Kate’s voice, full of amusement, made Sharon jump as her best friend appeared beside her. Oops. Evidently at least one person had noticed her and Jake’s simultaneous disappearing act. At least Kate wasn’t the type to be loud about it.

Opening her eyes as wide as they would go, Sharon batted her eyelashes innocently up at her bestie. “Whatever are you talking about?”

“Uh huh.” Kate smirked at her. Behind her, Andrew gave Sharon a brief smile and then glowered across the room at Jake. Scowling, Sharon stepped back, getting the toe of his shoe with her heel.

“Ow!”

“Oops,” she said meaningfully, not sounding sorry at all.

The big brother thing could be cute, but only to a point. She liked to be coddled, not smothered. Andrew transferred his glower to her, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything before Jake and Lexie’s dad - standing in the middle of the kitchen beside his wife and the happy couple - started clinking a fork against his champagne flute. The high tinkling sound drew everyone’s attention and conversation swiftly dropped away into expectant silence.

“Ah yes,” Mr. Standish said a bit gruffly. Sharon had really only gotten a glimpse of him earlier; Jake definitely took after his dad. He was a handsome older man with salt and pepper hair, although he had dark eyes unlike his wife and children. She could picture Jake aging exactly like him and the glimpse into the future was pretty damn good. As soon as she had the thought, she chided herself for even thinking about what Jake would look like in thirty to forty years because why would that matter to her? “Wendy and I would like to thank you all for coming tonight.”

Pausing, he looked down at his wife, who beamed up at him. Sharon’s lips twitched. Apparently, Jake also got his reluctance to being the center of attention from his dad, although his mom didn’t seem to mind at all. Beside them, Patrick had his arm curved around Lexie and was smiling radiantly down at her. She was looking up at him with pure adoration written across her face. It was like something out of a Hallmark movie and Sharon could already feel tears pricking the backs of her eyes.

Happily-ever-afters always made her emotional.

Clearing his throat again, Mr. Standish looked up and around.