She’d never ended up making it to his house that day. Driving along the highway, she’d spotted his truck down by the river parked in “their spot.” She’d gotten off the highway and pulled in behind him. That’s when she saw it. Jake…having sex…with another girl. Devastation didn’t even scratch the surface of what she’d felt. Anger, disbelief, and betrayal ripped through her soul.
She’d put her car in reverse and driven straight to the airport. She’d cried the entire drive because she’d known then that she’d been absolutely right in her decision. Jake would move on and find happiness with someone else. And that knowledge had shattered the remaining pieces of her heart into a million pieces.
Tessa placed her camera back into the bag once she’d gotten several usable crowd shots. Now she just had to wait for the cake cutting. Her feet were killing her because she’d made the idiotic decision to dress for style instead of comfort today and now her toes were paying the price.
She spotted an open seat at a table with her friends and she made her way to it. This particular table held four couples—Ryan and Karina, Amanda and Justin, Ben and Lauren, and Sam and Luke. She dropped into the one empty seat next to Shelby, Matt’s sister, looking adorable but uncomfortable in her bridesmaid’s dress.
Tessa smiled at her sympathetically. “Not a formalwear kind of gal, huh?” she guessed.
“Oh, God, no!” Shelby cried, horrified. “I’m a jeans-and-t-shirt girl all the way. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I can get hoochie-fied up for the club as good as the next girl, but skinny jeans and stiletto boots are a long way from taffeta. Only for my brother. Seriously. There is literally no one else in the world I love enough to wear this getup for.”
Tessa laughed. She liked Shelby. She liked anyone who would say whatever was on their mind in a given moment. It kind of reminded her of Nikki, who she’d always thought of as a little sister.
Tessa looked back at her to continue the conversation and found that Shelby’s attention was focused elsewhere. She was seemingly transfixed by something across the room.
Tessa followed her gaze but didn’t see anything. She looked back. “What’s so interesting?”
Shelby’s eyes widened. “Who’s the hottie behind the bar with the tattoos?” she breathed.
Tessa looked back, and then her eyes brightened. Happy for the distraction, she answered, “Oh, that’s Levi. Do you want to meet him?”
“Hell. Yes.” Shelby said decisively.
Tessa smiled as she waved and got Levi’s attention, motioning him over. She liked that Shelby didn’t put up any façade of protest. She was a straight-up kind of a girl.
When Levi reached their table, Tessa made the introductions, saying, “Levi, I’d like to introduce you to Matt’s sister, Shelby. And, Shelby, this is Levi. He owns JT’s Roadhouse, the bar just outside of town.”
“I’m not surprised that you own a bar,” Shelby flirted shamelessly.
“Why’s that?” Levi asked, amused and clearly enjoying the interaction.
Shelby shrugged provocatively—well, as provocatively as the fluffy gown would allow, at any rate. Her eyes narrowed as she said with a bit of a challenge in her tone, “It suits you. Let me guess. You ride too.”
“I do,” Levi laughed, clearly charmed and wanting to get to know Shelby better. “Do you want to dance?” he asked, holding out his hand.
A slow smile crossed Shelby’s face as she stood and took it in her own. “Don’t mind if I do.”
With that, they were off to the dance floor and Tessa felt like she’d just seen an instant love connection. Or lust connection at the very least. Clearly, those two were infatuated with each other. As she looked around the table, all she saw were her friends paired up. Deliriously happy in relationships. Damn. Maybe there was something in the water in Hope Falls.
“Okay”—Karina leaned forward in her seat—“I think we all just witnessed the opening scene to a porno happen in real life.”
Tessa laughed. “There were definitely sparks flying between those two.”
All the couples began reminiscing about the first time they’d laid eyes on each other and Tessa silently remembered the first time she’d seen Jake. She’d only been in Hope Falls for a few hours and Gran had needed to run errands. So they’d headed into town and Tessa was given a list of groceries to get while Gran went to the dry cleaners.
Tessa remembered the how good the cold air conditioning had felt when she’d walked into the Pack ‘N’ Pay on the hot summer day. She’d grabbed a cart and had pushed it to the produce section. That’s when she’d seen Jake. He had been stocking the lettuce, and Tessa remembered feeling like the rest of the world had disappeared. She’d stood there, paralyzed, until he’d looked up at her and smiled. She’d turned her cart away and began picking tomatoes, embarrassed to have been caught checking him out. Before she’d even gotten two in the bag, he’d walked over, introduced himself, and made her forget all about being embarrassed.