Chapter 28
There was no more perfect sight to Maggie’s eyes than the bright red recording sign of a camera flashing on. Signaling showtime, ready to begin.
It had taken some getting used to, picking up her camera. It was also powerful, to reclaim something she’d sworn she would never touch again after everything that had happened in LA. No matter how broken Maggie had felt, there was no denying that making movies, storytelling, was her passion. Her favorite thing in the world. Kurt had ruined so much for her, taken her words, her energy, her years, not to mention the unpaid overtime. She didn’t need a job to prove what she knew to be innate. She didn’t need Kurt’s support. His stamp of approval was worthless; she could see that now.
Maggie was filming again, and it had never felt more right.
Glancing at the Maguire’s entrance clock, she saw that there were still a few minutes before Liz and Cam were due to arrive. Guests trickled in, greeted by champagne on trays and appetizers passed with tiny napkins that read, Liz and Cam—#BaesByTheBae. Who knew Roseanne Peters approved of a hashtag?
Maggie opened her Notes app:
All around me, guests grin in anticipation of a night we’re sure to remember. A kickoff to kick-start a celebration. The precursor to the wedding is almost more exciting than the ceremony itself. An opportunity not to witness any change, but just to cheer and marvel. To rev each other up. The pomp will come in due time. Tonight, we are here to party.
Maggie was elated to be a part of that party.
She just hoped that Liz and Cam had worked through their recent rough patch.
Then Maggie looked at her phone screen and felt her heart skip involuntarily.
1 missed call from Ty
She hadn’t seen Ty in person since that Sunday morning in Ocean Beach, but they’d spent the past few weeks texting. Sharing movie and TV show recommendations, live reactions during HBO’s Sunday night programming. But then notes continued into midweek check-ins on each other’s day. It always made her smile, she couldn’t deny, to catch his name on her phone.
Was he thinking of her now? Did he want to meet up, to hang out? Did she want to?
She did.
Maggie went to return the call, to click on his name, but then she heard the doors to Maguire’s opening.
If all was to go according to plan, Liz and Cam were about to walk in.
She’d try again later, Maggie told herself as she confirmed that the sound was ready and peered into her camera’s viewfinder.
The display showed Mac’s eager grin before Maggie really registered what was happening. It wasn’t strange that Mac would walk in first, she reasoned, but was it weird that he was clearing his throat, and standing front and center, and making a sudden announcement?
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” His voice boomed through the space, quieting the guests down. “At the request of our party honorees, Liz and Cam, could everyone please take a seat?”
The crowd murmured as it obliged. Then all faces turned their attention back toward Mac. “Tucker, my man. You ready?” The event coordinator gave Mac a thumbs-up, a grin.
“Everyone, we are honored to welcome you today to the wedding ceremony of Cameron Peters and Elizabeth Grey.”
And just like that, there were tears in Maggie’s eyes. Liz and Cam hadn’t simply found their way back. They were committing fully to their future.
Maggie knew she couldn’t miss a moment.
The room gasped as music began to play through the speakers. The doors opened and in walked Cam. He had the biggest smile she’d ever seen as he moved down the center of the room, a makeshift aisle, and stood in front of the windows that overlooked the bay.
Maggie picked up her camera and moved closer to the action. She tried to keep her hands from sweating.
This was a wedding.
Her best friend’s wedding.
She normally would be one part of a videography crew of two or three, all helping capture the night from every angle. The faces of the crowd, the bride’s entrance, the groom’s wonder as the love of his life walked in. Luckily, she had filmed details of the flower arrangements and the party signs, exterior shots of the restaurant, the sun as it began to loosen its hover in the sky. For the rest of the night’s coverage, Maggie would just have to give it her best.
She could do this.
For the next twenty minutes, she delicately tiptoed through the crowd. Liz looked stunning, simply stunning, as she walked down the aisle in her mom’s dress, Nancy’s spirit so present for this moment.
Cam’s shoulders danced the entire ceremony, whether with laughter or with tears. He and Liz held each other’s hands, welded together, greedy with luck and love.
Mac was the officiant, but it was a surprise for everyone else, his own parents included. Maggie could tell from Roseanne’s fake smile that she wasn’t fully elated by the unexpected event.
But she could also tell from the way that Cam and Liz looked at each other that nothing else would matter. No one else’s expectations, no one else’s promises. It was the two of them, forever.
Mac’s ceremony was perfect. Short and hilarious, gracious and gentle. Everyone in the room knew what Cam and Liz had been through. From neighbors to best friends, to soul mates and survivors. They built each other up with each hardship and came back stronger every time. Mac said he was a better human simply for having known them, and Maggie could see the entire audience nodding in agreement.
Maggie’s heart skipped as Mac officially declared Cam and Liz the newest Mr. and Mrs. Peters. Guests cheered as they witnessed the newlyweds’ first kiss. She captured everything with a steady hand, following Liz and Cam until they walked out of the room for a brief quiet moment. A breath to steal a kiss and grab a quick snack before greeting a room filled with family and fans.
As Maggie spun the camera to record the crowd’s reactions, that intoxicating, awestruck moment between ceremony and reception, her lens landed on Roseanne Peters.
And Roseanne Peters did not look happy.
Maggie could tell from the arch in her brow, the scowl on her lips, that Liz’s mother-in-law had been caught off guard by the whole ceremony. That she didn’t like it, not one bit. Maggie hated the thought of Liz and Cam having to see Roseanne stressed out, of any anxiety vanquishing their moment of freshly vowed love. She had to help.
