder and guides me out of my row.

He keeps that hand on my shoulder and has me lead the way to the front, where I find a woman who can only be Linny’s mother.

They have the same face, albeit thirty years apart, only her eyes are brown.

I turn around in an attempt to let Linny’s sisters in first so they can sit next to their mum, but Harry ushers me in so I end up sitting between him and Linny’s mum. Right. I would end up here.

I introduce myself to her. “Hi, I’m Ben.”

Her face brightens. “Ah, Linny’s ‘boyfriend.’” She puts air quotes around the word.

Harry says, “Emily, put those fingers away.”

She rolls her eyes, but just says, “Sorry. Hello, Harold.”

He grins. “Hiya, Em.”

I know they’re divorced, but there is an odd sexual tension between them that I have uncomfortably been put in the middle of.

I glance around Harry, hoping for some reason that one of Linny’s sisters will step in to save me, but from the looks on their faces, I think they find my current position rather funny.

I’ve seen a very similar expression of amusement in Linny’s eyes before. They want to watch me sweat.

Emily focuses back on me. “So, Ben, what do you do for a living?”

I resist the urge to gulp. “I run a café. Right next door to Better than New, actually.”

“Really?” She looks around me at Harry. “Harold, did you know they worked next door to one another?”

“I did.”

She huffs. “Linny never mentioned that to me. She said you met on a bench.”

“We did meet on a bench, to be fair.”

“But you work next door to one another?”

“Yeah. Lucky coincidence.”

Harry nudges me. “Some would call that fate, son.”

I gulp now. “Yeah, some would.” I look at him seriously. “I am very lucky to have met your daughter.”

“Damn right,” he confirms.

We quiet down when Julien and Paul enter the church, knowing the ceremony is about to begin.

The minister is not far behind them. The music commences, and the bridal party starts to walk in.

Linny enters the church linked to Darren.

I want to catch her eye, but she is looking straight ahead.

She squeezes Darren’s arm before she lets go of him and takes her place at the front of the church.

As the rest of the bridal party enters behind her, she glances over our way.

I think she sees her mum first, then her dad, her gaze glancing over me.

Then she notices me and where I am sitting, stuck between her parents.

Brow furrowed, she looks back and forth between them, then catches my eye.

I give a small shrug, making her giggle into her bouquet.

Then the bridal march starts, so we stand, all eyes turned to Melanie walking in with her father.

I glance back at Julien, who has a smile so wide on his face as he watches the love of his life walk down the aisle.

I’ve been to plenty of weddings before, but I think this is the first one I have ever felt jealous at.

My attention shifts to Linny, who is watching Mel with tears in her eyes. I should keep watching Mel, but Linny has stolen my focus. As she always does.

We take our seats as soon as Mel’s father gives her away and Julien takes her hand. The ceremony continues, and my eyes stay on one specific woman in pink rather than the one in white.

…

I meet Linny outside the church after they proceed out, only for a moment, as they need to go back inside to take photos.

“Hi, again,” I say as soon as I see her.

“Hi.” She adjusts my tie, then smooths it down. “How did you end up between my parents?”

“Blame your dad and your sisters. I was sitting happily on my own near the back of the church before he came to get me.” I lower my voice. “So, your parents…?”

“Are still completely into each other? Yes. It’s disturbing. Divorce was grossly good for their relationship.” Linny’s hands are still on my tie. “It was nice to see you sitting with my family.”

Linny turns when someone calls her name. “I’ve got to go. Are you fine getting to the reception venue? I think Kensie or Paul is going to drive me.”

“Aye, I’ll see you there.”

“I know it’s not super fun being the date of someone in the wedding,” she says .

“I don’t mind. I get to dress up, I get to see you dressed up. Free dinner and drinks. Pretty good day for me. Go on then.” I lean down to kiss her on the cheek, but her head moves fractionally, so I catch the corner of her mouth.

Her lips twitch, then she grabs my face with one hand and presses a kiss to my mouth. Her lips linger on mine before she pulls away, just a breath, then she fully retreats and jogs off back into the church. I shove my hands in my pockets, watching after her even when I can’t see her anymore.

I don’t want this to end. This day. This fake relationship. I don’t want it to end.

A hand clasps my shoulder, and I see Harry. “Come on, son. Cocktail hour.”

I go with Harry and Linny’s mum and sisters to the reception hall.

Harry gets Sarah to put a cocktail in my hand pretty quickly and starts introducing me around to the rest of her family.

I get to meet every one of her cousins, aunts, and uncles on this side, minus Mel’s parents, who are still back at the church.

I get called Linny’s boyfriend about a thousand times, and while I have been called that before, this is the first day where it has truly bothered me. It bothers me because it’s not true.

I wish it was.

…

Linny finds me at the cocktail hour, drink in her hand and shoulders sagging in relief.

“I think I’m done with pictures for the night,” she says.

I loop an arm around her waist. “That’s good. More time for me, then?”

She gives me a funny look, perhaps at the overt flirting, though it’s not like I haven’t done it before. Maybe she can tell it’s real this time— more real, rather. I was never jokingly flirting with her.

However, all she says is, “Yeah, more time for you.” She glares at her family members who surround us, but focuses on her dad. “Please stop torturing him.”

Harry holds up his hands in surrender. “Torturing? I’ve just been introducing him ‘round to everyone.”

She gives him a hard look, but resigns to settle into my side, pulling me back from the circle by a few steps.

To only me, she says, “Apparently, I never told Mel exactly what Atti said to me after…you know. So, she feels really bad about letting him stay in the wedding party. She’s waiting to tell Julien about it until after, so he doesn’t freak.

” She says the words seriously, but I can see the undercurrent of joy in her.

“You’re happy with that response, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. It’s not that I didn’t think Mel and them were on my side, I just always had it in the back of my mind that they thought I was making a big deal out of nothing. A storm in a teacup, as Auntie Carolyn would say.”

I kiss her on the side of the head. “You’re definitely not. Where is she, by the way? I haven’t seen her.”

Linny searches, then finally points to the bar. “Over there talking to the corner. I think she saw a ghost.”

That tracks.

Soon, they let everyone into the reception hall and we find our seats. Mel sits at a table with Julien, her parents, and his parents. She didn’t organize the room so the bridal party all had to sit together, so Linny and I are sat at a table with her family.

I laugh along with Linny’s family, enjoying being a part of the nonsensical conversation they’re having.

Eventually, Carolyn and her date join, completing our table of eight.

There’s a lot of focus on me, but I don’t mind.

Linny, however, squirms at all of the attention toward me.

At one point, she looks my way to say something, but Chelsea taunts, “They’re whispering sweet nothings, how precious. ”

Linny’s mum adds in a tone that sounds like an attempted whisper, “Is this what fake relationships look like? I think I’d like one if that’s the case.”