She was so discombobulated that she immediately obeyed her mother’s hissed direction to sit up straight. Which, of course, led to her mom trying to demand she also cross her ankles and rest her hands a certain way. So she could look more ‘ladylike’ - at least, how ladies should look according to her mom. Rolling her eyes, Sharon slumped back down again and ignored her mother’s exasperated sigh as well as Jake’s questioning look.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Mark and Melinda were practically glowing as they stared lovingly at each other, making Sharon sniffle. Her purse was well stocked with tissues. Weddings where the couple truly loved each other always made her emotional, so she’d come prepared. Sadly, it was something that was only necessary with about half the family weddings she attended.

Then came the cocktail hour, which Sharon could never decide whether she enjoyed or hated when it came to her family’s weddings.

At anyone else’s weddings she usually loved them. Little delicious bits of food, some booze, and talking about the lovely ceremony and happy couple with her friends? Yup, she was totally down for that.

But with her family, the cocktail hour usually meant a lot of gossip, backbiting, and business with a few genuine interactions sprinkled in between.

On the plus side – plenty of high-quality booze to numb the pain of all the fake interactions.

“They don’t have beer?” Jake asked, a little dumbfounded. Not that he objected to the well-made old-fashioned Sharon had just handed him, but he had planned to keep his drinking light so he could be on his toes.

Sharon smirked at him. “I thought you wanted me to try and get along with my parents.”

“I mean, I guess, but... Are you saying beer would upset them?” He knew he sounded dubious.

“You could always try it and find out,” she teased. Something in her eyes told him she was being completely sincere though, which was mind-boggling. He also had started to see what she meant about her parents being worse when she was cooperative. Not just at breakfast, either. He hadn’t missed her little interaction with her mom before the ceremony.

It seemed like making one small correction just invited several more. Sharon’s attitude was making more sense to him now. It was impossible to compromise with people who didn’t want to meet halfway. Instead of just being happy she’d done one thing, they immediately asked for the next thing they wanted from her. Demanded it, really.

Not a fun way to live.

Last night he’d been exasperated by her unwillingness to give even a little.

Today, he kind of wanted to bundle her away and protect her from the demands of her family. Even though she obviously didn’t need his protection.