He’d kissed her again. At the end of the ceremony, the judge had said the words you may kiss the bride and she’d seen a look of deep satisfaction cross Rene’s handsome face right before he’d leaned over and brushed his lips against hers.

It hadn’t been enough. She’d wanted more, but she’d forced herself to smile and hold his hand as they’d walked over to the café for brunch.

“You know how weddings go in this town.” Sera sipped her champagne. “No one wants to miss out on a party. It can actually be a little chaotic.”

That summed up life in Papillon on the best of days. At least for the mayor. She hadn’t been married for two hours before she’d gotten called into an emergency budget meeting, and then she’d had to meet with a City Council member who was demanding funds the parish didn’t have.

When Gertie had shown up at the cafe to get her, Rene had kissed her forehead and promised he would pick her up for the party. When she’d been late, he’d merely sat in her office and showed not a single sign of irritation.

He was practically perfect.

So why wasn’t she sitting there beside him? When his cousins had descended on the party, Rene had politely asked her to give him some space to deal with family business.

She wasn’t sure why he’d shut her out. Wasn’t handling his family exactly what he’d wanted her to do? Wanted hadn’t been the first descriptor she’d thought. She hated that she’d thought the word hired. She hadn’t been hired to play a role.

Except she kind of had.

Sylvie glanced over and Rene was frowning at one of his older relatives, giving the uncle that look she’d always associated with a Rene lecture explaining how something had to go.

“Are you all right?” Sera asked when they’d reached the quiet of the inner dining room. “I can cover for you if you want to leave. Though I’m not sure I can get Rene out of here without pulling the fire alarm. They are all over him. I thought most of his family was in New Orleans or Houston.”

They were. It seemed as though the NOLA contingent had all made the two-hour drive, and not one of them had brought a gift. She didn’t believe their “we just came to celebrate” excuse. Especially since she’d heard the word lawyer mentioned more than once.

“No, I’m not going to leave. My mother did, though. She went with Cricket and Louis. She said it was so she didn’t have to wait for us, but I think she wanted to get away from this nonsense.”

“I suspect she wanted to make sure Cricket got home all right. I saw them earlier with my mom,” Sera said. “Cricket seemed happy with this marriage, though she wasn’t thrilled to see the cousins show up. Do you think that’s why Rene hustled her out of here?”