9. Chapter 9 #2
As the song comes to a close, she sashays toward Parker with practiced finesse. He steps forward, wiping his eyes with his thumbs before taking Jamie by the hands in front of the pastor.
The way they gaze into each other’s eyes brings that bitter ache back with a vengeance. And not for the first time, I wonder if the pain of seeing my best friend in love has anything to do with my own longing.
Parker’s interpreter steps up beside the pastor and begins signing everything the pastor says.
My two friends share a few meaningful words as they say and sign their vows, giving every guest here a glimpse at the rare connection they share.
My face heats with the feeling that someone is watching me, and I look up to see Dane’s blue eyes fixed on mine.
He looks away, blinking, as if uncomfortable that I caught him staring.
When the ceremony concludes, the pastor and interpreter tell Parker he may kiss his bride. Without a moments’ hesitation, he scoops Jamie into his arms, one hand on her back, the other behind her head, and kisses her like no one exists to witness their make out.
It’s touching and so sweet, but also a little bit too much for my cynically sensitive self. With a tight-lipped smile, I stare at the mini bouquet in my hands and count the pink petaled peonies.
The band starts up again, signaling that Jamie and Parker are to head down the aisle. After they do, Briar and Logan file out, then it’s mine and Dane’s turn to follow. I fit my hand into the crook of his arm just like last time, and we start toward the mansion.
Jamie’s squeal reaches my ears as Parker picks her up, literal bridal style, and plants another kiss to her lips.
“Got a problem with happy couples?”
I tilt my head and glance up at Dane. His ill-timed question hovers around me like a mosquito about to bite. “What gave you that impression?”
“You scoffed. Loudly.”
“No, I didn’t.” I scoff obnoxiously—on purpose—to drive home my point. “ That is me scoffing.”
“That’s exactly the sound you made before, just more exaggerated this time.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re making that up. I love when my friends are happy in love. I don’t have any reason to scoff.” There. That wasn’t a lie. I absolutely do love that Jamie is happy with Parker. I just don’t love that she’s leaving me for him.
Ugh, that sounds so immature . And super weird. But I can’t deny that my heart feels like a desolate wasteland at knowing we won’t be roomies anymore.
“You almost convinced me there, D,” Dane says. Leaning down, he whispers low in my ear, “But you might want to wipe that scowl off your face the next time you stretch the truth. You’re not as hard to read as you wish you were.”
I swallow, willing my emotions to remain intact as he retreats.
For reasons I can’t explain, a myriad of feelings riot within me whenever Dane sees more than I’d like him to—when he sees me .
And not just the me I show to others. The me I try to hide.
The hurting girl who lives down deep and growls at anyone who comes too close.
“Don’t worry, though,” he continues before I respond. “Your secret is safe with me.”
The haughtiness in his tone has me rolling my eyes again. “I hate to break this to you, Dane, but we don’t share any secrets. There’s nothing at all between us. And I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me by my nickname.”
His biceps tighten under my fingertips. “If that’s how you want it.”
“It is,” I respond without taking a second to consider it. Because I don’t want there to be any kind of intimacy between me and Dane. He’s aloof. And a player. And…nosy.
Thankfully, we reach the mansion with the rest of the wedding party, saving me from having to feel the tension radiating from him. I drop his arm and head toward Briar, who stands alone, seemingly abandoned by her Kent brother too. Except her forlorn expression tells an opposite story than mine.
I glance around and find Logan staring at his phone in a corner, Dane pouring himself a drink from the bar, and Parker and Jamie practically making out on the sofa. She’s in his lap, running her fingers through his hair, while he nuzzles his nose against hers.
“Cozy little scene, isn’t it?” Briar asks, a little too bitterly for my bright and sunny friend, before directing her gaze toward Logan again.
“Yeah, I guess.” I cock an eyebrow, curious. Not enough to ask her why she seems irritated that the eldest Kent brother is ignoring us, but enough to make me drag her toward the bar.
“Come on, let’s get a drink.”
She follows, if a bit reluctantly, until we’re standing in front of the elaborate set up Dane organized just for the wedding party.
“Shirley Temples?” he asks as we approach.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Briar says, sending him a sweet smile. Of course, he aims one right back at her as he begins making our drinks. I ignore the sour sting that hits my stomach at their interaction and stare out the glass doors that lead out back.
Wedding guests begin to trickle toward the large white tent Parker rented for the reception. My smile starts as people walk underneath the balloon arch Dane and I took an entire evening to construct.
“It turned out nice, didn’t it?” His deep voice cuts into the moment.
I frown that he noticed me noticing it. “Sure. I mean, at least it’s holding up.”
He hands me my drink with a look that tells me he might be trying to fight a smile. “Maybe you and I make a better team than you like to admit.”
I so badly want to scoff at that but swallow it down instead. Can’t let him think I’m on a scoffing spree today. “Just because we accomplished something together doesn’t mean we’re a team.”
“Maybe you’re right.” He sighs, seeming to admit defeat, then waltzes toward his older brother.
“You guys ready for pictures?” Jamie’s question has me turning toward her. “We’ll finish our drinks first, then head back toward the river. The photographer is waiting on us.”
I smile and say, “Well, it’s good of you to take your lips off your new husband long enough to tell us it’s time for pictures.”
She shakes her head, that woozy-in-love look never leaving her eyes. “Not even your sarcasm can burst my bliss bubble today.”
Briar laughs behind her hand as I take another sip of my drink. She’s right. My brand of sarcasm borders on mean and inappropriate, and it is her wedding day. I should probably cut her some slack.
“He’s just too handsome in a tux,” Jamie says dreamily, eyeing Parker like she’d like to gobble him up.
He and Dane are signing a conversation while Logan lifts his head periodically to watch them.
Seeing Dane interact with Parker so seamlessly is…
unsettling. I’m not sure why, exactly. I suppose it makes him appear softer.
Like a genuinely good person who cares about speaking his brother’s language.
Parker laughs out loud—too loud for the space we’re in—and Dane chuckles low, enjoying his brother’s amusement. Even Logan smirks. The warm brotherly moment of a shared inside joke makes my stomach cinch tighter.
“Ready?” Jamie bumps me with her shoulder.
I clear my throat and blink away the familial image that makes me wish for a family of my own. “Yeah, let’s go.”