Luckily, a light bulb sparked. Maggie knew what to do.
“Mrs. Peters! Congratulations. You look gorgeous,” she sang in her best parent-pleasing voice.
“Hi, darling, thank you,” Roseanne said with a tight smile. “Is that thing on?”
“Always.” Maggie lifted her camera in response. “I can’t believe they’re married. What a surprise! Do you have anything to say to the bride and groom?”
Roseanne coughed slightly and gave a polite smile. “I love you both. Here’s to your eternal happiness. Congratulations.” She lifted her champagne glass toward the camera, but Maggie could tell there was still a hint of pain behind Roseanne’s eyes. She’d need to try something else.
“Given the nature of a surprise ceremony, I want to go around and ask everyone what their favorite surprise is, second to tonight’s wedding, of course,” Maggie said, her face still behind the camera, her mind and spirit praying this play would work. That she could switch Roseanne’s focus to memories of the past, not the blip of the present. That she’d remember and proceed with the good. “So, Mrs. Peters, besides the beautiful ceremony we just witnessed—what has been your favorite surprise in life?”
Roseanne faltered for a moment, taken aback by the question. She looked at the ceiling, as if searching for an answer, until something occurred to her. A half breath later, her eyes dropped down and met the camera’s gaze. This time, Maggie could tell there was a layer of moisture beneath the surface. Roseanne’s face changed, at once more raw but also more joyful.
“The day I found out that I was pregnant with twins. Mac and Cam were the best surprise I’d ever gotten. We had no idea what to expect, how to raise one kid, let alone two, and, well…” Roseanne’s voice trailed off as her eyes found Mac in the room. They tiptoed next across the space to where Cam and Liz had just entered, already a crowd forming around them for congratulations and hugs. “Cam finding his soul mate in high school and being wise enough to hold on to her all these years. That was the second-best surprise. Thank you for recording this, Maggie. I can’t wait to see the footage.”
With that, Roseanne excused herself and made her way to sweep Cam and Liz into a massive embrace.
“Well done,” Quinn said as she sidled up next to Maggie from where she’d been watching.
“Thank you,” Maggie said, grinning, “but you aren’t getting out of this Q and A that easy. Come on, Quinn. A word to the newlyweds, and your favorite surprise. Spill.”
For the next hour or so, Maggie made her way around the party, recording answers from the guests and capturing the magic of the night. Everyone had warm wishes, but the surprises were the most heartfelt. The most spontaneous. Cam’s uncle recounted winning five thousand dollars on a scratch-off he’d bought for two bucks at Amia’s deli in town. PJ’s answer was when his parents flew in for UVA’s Parents’ Weekend, after they had initially said they couldn’t make the trip. Family friends Grace and Sam Sharp said their favorite surprise was when the power went out at their daughter’s wedding reception, but everyone started singing a cappella instead. Mac’s twelve-year-old cousin remembered a bonus onion ring that came in a stash of french fries, a small silver lining in a moment when he’d needed it most.
Maggie hoped Liz and Cam wouldn’t mind the direction she’d taken, but she thought there was something magical about knowing what memories their wedding would help inspire. Maggie had had her fair share of surprises these past few months. Tonight, this celebration, was the best one yet.
After Liz and Cam’s first dance, Maggie sat down to massage her feet. She’d forgotten the ache of being a heel-donning camerawoman. She loved it; she just needed a break. The party was going perfectly. Filled with those moments that felt like religion, the meaning of life, the purpose of all of this. Relationships were what mattered. These moments, together.
She took out her phone. Her fingers itched for her trusty Notes app, but instead, she opened her Contacts app to her mom’s name.
Since moving home, Maggie had meant to visit her parents. They’d scheduled a few dinners, a Sunday barbecue, but her mom had a headache, and then her dad had to work, and then Maggie had to reschedule, and nothing carried through. She had filled them in on a few major career and moving-related highlights via text—most recently, the truth about Kurt. Typically, she was met with the bare minimum response, but Maggie hoped there might be room for more this time.
Now she typed out a message:
Hi Mom. Miss you. Can we talk?
She almost deleted the words. But then, before she could change her mind, she pressed send.
Maybe this would be the next surprise in store.
The music switched to a popular Earth, Wind Fire song as more guests filled the dance floor. Maggie stood to record the scene and panned the lens through the crowd, but she nearly dropped the camera when she saw his face.
Ty!
Was that Ty?
She experienced an all-too-familiar feeling of shivers as she extended her head over the frame to confirm with her own eyes, but before she could find Ty’s face again, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Can the videographer spare a dance?”
It was Mac.
“Don’t worry. Just as friends.”
Maggie tried to slow her breathing. Why was Ty at Liz and Cam’s party? Why did he keep showing up? Why did it keep having a strange and sudden effect on the alchemy in Maggie’s bloodstream?
“Just one dance,” Mac pled. “Purely platonic. Please, I can’t handle my Grandma Peach pointing at every girl in here, asking which one I’m dating.”
“You want me to lie to Grandma Peach?” Maggie faux-gasped, one eye still looking for Ty.
“What she won’t know won’t hurt her,” Mac said. His smile was as kind, his eyes as convincing as ever. Maggie considered it, until she saw a whir at the venue’s entrance, a door creaking closed, a figure walking away.
Her heart, once again? It skipped.
Ty had left.