58. Critical Nineteen #4
“Sometimes it was little things. What movie we watched. Where we went to dinner. What plans mattered more. And I thought that was normal, because some of it is. Relationships take compromise.”
She looks down at their joined hands for a second.
“But somewhere along the way, I stopped knowing the difference between compromise and disappearing.”
Griffin’s expression changes.
“I stayed too long in a relationship where loving somebody meant giving up pieces of myself a little at a time. My comfort. My plans. My opinions when they were inconvenient. The parts of me that were apparently too loud or too difficult or too much.”
Clay bows his head.
Cami’s mother reaches for her father’s hand.
“I thought sacrifice was proof. That if I loved someone enough, I should be willing to bend farther. Give more. Need less. Make myself easier to keep.”
Her voice shakes, but she doesn’t stop.
“And after a while, you can lose a lot of yourself that way without noticing exactly when it happened.”
Griffin squeezes her hands.
Cami looks at him.
“Then I moved into a house with four men who were supposed to be roommates.”
Dex whispers, “Classic mistake.”
Clay elbows him.
Cami laughs through her tears.
“So obviously, that went very well.”
Her eyes move toward all of us.
“You were the first person who gave me something enormous without making me feel like I owed you pieces of myself in return.”
She turns back to Griffin.
“You gave me safety before I knew how to accept it. And then you—and all of them—kept showing me that being loved didn’t have to cost me who I was.”
My throat burns.
Dex’s head drops.
Ronan closes his eyes briefly.
Cami takes another breath.
“You never asked me to be quieter. Less independent. Less complicated. Less tattooed. Less sick. Less stubborn.”
Griffin laughs wetly.
“Definitely not less stubborn.”
“Good. Because that one wasn’t happening.”
The room laughs with them.
Then her voice softens again.
“Thank you for loving me without asking me to stop being myself.”
That one fucking lands.
“You somehow made space for more of me instead.”
Griffin is crying openly now.
“So I promise you the same thing. I promise I will never ask you to make yourself smaller so I can feel bigger. I promise I’ll tell you what I need instead of pretending I don’t need anything.
I promise not to make you guess when I’m hurt, even though I am probably going to be terrible at that one for a while. ”
He laughs softly.
“I promise I will keep choosing you. Not because you’re my husband on paper. Not because you’re the safest option. And not because you rescued me.”
Her smile trembles.
“Although you really fucking love rescuing people.”
He laughs again.
“I choose you because you’re you.”
She wipes her cheek with the heel of her hand.
“I promise to keep building this ridiculous life with you even when the map makes absolutely no fucking sense. And I promise that no matter how many people love us, no matter how complicated our family becomes, being loved by them will never make what I feel for you smaller.”
Griffin breaks.
It’s subtle at first.
One tear.
Then another.
Cami cups his face.
“You are my husband. My best friend. My emergency contact.”
That gets another wet laugh.
“My favorite medic.”
She smiles up at Griffin. “And you’re home.”
I have to look down.
Because that one lands everywhere.
The rings come next.
Actual wedding bands this time.
Griffin slides hers onto her finger slowly, like the tiny circle weighs more than anything he’s ever held.
Cami does the same.
When they’re pronounced husband and wife—again—Cami laughs into the kiss.
Griffin’s hand wraps around her waist.
The room cheers.
Dex is the loudest.
Obviously.
At the reception, the moments come in flashes.
Cami dancing with her father.
Then Clay.
Her mother fixing one tiny piece of her hair and kissing her temple afterward.
Luke hugging Griffin hard enough to make him stumble.
Ellie pulling Cami into her arms and whispering something that makes Cami cry again.
Dex stealing Griffin for a dance because “the groom deserves a spin.”
Ronan standing beside me at the edge of the dance floor, shoulders relaxed, eyes following everyone without the old tension that used to live there.
Then Cami comes for us.
Of course she does.
She drags me into one song.
Ronan into the next.
Dex cuts in halfway through both.
Eventually Griffin joins, and it’s messy because there is no choreography and nobody cares.
The photographer starts calling for family pictures.
Parents.
Siblings.
Bride and groom.
Wedding party.
Then she pauses and looks at the five of us.
“Do you want one together?”
Cami doesn’t hesitate.
“Absolutely.”
Griffin nods.
Dex is already moving.
Ronan looks at me.
I look back.
Then we step in.
Nobody hides.
Nobody stands three feet away pretending we’re friends.
Cami is in the middle with Griffin beside her, and the rest of us fit where we fit. Dex’s hand lands on my waist. Ronan’s shoulder presses mine. Cami reaches back and catches my fingers.
The photographer lifts the camera.
“Okay. Everybody look here.”
I do.
The shutter clicks.
And there is nothing outside the frame.