Irreplaceable
Chapter 29

Four

hours.

That was how long Mia had been ignoring that Rafferty was even at Natalie and Sam's wedding. So far She had made a point of talking to everyone else in the room. But she had pointedly ignored him and Finishing the beer he was drinking, he set it down and watched her dance with the bride and their litt He was sitting with most of the husbands and boyfriends, none of which had been ignored as much as them, as if they needed a buffer.

Which had been totally uncomfortable since the women were not getting along at all. Anderson had to for the sake of the bride today. And he assumed they would do the same next weekend for the next b Mia had gone to her mom's on Friday night, so he really didn't get to talk to her that day. But to his su Saturday, she had worked her usual shift at the café and then went back to her mom's to spend more Then, to his surprise on Sunday, she had called her mom claiming she was sick, and she had spent the It wasn't a traditional holiday, but he would take it over anything anyone would've offered him. Maybe It was that day that she had finally told him why she had blown up at Ruth over her not being nice to but she was defending him. It was a step in the right direction.

Or he had thought it was, but now he wasn't to sure. Tonight, he would rather have her by his side tha Anderson, Math Nordskov, and Hue Strong were talking about the women dancing. Since Hue was dati to dance, but she looked hot trying.

A look of disgust crossed Math's face before he asked Hue, "So, when are you going to ask Mandy to m Hue turned away from watching the women with a smile, "I already did."

"Did she turn you down?" Math laughed, because everyone in town knew that Tess turned him down a Hue grinned. "Nope, she said yes."

ad ignored him through the ceremony and through the reception, and it looked like he was going to be ignored through the dance. even get close enough to him for him to say anything about it. He just watched her flit around the room.

k club. Or trying to dance since Hazel was currently teaching the entire group some dance move that was far beyond the skills of most of them. ad been. They at least got to sit by their women during the wedding, and most even held hands. Mia had made sure that Ruth and Anderson were between

there was a blow-up at book club between them, but not about what. As far as he could tell, it was still going on. The two seemed to be only getting along hough he hoped they would patch up their differences, since the strain was becoming obvious.

she had come over after she got home at around eleven and crawled into bed with him. That was two nights in a row.

with her sisters. They seemed to be getting along better now than in the fall, which made Rafferty happy since she was happier when the six sisters got along. with him. They had watched movies and talked all day. She had made a beef roast and potatoes, and they had eaten that all day, wearing pajamas. would start a new holiday tradition of not getting dressed or going anywhere for the holidays.

r something like that. Which had made him love her even more because she was defending him to his sister. She may not want to tell anyone about them, nding him to his sister.

th's sister, Math was mostly making fun of her to get a rise out of his friend. Except it didn't work since Hue admitted his girlfriend wasn't coordinated enough

bu?"

"When were you going to tell us?" Math asked, taken aback. Hue was his best friend, and Mandy was his sister. "After you were married." He smiled at him.

"How long have you been planning this?" Math demanded.

a dozen times before she ended up asking him to marry her.

"Since March. And if my future wife hasn't told you yet, we're having another baby," said the man with the tiny baby already in his arms.

"And you weren't telling?" Anderson asked, eyes wide.

Rafferty looked at the men in surprise. Mia had told him at least a month before that Mandy was going to have another baby. It seemed all the other women had assumed it was a secret. Mia, it seemed, was secreted out. Or maybe she was letting him in on the secrets.

"We wanted you guys to have your day first, but you pressured me to tell," Hue said, though the pressure had been light at best.

Turning to Anderson, Math asked, "What about you? Are you secretly engaged also?"

Rafferty watched his brother-in-law with interest. The man was actually secretly married, but would he tell the men that? Would he let the cat out of the bag like Hue had? So Rafferty could finally be married to the woman he loved. "Nope. She's not ready." Anderson laughed and dodged the question. Sinking Rafferty's heart, again.

Math suddenly turned his attention to Rafferty. "How about you, Rafferty? Got a woman hidden in that big old house you bought?"

Stopping himself from asking the man what he had heard, hoping no one had heard something, he instead plastered on a fake smile. "You know the rumors in this town are out of control. If I had a woman in my house, the entire town would know about it instantly." f anything was happening close to downtown, Mia would know and would've told everyone," Anderson said, his eyes going to the dancers again. "All you have to do is tell it from Mia, and everyone knows," Math said about his cousin.

Rafferty wondered if these men knew how much Mia had known about their relationships and how she had kept them from the entire town. Or how she had manipulated information to make them look better than they really were. After all, it was Mia who had the rumors of Math and Tess's baby out while they weren't even in town. And Mandy and Hue's baby's paternity was never questioned because of Mia.

Anderson was about to say something, then stopped when he caught Rafferty's eye. Anderson knew that Mia had and was keeping every secret Ruth held close. Even before they had become friends, Mia never told a soul that Ruth owned half the town. The song on the dance floor changed to a slow one, and as one, the men got to their feet. It was time to dance with their women. Except Mia wouldn't want to dance with him.

At that point, he got up and said to the men who were no longer paying attention to him, "Well, I'm going to go."

Without looking at the dance floor to seek out his wife, he walked out of the reception hall. He was tired of being ignored in public by her.

Walking home slowly, he wondered if she would show up in his bed tonight. Would he be good enough for her when nobody was around?

He didn't know and didn't really want her to tonight. But he didn't know how he would kick her out if she was there. All he wanted was her.