Chapter 32 #2
“Billie,” he said my name in his most serious tone.
“I’m fine, let’s dance.”
I pulled him out onto the dance floor as a distraction tactic as the last few notes of “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire faded out. No sooner had we taken our places than the first notes of Adele’s version of “Make You Feel My Love” start playing.
We looked at each other, shocked for a moment, then he grinned and pulled me into his arms. Adam had one hand at my waist and the other on my lower back, his thumb tracing my exposed skin.
In another world, I might have let myself close my eyes and float in the bubble of it, but I could feel the weight of that text like a stone at the bottom of my purse, pulling me under.
“I know something’s wrong,” he murmured, bending so his lips brushed my ear.
I nuzzled in closer to him just because it felt so good.
“Just tired,” I said, eyes fixed on the shimmer of Bailey’s dress as she twirled in Cole’s arms a few feet away. I was lying, and he and I both knew it.
He pulled me even tighter to him as he whispered once more into my ear.
“I can’t see your nose, but I know your nostril flared.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. He’d always said he knew when I lied because my nostrils flared.
“I’m here.” He put one hand on the back of my head, his fingertips running along my scalp. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
Fuck. Tender, sweet Adam only made me want to tell him more. The problem was, I didn’t know if he wanted to know. I had to think about it. and this wasn’t the place.
I was still debating when the right time would be when the music cut out and the DJ’s voice boomed. “It’s time for the bouquet toss!”
There was a collective shriek from the crowd.
I tried to move to the side but found myself surrounded by eight women, with Birdie marching me to the front with the kind of force usually reserved for Black Friday sales.
I would’ve argued, but I didn’t see the point of causing a scene. This was so ridiculous.
As I turned, I caught Adam’s eye, he grinned, one of those slow, lopsided things, and shrugged like, what can you do?
Bailey took center stage, bouquet in hand, back to the mob. I remembered making fun of this tradition as a kid, the way a group of women would all pretend not to care who caught the flowers, but then at the last second someone would throw an elbow, and everyone would reveal their true feral nature.
“On three!” Bailey called. “One…two…” The crowd surged in, someone behind me was practically climbing my back for leverage.
The bouquet went up, suspended in the air in a slow-motion arc, and for a split second I saw it as a metaphor for all the things we chase even though we know they’re fleeting.
The flowers landed in my arms with a soft whump, baby’s breath dusting my nose.
The crowd went wild. Birdie stormed the dance floor, grabbed my hand, and held up my hand, waving it overhead, as if she herself had just won the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. The DJ cued up Beyoncé, and girls started screaming.
I tried to melt back into the crowd, but the DJ’s voice boomed out again. “And now, gentlemen, it’s your turn, time for the garter toss!”
Adam had some warning, but apparently not enough.
Cole, with a wicked gleam in his eye, knelt before Bailey and performed a dramatic, theatrical removal of the garter that ended with her laughing so hard she nearly fell over. Cole spun the garter like a lasso and then flung it with surprising accuracy into the huddle of men.
It hit Adam square in the chest, sticking for a moment to his tie before falling into his hands. He caught my eye and winked, holding the garter aloft like a trophy.
“History repeats itself,” Birdie whispered to me, referring to Adam’s dad’s wedding.
Bailey ran over to me, eyes huge. “Oh my god! Do you remember? The last time this happened?”
Of course I did.
“Okay can I get a photo of the two of you?” Nigel, the photographer, waved between Adam and me.
“Wait, do you remember the photo you took at your dad’s wedding? You have to recreate it.”
I pulled out my phone and pulled it up to show it to Nigel, who asked the group at large, “Did you plan this?”
“No,” Adam, Bailey, Cole, Birdie, and I all responded in unison.
Nigel chuckled. “Oh, okay, well then Billie, if you could sit on—”
“Adam,” Adam introduced himself to Nigel.
“Billie, if you can sit on Adam’s lap.”
I lowered down onto Adam’s lap just like I had twenty years earlier, except this time I was holding my sister’s bouquet. Bailey, Cole, and Birdie all gathered around looking at us like we were an attraction at the zoo.
“A little closer,” Nigel instructed, then began clicking. “Perfect. Wow. Yes. This is fate!”
Adam pulled me into him, and he whispered against my ear, his lips brushing the cusp, “Do you think this is fate?”
A chill raced down my spine at the rasp in his voice and the graze of his soft, firm mouth along my sensitized area of skin. I hoped he didn’t feel his effect on me, but I knew he did. He’d always been hyperaware of me, every tiny shift or change in my body he noticed.
“Okay great, and can you get closer to him, lean into him?” Nigel waved his hand.
I turned towards him, and through my smile, without moving my lips, whispered into his ear, “Fate knows we’re already married.”
My response caused a ripple to move through his body, and his finger clenched, causing his grip to dig into my hip. It felt possessive, it felt territorial, it felt like I belonged to him. My husband.