Page 72 of Blue Moon Love

“Oh, I don’t know. Why?”

“Your brother is in town until Friday. Maybe she needs someone to show her around.”

Wow, that was quick. My mom went from matchmaking me to my brother Mason, and I wondered why Milo had gotten a pass.

Willow gave us a five-minute warning, and then the photographer came in to take a few candid shots before the walk down the aisle. I glanced out the window one final time, and when I did, I saw Sam, and he wasn’t alone. He had a date. His grandpa, Witty.

My face split in a smile—that was my green light. Today, after the wedding, I was going to tell Sam everything. And we would be okay because our bond was stronger than anything, even romantic love.

34

SAM

“Sit yourself down and tell me everything ya know; it won’t take long.” ~ Archie “Witty” Whitlock

I sat at the table, trying not to think about how much pain I was in as I watched Kenna across the room talking to Destiny, who was married to my friend JJ, and Delilah, who was married to his older brother Sawyer.

Her head fell back at something one of them said, and even though I couldn’t hear the sound, I felt it spread through me like a shot of whiskey. A soothing warmth infused my bloodstream. That was how in tune we were with one another. My body physically reacted to her from a hundred yards away.

She truly was better than any pain medicine. I was doing much worse today than I had been yesterday. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline or the IV pain meds that the hospital had pumped into my system, but this morning, I woke and felt like I’d been hit by a truck, which I had.

I couldn’t lift my arm, and even breathing hurt. But the one thing that made me feel better was Kenna. Just looking at her, just being in her presence, soothed all my aches and pains.

“That sure was a nice wedding,” Witty commented as he lowered down in a chair beside me at our table. He’d been cutting it up on the dance floor, back to being his onery self, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

After he nearly passed out at the anniversary party, he saw his primary care physician, and they adjusted his blood pressure and heart disease medication. Within a few days, he’d bounced right back. He’d even put on the ten pounds he’d lost.

“It sure was,” I agreed.

The truth was, I hadn’t really been paying attention to the couple tying the knot during the ceremony or now at the reception. My mind and eyes had been on Kenna. Not only how beautiful she looked in her navy-colored, strapless, form-fitting dress, although that had taken up quite a bit of my mental RAM, but also, I’d been thinking about how I was going to talk to her, to spend time with her, and not tell her things I had no business telling her. How would I be able to stop myself from making promises I had no business making?

This morning, I’d had to leave her house to stop myself from doing just that. I’d laid in bed for over an hour after I woke up and had to bite my tongue to keep from confessing my feelings for her and admitting I wanted to be with her. Forever.

Witty leaned forward; a wrinkle formed in his forehead as he lifted his brows. “Son, when are you gonna get down on one knee and ask that girl to marry you?”

“What girl?” I turned to him, pretending I had no idea what he was talking about.

Witty just stared at me like I was an idiot.

I’m not sure why; maybe it was because I was exhausted after decades of denial, or maybe it was because I wanted him to tell me differently, but I admitted, “I can’t.”

“Why not? You’ve been in love with that girl since you two were knee-high to a grasshopper.”

“You know why I can’t.”

Witty’s face scrunched in confusion. “I sure as shit don’t.”

“I can’t hurt her.”

“What do you mean, hurt her?” His bushy gray brows knitted together.

“You saw what my dad did to my mom. I’m just like him. I’m just like you. I’m just like your dad.” I turned back and looked at Kenna, wishing things were different, that I was different.

“First off, nobody’s like my daddy. That man was one-of-a-kind, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. And son, I loved your daddy. God knows I did, but you are nothin’ like him.”

“What?” My head spun back to Witty. “What are you talking about? From the time I was born, that’s all anyone has told me. That’s all you told me.”

“Yeah, you look like him, hell yer his spittin’ image—but that’s where the similarities end. I don’t mean to talk ill of the dead, but your daddy was a selfish narcissist who only cared about himself. He treated your mama wrong.” My grandad’s eyes watered as he sniffed back the emotion. “It’s my fault. I didn’t raise him right. After I lost your grandma, I just…I was a selfish, sarcastic asshole. I wasn’t there for your daddy. Without his mama, I was broken. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just was just foolin’ around with anything in a skirt, tryin’ to fill that void she left.” He lifted his hand and wiped beneath his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. “I just wanted the pain to stop, even if it was just for a few minutes.”

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