Chapter 30
THIRTY
Devon
The lake was one of my favorite places to be. We’d spent so many weekends and holidays at Reed’s lake house. It held some of my favorite memories with my favorite people.
But standing on the large wooden patio that stretched toward the water, I had never felt so on edge. The March air was warm, and I worried that if it got any hotter, I’d start sweating through my suit.
I stood at one of the high-top tables that had been placed around the deck. The normal patio furniture had been pushed to the side, and I eyed a more comfortable spot on an empty couch when James appeared next to me.
“So, what do you think this is all for?” he asked, motioning with his tumbler glass filled with whiskey toward the white decorations, the tables with little centerpieces, and the crowd of people.
That had been the question on all our minds since the three of them sent real invitations a few weeks ago. No matter how hard we tried, they wouldn’t give us any details, but most of us believed that they were going to announce an engagement. It felt like a step they were all ready to take.
I shrugged and shook my head, staring toward the blue water lapping against the rocky shore just beyond the edge of the deck. Just looking at it, I could almost feel the cool water against my skin. Thankfully, I’d foregone a tie, but I was already uncomfortable in my blue suit and white shirt, and watching the water made me want to strip it off and jump in.
Doing mostly woodworking and consulting work meant a suit was not part of my normal attire anymore.
“Okay, look,” James said abruptly, setting his drink down on the table and turning to face me. “Why are you being a shithead? You’re more grumpy than usual, so either tell me about it or I’m going to go back over to my gorgeous girlfriend and leave your ass to stew.”
He stared over my shoulder at Ivy, who was wearing a light orange floral dress and her signature megawatt smile.
My reflex was to tell him he might as well go back over there, because she was sure to be much better company than I was. But he glanced back at me, and I noted the real concern on his face.
With a sigh, I warred with what to tell him. Amanda had pulled the information from me a few weeks ago, but I hadn’t told anyone else since. And somehow Amanda managed not to share it with anyone else either.
She’d approached me for the exact opposite reason—I was apparently too happy and she needed to know why. And rather than getting excited by the news that Blakely and I had kissed, her face had immediately dropped.
Sadly, Amanda’s reasoning made me question everything. Maybe it was too much too fast. Blakely was trying to figure her life out, and throwing a relationship into the mix would only make things harder. Which was the last thing I wanted to do.
Now, I was more in my head than I’d ever been, and I hadn’t spoken to her almost at all in way too long. A fact I was not proud of .
I gripped my beer bottle and awkwardly readjusted on my feet. James had been the one person who had, without preamble, identified that I’d felt more for Blakely than friendship. And he wasn’t shy about it either. If the topic arose, he was eager to call me out.
Against my better judgment, I confessed, “I crossed a line with Blakely.” I stared down at my drink, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw him straighten and snap his head toward me. Likely shocked that I’d said anything at all.
When I chanced a glance up, he was nodding his head and staring off in the distance.
“Okay, and you’re scared that you’ve fucked everything up by crossing that line?”
His response surprised me. “Yeah, exactly,” I said, sipping my beer for something else to do.
“Have you talked to Blakely about it? Does she think you crossed a line?” I shook my head. “Wait, no to what? She doesn’t think you crossed a line?”
“No,” I clarified. “I haven’t talked to her.”
James gave a derisive snort and leveled a disbelieving look in my direction. “And why the hell not?”
It felt stupid, but I felt myself saying, “Because Amanda told me not to.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. Are you?—”
“Yes,” I cut him off quickly. “I know how stupid that sounds, but Amanda found out about it. She told me that I shouldn’t…pursue it because Blakely’s got too much going on right now.”
James set his beer on the table. “How did Amanda find out about it?”
“She did her Amanda thing,” I said by way of explanation, and James nodded like he understood. I wasn’t sure how she did it, but somehow Amanda was always able to pry information from anyone and everyone.
“Although Amanda has a point,” James began, nudging my arm to get my attention. Begrudgingly, I glanced up at him. “ And Blakely is going through a transition, but she’s also her own person. You have to give her the opportunity to speak for herself.”
He was right. I knew I’d made the wrong decision two weeks ago, but hearing James talk about it just confirmed I should have listened to myself.
“And if we’re being honest, I know you’ve been hung up on her for a decade, so why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to do something about it?”
I knew he couldn’t help himself, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by his additional comment. But I still tossed an unimpressed look in his direction. He threw back a knowing smirk and tipped back his beer.
He took a swig and set it back on the table. “So, you kissed her, didn’t you? Or did it go further than that?”
I wasn’t sharing any more details with James, so he could guess all he wanted. Unfortunately, my silence seemed to be answer enough for him.
With an understanding chuckle, he gripped my shoulder and pointed up the deck behind me. “Here’s your chance, bud.”
Confused, I pivoted, scanning the crowd of people quickly growing by the minute. It took me less than a second to find her stepping out onto the deck through the white french doors.
My heart immediately started racing, and I began to sweat. Fuck , Blakely was gorgeous. Half of her wavy, black hair was pulled back, and the smile gracing her lips was a gift to everyone who witnessed it.
Unashamed of my outward ogling, my eyes slipped down the rest of her body, thoroughly enjoying the way the green satin dress clung to her curves. The fabric ended just at mid-thigh and easily moved with her when she turned to close the door.
My entire body reacted to her presence. It told me to follow her and make things right. As did my cock, which was quickly hardening behind my already tight dress pants and making them even more uncomfortable .
It wasn’t until they were halfway across the deck that I realized Amanda was behind her, and they were walking toward Ivy and Reed’s mom, who we affectionately referred to as Mama G.
