Chapter 45
Luca
One year later
“What’s Valérie doing over there?”
Annoyed, Jannis rolls his eyes. “Why does everyone ask me whenever something’s up with Valérie? Dayyan too.”
“Because you’re best friends, it doesn’t make sense to ask anyone else.” Except Valérie themselves, of course, but that seems rather inappropriate under the given circumstances.
“Okay, what’s Val doing?”
“See for yourself. They’re behind the pool, by the big fir tree.”
Jannis turns discreetly in that direction, takes a sip of his drink, and then raises his eyebrows.
“What exactly is so interesting about this… situation…?” He hesitated, I heard it clearly.
“I’ve never seen Val with a man before.”
“There are two men. I thought you were highly gifted, counting to two should be within your capabilities.” No one can infuriate me like Jannis does when he deliberately plays dumb, and he knows it.
“V is flirting.”
“Definitely. And what… ? Oh!” Jannis’s eyes widen as the shorter of the two wraps his arm around Val’s waist and pulls them close to whisper something in their ear. Valérie laughs out loud and the other guy shrugs.
“Is Val into guys?” My questions are getting worse and worse, at least if I’m reading my brother’s expression correctly.
“Obviously. Luca, what are you getting at? If you don’t get to the point now, you can keep annoying Noah, and I’ll go looking for my husband.”
Where is Noah, anyway? Nervously, I scan the guests, looking for red hair. I find him sitting at a table, without his glasses, with Flocke’s head in his lap. Shit, what’s going on?
“Go to your man, I have to go to mine.” I nod toward Noah, and Jannis sees the problem immediately.
“Where are his glasses?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“Mon Papillon?” His head immediately turns in my direction, but he’s looking right past me. Is that a black eye? He has tears in his eyes and is clinging tightly to Flocke. Damn, I love that dog. “Don’t be scared, I’m going to give you a hug now.”
Noah nods quickly and immediately rests his head on my stomach. His whole body is shaking as he wraps his arms around me. “What happened?”
“There was this huge guy, and I don’t think he knows his own size. He walked right past me and gave me a solid elbow to the face. My glasses flew off my nose, and I don’t need to tell you how pointless it is for me to crawl around on the floor looking for them.” No, he doesn’t.
“Damn. And he didn’t turn around to look at you?”
Noah raises an eyebrow. “If you ask me, he didn’t even realize he’d touched me.”
Oh, okay, that’s what I call body awareness.
“Can I leave you here while…?” That’s as far as I get, because Dayyan is standing on a chair, tapping a spoon against a glass.
“Dear guests, Jannis and I are so happy that you’re all here.
Don’t panic, this isn’t going to be a speech.
I don’t know the exact circumstances, but my dear friend and future brother-in-law Noah is sitting up there without his glasses.
” He points in Noah’s direction, who lets his head drop in shame.
Too much attention for his taste. “Without those glasses, he can’t see anything but blurry shadows and outlines.
So please, look down at your feet so no one steps on them, and with that the first and only wedding game for today is officially open: ‘Find Noah’s Glasses. ’”
I think it’s a great idea, but Noah groans. “Could this get any more embarrassing? Why can’t I just not be embarrassing for once?”
“What are you talking about? You didn’t do anything. You can’t see anything without your glasses, that’s not something you can control. That guy should be the one feeling embarrassed.”
Not really convinced, Noah looks up at me. “How do you put up with me? I’m constantly depending on you. I can’t get anything done without you.”
Ah, in situations like this, self-doubt always gets the better of him. It happens rarely, but it still happens. “That’s why you should marry me and make sure I stay with you for the rest of our lives.”
My tone is light and humorous, but Noah remains serious. “No.”
I knew he’d say that, especially in a situation where he’s so obviously dependent on me.
Still, it stings. I don’t care how much support he needs, Noah does just as much for me.
Every night he sets up my aroma lamp and reorders the oil.
Since we’ve been together, I haven’t been a day late for class because he structures my mornings and keeps track of my chaos without comment and without judgmental looks.
On restless nights, he lays my head on his chest so I can hear his heartbeat.
Noah can’t see how my lower lip is trembling or how tears are welling up in my eyes, yet he reaches for my hand resting on his shoulder. “Chéri, we’ve already talked about this. I…” He lets his head drop. That’s not a “no” to me, it’s a “no” to himself, and that’s almost worse.
“I’ve got them!” A—and I’m quoting my boyfriend—huge guy is jogging awkwardly across the field. From Noah’s perspective, a lot of men are tall, though “huge” should have made me suspicious.
The guy is gigantic, but he has absolutely no control over his bulk. At the edge of the lawn, he stumbles and almost falls on Nika, whom he’d probably have crushed. Completely out of breath, he hands the glasses to Noah, who immediately kicks me in the shin.
Shit, I’m staring. Up. I’m staring up, that’s never happened to me before. Is this how Noah feels when he looks at me? Fuck, that’s scary.
“They were lying back there in the grass, somewhat hidden under the bush.”
“Thank you very much.” Noah’s voice is gentle, even though I know he’s incredibly upset inside. But the guy is a bundle of nerves, and Noah senses his insecurity. He doesn’t want to rob him of what little self-confidence he has left. I love this man.
“You’re welcome. I… uh, I’m going to get back now. See… yeah.” Just in time, I pull Levi toward me, or the little guy would’ve taken a swing with the hip, and a one-year-old would’ve surely flown a few feet.
“I wonder how he and Valérie know each other?” With furrowed brows, Noah watches as the guy walks toward V with his head down.
“No idea, the three of them were standing together earlier too.”
“He’s practically staring at Val like this heart eyed emoji.” He is, but what’s really interesting is that V isn’t keeping him at a distance. Just like they did with the other guy from earlier.