Chapter 7 Vows Josie
Josie
My hands shake as I glance down at my notes. Glance back up at the hundred people gathered beneath the summer sky.
Everyone looks at me expectantly. Everyone, that is, except the bride and groom standing in front of me. They’re too enamored with each other to pay me much mind.
Quinn and Grady do make a handsome couple. She looks gorgeous in her ivory taffeta gown, complete with a veil and a silver-and-turquoise belt that’s the perfect nod to her Texas roots. He’s in a navy blue suit and brown cowboy hat, and wears a turquoise bolo that matches her belt.
I can’t help but let my gaze wander over to the cowboy standing just off to Grady’s left. Weston looks drop-dead gorgeous in his own navy suit. He’s trimmed his scruff a little, and now the sharp angle of his jaw is especially prominent.
Don’t get me started on the cowboy hat and boots he’s wearing.
I can’t believe he’s mine again.
I can’t believe I get to take him on tour with me. He’ll meet all my friends, hear all my music live. He’ll get to see what life on the road is really like.
The man went to therapy. For three years. He’s speaking his mind and owning who he is and what he really wants.
He’s making compromises and supporting my dreams.
Yeah, I think I’ll give him another chance.
Best of all, when I have a break on the road—there’s a week coming up where I don’t have any shows—we can come back here and get our fill of the friends and family we’ve missed.
I’ll be living the dream.
So are my friends, who are so eager to start their life together that Grady kindly but firmly tells me it’s time to get this show on the road.
“That’s right,” I say with a laugh. “Y’all are the stars tonight.
Let’s get to it. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for being here to witness the marriage of two of my most favorite people on earth.
Quinn and Grady, it’s an absolute honor to officiate your wedding.
I’m thrilled y’all found each other. Thrilled that not only do y’all love each other, but that you like each other too.
” I meet eyes with Weston. One side of his mouth kicks up in silent acknowledgment of his line from this morning.
“That kind of relationship is a special thing, and I know I speak for everyone here when I say that I can’t wait to bear witness to the life you’re going to build together. ”
Quinn’s face crumples. “Aw, Josie, thank you.”
There’s not a dry eye in the crowd as I lead the bride and groom through the exchanging of their vows. Grady sniffles through the whole ceremony, but when it’s time to put a ring on Quinn’s finger, he’s all eager confidence.
“I love you, Quinn Marie,” he says. “And I really, really like you too.”
Quinn smiles. “You’d better.”
Everyone laughs. I look out over the gathered guests, my breath catching for the hundredth time at just how beautiful the setup is.
I’d call the style elegant rustic, with wooden benches set out in a semicircle in front of the arbor of white roses the wedding party currently stands beneath.
Behind everyone, Hill Country undulates in shades of emerald, ivory, and amber as far as I can see.
I don’t have to run anymore.
I don’t have to avoid anyone or anything. I get to come back to Hartsville as often as I’d like.
Ride through those hills as often as I damn please.
Grady pulls Quinn in for an indecently deep kiss the second I pronounce them man and wife. The crowd erupts. I wipe away tears.
Weston offers me his arm, and we process back down the aisle behind the newly married couple.
“So I do inspire you,” Weston murmurs in my ear later, when we’re dancing cheek to cheek to an especially swoony cover of “Love Story.”
I feather my lips over his cheek. “Are you kidding? Most of my songs are about you, Weston Jessup. Of course you inspire me.”
“That was the heartbreak talking. You ain’t writing any more bluesy songs about me, Jo. Only love songs like this one from now on.”
My face splits into a smile. “I like the sound of that.”
We dance until we’re covered in sweat and our feet hurt. Grady and Quinn have an absolute ball celebrating with their loved ones.
We see them off with sparklers later that night.
Quinn pulls me in for a tight hug before she leaves. “I’m so excited we get to live out our love stories together. See you soon?”
“Don’t rush back from your honeymoon on my account,” I say with a laugh.
Releasing me, she grabs Wes’s hand too. Beams at us like a proud mother hen. “To be honest, Wes, if you told me you were hell-bent on winning Josie back this weekend, I would’ve punched you in the throat.”
“That’s fair,” Wes replies with a nod.
“But now that it’s happening . . . y’all, I’m just so happy for us all.”
Then she promptly bursts into tears.
We’re all crying as we go in for a group hug. Grady joins in, then whisks his bride away in a white vintage Chevy with the words Just Married written on the back window.
Wes curls his hand around my nape as he leads me to his truck. “I bought not one but two swimsuits.”
“What?” I ask.
“Figure people at those fancy hotels we’ll be staying at might not appreciate my makeshift swimwear. So I bought the real thing.”
“For me?” I bat my eyes.
Grinning, he leans in to kiss my mouth. “Everything I do is for you.”
“Can I do you as a token of my appreciation?”
He laughs, opening the door for me. “Long as you let me do you first.”
“Deal.”
“Is this what happily ever after feels like?” He holds my hand as I climb into the passenger seat. “’Cause I like it. A lot.”
“I think so.”
“I know so.”
He kisses me one last time before hustling to his side of the truck.
Then we drive to his place and begin writing my next album. The one that’s all love songs.