“You gonna go over there?” James asked. “Because I can’t tell what you’re thinking.”
“I’m not going to immediately rush over there. She just got here.”
“Okay, man. Just don’t wait forever,” he added unhelpfully and patted my shoulder before leaving me alone to join everyone else.
The crowd had grown quite a bit in the past hour, but I found Blakely at every opportunity. It was hard not to find her, like my body was drawn to hers no matter the distance.
I was just waiting for the right moment to bring it up. To tell her that I still wanted to talk and that I’d lost my mind the past two weeks. But in the middle of a party didn’t feel like an ideal time to do that.
“Hi, everyone,” Reed spoke into a microphone set up at the back of the deck closest to the water. The sun had set just enough that the warm pinks and reds were reflecting off the mostly still lake. Josh and Amanda stood only a foot or two away, arms wrapped around one another, as Reed peeked over at them. Zach, Josh’s son, bounced around them in his own little gray suit.
Next to me, Luke nudged my arm. “What’s he doing?”
I shrugged and took a sip of my fresh beer as Reed continued, “Thank you all so much for coming today, but we have to be honest now. We’ve brought you here under false pretenses.”
Everyone in the crowd glanced at one another.
“As you are all aware, me, Josh, and Amanda have been together for about a year now, and I don’t want to speak for them, but this has easily been the best year of my life. And since they’ve both agreed to marry me, I assume they agree. ”
It took a second, I think, for all of us to comprehend what he just said, but when we did, cheers echoed through the crowd, and clapping ensued.
Reed looked over at his partners, who all had matching wide smiles.
“And we’re going to make it official today. Well, as official as we can. Although you cannot legally marry more than one person in the US, that’s not going to keep us from committing to each other forever. We’ve learned that life is pretty damn short, and we’re not going to waste another minute. So, today isn’t just a party. It’s still a celebration, but it’s also our commitment ceremony.”
A new round of cheers erupted, and Reed’s parents immediately descended on the throuple, and the rest of us weren’t too far behind them. We took turns hugging Reed, Josh, and Amanda. Luke cried when he clapped his brother on his back, and Hazel, who was baby-free for the first time since Josie was born, was a blubbering mess.
Amanda pulled Hazel, Ivy, and Blakely toward the house with a hurried request to help her change, while Josh and Reed asked me, Luke, and James to stand up beside them.
In five minutes, the party was transformed from just that—a party—to a wedding. Luke, James, and I stood next to Reed and Josh, who held hands, eagerly waiting for Amanda, who was expected to walk out of the french doors and onto the deck.
The music began, and the doors opened. Amanda had changed from her simple blue dress to a very bridal, floor-length white dress. She’d added flowers to her hair and had a small bouquet clasped in her hands, but her best accessory was the smile that hadn’t faltered all day.
She began walking down the makeshift aisle we’d created by parting the crowd in two. Blakely, Ivy, and Hazel had their own bouquets and followed behind Amanda.
Amanda’s parents had never come around to the fact that she’d fallen in love with two men, and those men also loved each other. But it didn’t seem to bother her. Even without her blood relatives, she was surrounded by family.
Hazel was still crying as they finally met us and the officiant at the end of the aisle, and Ivy looked like she was barely holding it together as well. Blakely’s expression was one of pure awe and wonder.
And I couldn’t look away. Even with everything else happening around us, I couldn’t tear my gaze from Blake. I caught bits and pieces of the short ceremony. When they slipped the rings on each other’s fingers, I felt emotion build in my chest, and when they exchanged vows, I had to clear my throat and wipe my eyes.
But Blakely still stole my attention.
At one point, when the three of them turned back to the crowd and requested that the party continue, Blakely finally glanced over at me. She did a double-take, but gripped the small bouquet she held tighter. I expected hostility or annoyance, but to my surprise, she smiled at me and raised her fingers in a small wave before she followed Ivy back into the house.
She was gone for so long that I had begun to worry. They’d given everyone a glass of champagne, and we’d made it through a round of toasts. One from Josh and Amanda, another from Luke, and finally one from Reed’s parents. By the end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
After the toasts and most of my glass of champagne was gone, I was on my way inside to use the restroom when I found her. She was talking to a few people I recognized from the school Amanda and Ivy taught at.
My steps slowed, and I watched as she opened her small, beaded clutch and sifted through its contents. Not finding what she was looking for, she glanced at the ground around her. Then she went back to looking in the bag, only her movements were more frantic than they were a second before. No one else noticed, but I could see her panic rising.
When she absently touched her lips, I realized what she was searching for. In a few easy strides, I walked the several feet to her and, as politely as I could, inserted myself into their little group.
“Excuse me,” I said to the other women before turning to Blakely. “I think you dropped this.” I pulled the new tube of cherry lip balm out of my jacket pocket and offered it to her.
Her brow furrowed and her eyes dropped to my outstretched hand. Understanding shifted her expression, and when she reached out to take my offering, her hand shook slightly.
It wasn’t smart, but I couldn’t resist shifting my hand, so our fingers brushed for as long as possible. Her eyes lifted to mine, and a grateful smile graced her lips. Every ounce of my self-control was necessary in that moment, because the desire to reach out and touch her was almost too much for me to bear.
But I managed. I considered asking her if she wanted to talk right then, but one of the other women in the group pulled her back into the conversation. So, I let her hand slip away and, with a nod, quickly excused myself, needing the solace and the quiet of the bathroom to calm my racing thoughts.