Chapter 22
After my final shift at Liz’s before the wedding, two days before we left for Vegas, I began to put my plan in motion.
James was working one last shift, and Hannah and Kian were gathering last-minute supplies, giving me the chance to talk to Erin and Ben about the double wedding idea.
I hadn’t seen either of them much since Hannah moved to Cambridge, other than running into each other in town, but the conversation had to happen in person.
Armed with a bottle of Ben’s favorite scotch, I knocked on their front door. The Valentine’s Day wreath hanging on the surface rattled against it, and I took a step back to wait.
I hadn’t cared much for Valentine’s Day in the past—it was just another day for me—but it was important to James.
My hopeless romantic loved every bit of it, and on our first one together, he’d gone all out.
The brutal wind that blew took me back to that day, and how the breeze felt coming off the river by the hotel…
“How long are you going to make me sit here blindfolded?”
“I’m going to give you the same answer I gave you ten minutes ago.”
“You didn’t answer me ten minutes ago!”
“Exactly. Now sit there and enjoy the ride, love.”
We’d been in the car for what must’ve been hours.
I was restless, and I was starving. James had leapt on me as I exited the bar, tying a red satin blindfold around my eyes and guiding me to the car with his hands on my shoulders.
Despite my squirming and fighting, he didn’t budge an inch.
My instructions were clear: Sit down, be quiet, and don’t take the blindfold off.
Unfortunately, quiet wasn’t one of my default settings. What the hell could he have been planning?
Even though we’d already fought a life-threatening battle against a couple of vampire hunters, James and I had only been seeing each other for a few months. I didn’t think we were in “weekend away” territory just yet.
Finally, the car rolled to a stop. I went for the handle, but James was faster, snatching my hand away. “Stay.”
I grumbled, shivering at the snap of cold air that hit me when the car door opened.
James took my hand and helped me to my feet. Then we were walking. I heard the sound of automatic doors opening, and noises bustling around me.
James led me to a chair and helped me sit down. “Wait here.”
Damn it, if I didn’t love surprises so much.
I pretended to be irritated, but I was buzzing.
A flurry of accents swept around me, and I couldn’t tell exactly where we were.
But it wasn’t Boston. James was only gone for a few minutes before his hand was on my shoulder again and he was helping me into an elevator.
The classic ding gave it away. “Where are we?” I asked.
“You’ll see in a second.”
I practically bounced on my toes.
“Need something, human?”
We must have been alone.
“Shut up—you caught me off guard and that was the longest car ride of my life. Now tell me where we are!”
“All right, don’t wet yourself over it.”
I gave him a playful shove. As the elevator doors opened, he said, “Trust me.” He paused, and I heard the buzz of an automatic lock. Hotel? “This will all be worth it.”
A few more steps, and a door shut behind us. My shoes went silent as we transitioned from a hard surface to carpet. James tugged me to a stop, and his hands finally went to the knot at the back of my head.
“Surprise, love,” he whispered in my ear. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
A sea of lights came into view, and I blinked against the blurry vision. A vast river sparkled in front of the picture window. Beyond it, a dazzling skyline lit up the night, glittering off the surface of the water. “Manhattan? You brought me to New York?”
“Mmhmm.” His fingers combed through my hair. “Have you ever been here?”
I shook my head, breathless. “No, I never got the chance.”
He took my hands, planting them on the glass in front of me. “Let me give you the best view.”
Manhattan shone over the river as James undressed me until I stood naked in front of the window.
It was the most stunning skyline I’d ever seen—even compared to Vegas.
Vegas was great, but sometimes too many lights could be a bad thing.
Manhattan illuminated the cool winter night, the city that never slept sprawling out in front of us like a whole world of new possibilities.
Too bad we never left the hotel room.
My heart began to race as the front door swung open. Even after all these years, and for different reasons, Erin could still intimidate me.
“Hi Ryder.” She stepped aside, welcoming me in.
She’d been in the office today, judging by her tailored chocolate-colored slacks and a cream sweater, but she’d been home long enough to switch her shoes for fluffy pink slippers and tie her brown waves away from her face.
She led me through the stark white living room, where a fire crackled in the fireplace.
