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one. All Ana could hope was that they’d live happily ever after. That was all anyone wanted for a sibling.
    She stood there and stared out into the street long after her sister left. It felt like she and her mother were stuck in time. However, they couldn’t linger on it for too long. There were guests to see off and a reception hall to clean up. Unfortunately, both of Celia’s bridesmaids had to go home, which left Ana, Molly, and Ryan to clean up the whole mess by themselves. It was going to be a long night.

Oddly, this wasn’t the first time a stranger had invited Ryan to their wedding. It was, however, the first time he’d attended, and for that reason, he would never forget this wedding. Not to mention the fact that he got to spend most of the night dancing and wooing his dream woman.
    The fun part was over, though.
    Ryan made sure Ana got the easiest part of the cleanup, boxing the rest of the food with her mother while he went around the reception hall gathering trash, stacking chairs, and sweeping up. He could hear the two of them talking, wondering how long it would take for Celia and David to get pregnant with a baby of their own. All Ryan could think about was how he was going to convince Ana that he would make a marvelous father for her child. If everything worked out as planned, Ana would soon be following her sister’s lead in tying the knot.

It was almost midnight when the three of them finished cleaning the reception hall. Ana’s entire body ached from the day’s labor. It had been a long time since she had a day so full of activities: decorating the reception hall, getting dressed up for the wedding, getting Celia ready, participating in the ceremony, taking pictures, dancing more than she’d danced in ages, and now tearing everything down again.
    Ana was so exhausted she didn’t even think to argue when Ryan offered her a ride home. They loaded up the leftover food in her mother’s car, and then they both hugged Molly before Ana climbed up into the passenger seat of Ryan’s old beat-up pickup truck. He had a crappy vehicle for a supposed businessman. She hoped he hadn’t said all those things just to impress her.
    Where’d you get the tux?” she asked while they pulled out of the church parking lot. Ana remembered the brown duffle bag that Ryan had with him in the barn. Shouldn’t he have a suitcase too? Now that she thought about it, he wasn’t businessman-like at all.
    I rented it this morning,” he told her, keeping his eyes on the road.
    Her gaze fell to his hand, wrapped around the stick shift, so close to her thigh that she could almost feel the heat from his skin. Exhausted as she was, she didn’t want the night to end. Ryan was so sweet, and while she knew she shouldn’t allow him to get any closer to her, she still wanted to know more about him.
    How long have you had this truck?” By the looks of it, the answer was forever. The cloth on the seats was frayed in places, the black vinyl on the steering wheel was worn bare, and the inside of the truck smelled like oil and sweat. Ana rolled down the manual window to catch a whiff of the fresh night air.
    I’ve had it for six months.”
    Definitely not something a businessman would want, she decided. He was hiding something, but what was it? Maybe she could unravel his mystery if they spent enough time together. But wasn’t that a bad idea? It annoyed Ana that her hormones fought so hard against her sense of logic.
    Even though she should end the night with him dropping her off at the house, she couldn’t resist the urge to invite him in for coffee.
    He gave her a queer look, as if to say: Do we really need to stay up all night after all the work we’ve just done? But the words that came out of his mouth were, “I’d love some coffee.”
    Molly hugged them both and headed to bed, in no mood to stay up any longer when she had to get back to her duties first thing in the morning.
    There was a war raging inside of Ana, the