Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
The congregation gasped in unison, standing as she and Robert walked slowly down the aisle. Oliver choked on a quiet sob, pinching the bridge of his nose as emotion overcame him. I smiled a little when Tyler squeezed his shoulder, and Oliver’s gaze found his bride again, the brightest smile washing over his face.
Their love poured out over the beach and across everyone on it. It was impossible, in that moment, not to feel it in the same all-encompassing way that they did.
When Robert told the officiant it was he and Amanda who gave Morgan to the groom, kissing her cheek and passing her hand to Oliver’s, everyone sat, and the ceremony began.
It was beautiful.
It was emotional.
It was perfect.
And after they shared their first kiss as husband and wife, they walked down the aisle together, and Tyler held out his arm for mine to walk us right behind them, as rehearsed.
But it was the first time we had touched since the night we’d had each other fully, and we both sipped a short, burning breath when my arm slipped through his. I squeezed the muscles hidden by his tuxedo jacket, mostly so I didn’t fall, but also because I couldn’t help but revel in their strength, in his warmth, in his scent, like teakwood and turquoise waters. He held his arm steady, but I didn’t miss the shakiness of his next breath.
We held our gazes forward, somehow managing to smile and nod to everyone as we passed, but for me, that moment stretched on into infinity. I wondered if Tyler wanted to hold onto me, too, or if he was just desperate to get this over with so he could never touch me again.
As soon as we were behind the shutter doors, he answered my question — releasing me without so much as a glance or a second thought. Moments later, Azra was in his arms, and he kissed her cheek as she smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.
I felt that kiss like an ice pick to the heart.
And it stayed there the rest of the night.
The reception was held immediately following the ceremony under a tent set up on the beach. It might as well have been a grand ballroom, for how the wedding planner had transformed it. Soft fairy lights were strung from end to end, working with the various sizes of candles on each table — some floating, some stable — to give the night a beautiful, magical glow. The centerpieces were simple, elegant lilacs and clematis arrangements that brought the colors of the wedding into the evening. It was all warm and cozy and filled with love, the distant sound of the waves on the beach adding to the ambience of the band as they played soft and slow jazz.
Everyone was eating, but I’d found myself unable to get more than a bite or two of my bread down. My stomach was in a fit of knots after the ceremony, and when the wedding planner handed me the microphone for my speech, it only somersaulted, tying itself up even more.
The band nodded when the planner gave them the cue to stop after the next song, and then I was standing at the center of the dance floor with that mic in my hand, laughing internally at the irony of it. I loved to talk. Putting a microphone in front of me usually brought me to life. Hell, I had a podcast that I’d made a career out of because I loved talking so much.
But I didn’t know how I’d make it through this speech still breathing.
A few people gently clicked their silverware against their glasses at the end of the song, cueing a kiss from the newlyweds before all eyes were on me.
I did my best not to look at the one pair of eyes I felt the most.
“Good evening, everyone,” I said, smiling, and it almost felt like another version of myself stepping in to grab the mic and take over. I stood straight and confidently, cracking a joke to open the speech before I launched into my version of the story of how Morgan and Oliver met, talking about the long, late night phone calls I’d received from Morgan gushing about the new guy she’d met on the Cape.
The girl speaking in the center of that dance floor seemed a million miles away from the one inside my heart.
“She told me when she left that trip that she was going to marry Oliver,” I told the room, joining the wave of smiles that spread at the words. “And I realize this was only a few days after they met, and any other normal friend would have taken that as a joke. But I know Morgan maybe better than anyone, and if there’s one thing I know about her, it’s that she follows her gut instincts, and once she’s made up her mind, there’s no changing it.”