The show on the TV was muted, the actors moving silently across the screen. I followed Erin into the kitchen.
“Can I get you a drink?” she asked. Then, noticing the bottle of scotch in my hand, added, “Or open that?”
“I have to drive,” I told her, “but you and Ben can have as much as you want.”
Erin pulled two glasses from the cabinet and offered me a bottle of water from the fridge. “Liquoring us up?” she teased. “What do you want?”
“What might possibly be a big favor, but it’s not just for me.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Ben swept into the room, fresh from a shower.
He snatched the glass from his wife and downed the liquid in one go.
He hummed, holding the empty glass out in a silent demand for more.
“Ryder, if you keep bringing this stuff around, I’ll have to divorce Erin and marry you. ”
“You’d drink yourself to death before the ink is dry on the papers,” Erin said. Still, she refilled his glass and motioned for us toward the living room.
I followed, wishing I could partake in the scotch they were drinking. They settled onto one beige couch, Erin kicking her slippers off and folding her legs underneath her. Ben slouched back in his seat, practically inhaling his scotch. I took a deep breath…
“When did you two get married?” I asked, noticing a picture from their wedding on the wall.
Erin stood in a white satin dress, Ben in a black tux, his hair much more pepper than salt back then.
Hannah was between them, in a frilly white dress of her own with an ear-to-ear grin on her face.
She couldn’t have been more than five or six, and her two front teeth were missing.
“Okay,” Erin said, drawing out the word, “that’s not where I expected this conversation to go.”
“It’s relevant, I promise.”
The two shared a sweet, intimate smile and launched into the story, starting at the beginning.
They met in freshman orientation at college and were smitten right away.
Erin gave birth to Hannah during their spring term, and once he was able to move off campus, Ben got a place for the three of them and asked Erin to marry him.
They agreed to finish school first, which gave them all the time they needed to plan the perfect wedding.
After they graduated, Erin went back to school for her master’s degree.
The spring that Hannah turned five, they finally tied the knot in a ceremony overlooking Central Park.
Hannah was the flower girl and Erin’s only bridesmaid.
Ben recounted the reception, recalling fondly that Hannah got into the cake before they could cut it. While he spoke, Erin pulled a pillowy, white photo album from the bottom of a bookshelf.
“Come over here,” she said, sliding to the middle of the couch and patting the space next to her.
She untied the satin ribbon that held the book shut and flipped through the pictures.
They were arranged backward, from the reception to the ceremony, and ending with Erin and Ben getting ready that morning.
“Remember the meltdown I had over my hair?” Ben said, scrubbing his pink-flushed cheeks.
“Oh, I do,” Erin confirmed. “Forget bridezilla; grooms are the real monsters.”
“I wasn’t that bad!”
“So that’s not why you nearly took your brother’s hand off?”
“He deserved it,” Ben grumbled. “I need a refill.”
“You know what? Nathan probably did deserve it. He’s an ass.”
I snickered, Ben left to refill his glass, and Erin turned the page.
She gasped. “Don’t tell Ben, but this is my favorite picture that was taken that day.”
Ben re-entered the room, glancing down at the picture. “I love that one.”
The black-and-white picture showed a young Hannah wearing Erin’s white satin wedding dress.
It was so long that she stood on a stool, looking at herself in the mirror.
The train trailed out behind her. Someone had curled her hair, and the shadow of blush tinted her cheeks.
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged my lips.
“How do you feel about her being married?” Erin asked me.
“Old,” I answered honestly.
She scoffed and took another sip of her scotch. “I’ll say. I couldn’t believe it when they told me.”
Ben laughed. “Your face said it all, Erin. Kian nearly wet his pants.”
Erin rolled her eyes. “They’re just kids.”
“They’re older than we were when we conceived her,” I reminded her.
“That’s a scary thought in its own right.” Glass in one hand, Erin traced over the picture with the other. “I always thought I’d give this to her on her wedding day. She grew up dreaming about wearing that dress. I had it preserved just in case she wanted it.”
If that wasn’t my opening, then I didn’t know what would be. The grin on my mouth widened into a full smile, and I took the photo album from Erin and commanded her full attention. “What if you still could?”