Free It Happened One Wedding by Julie James Page B

and at the engagement party, to be polite to Vaughn—at least in the presence of others.
    “Maybe I’m just not used to seeing you around single men since your breakup with Brody.”
    Sidney’s head spun toward her sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that you seemed a little tense around him. Like you were giving him back-off signals or something.” Isabelle held up her hand, seeing Sidney open her mouth. “Which would be totally understandable, given what happened with The Asshole,” she said, her nickname for Brody. “I would imagine that it’s a little scary, thinking about putting yourself out there again.”
    Sidney resisted the urge to roll her eyes. First Trish, now her sister was trying to bait her into a discussion using her therapy techniques. “I’m doing
fine
,” she said assuredly. “In fact, I just set up two dates for next week.” She declined to mention that Isabelle’s wedding was, in part, the driving force behind her determination to get her love life in order. As close as she was with her sister, that felt odd to admit.
    “Oh.” Isabelle seemed briefly surprised that she didn’t already know about the dates, but then she smiled. “Well, that’s great. I’m glad to hear you’re moving on.”
    “Exactly.” Sidney took a bite of her cupcake. “
Mmm
. No offense to the peanut, but he or she is crazy to miss out on this frosting.” Yes, she was changing the subject. She was truly happy that Isabelle and Simon were getting married and having a baby—she wouldn’t begrudge her sister anything. But talking about her dating life emphasized the fact that
she
was now back at square one, single again at thirty-three and trying hard to quell her growing fears that all the non-weird, commitment-ready men in this city had already been snatched up.
    They walked in silence for a few moments before Isabelle cleared her throat. “So, this weekend I’m supposed to drive up to Wisconsin with Simon and Vaughn. They have some project they need to help their dad with, and Simon’s parents suggested that I come up, too, so we could meet.”
    “Ooh, your first chance to dazzle the future in-laws.” Sidney winked while licking frosting off her fork.
    “Um . . . right. See, here’s the thing. Simon and I were talking about it last night, and he told me that his parents’ house is a small ranch next to some woods or something. Three bedrooms, just one-and-a-half bathrooms.”
    Sidney was sure that this verbal blueprint of the Robertses’ house was going somewhere, but so far . . . no clue. “A ranch in the woods sounds cozy. Isabelle Sinclair goes country.”
    “That’s the problem—it is cozy. Too cozy. With this morning sickness, I’m constantly running to the bathroom. You think Vaughn the FBI agent isn’t going to notice that? Or Simon’s mother?”
    That was indeed a tricky situation. Sidney thought for a moment. “Maybe you could pretend you came down with the stomach flu or something.”
    “Then in three months, after this whole thing comes out, she’ll know I lied to her. I’m trying to avoid actual outright lying, if at all possible. So I’ve come up with another solution to the weekend problem.”
    “Oh, good. What’s that?”
    “You go on this trip, too.”
    Sidney laughed, thinking that was a joke. Then she saw Isabelle’s expression. “Yeah . . . that’s not happening. I don’t do country.” Her idea of rustic was having to walk more than three blocks to a Starbucks.
    Isabelle clasped her hands together, ready to plead her case. “Come on, Sid. It’s only for one night. We drive up Saturday morning, and we’ll be back Sunday evening. You told me your work schedule was better now that you started this new position. Surely you can take a break for two days.”
    Absolutely she could. Since she had switched over to private equity, people accommodated
her
schedule, not the other way around. But that wasn’t the point. “I don’t see