Page 102 of It Should Have Been Me

Connor, Dylan, Peter, Lia, Eddy, and Tommy are already seated, and they watch me in anticipation. Keith holds out his arm and I loop mine through it before we take slow steps along the wooden beams toward the priest and the man I’m about to marry. The grin on his face is a mile wide. He’s gorgeous, dressed in a black suit that looks like it was custom-made to fit his broad shoulders.

I have to bite my lip to stop myself from crying. Memories flood my head, our entire history unfolding as I take each step closer to him.

“These abs – they’re sexy as fuck! You’re telling me they don’t even tickle your lady boner?”

Step.

“I do like you, Soldier. I like you a lot. So much it scares me. This is my level of trust right now.” And then I gave him my number.

Step.

“You know, Cat, we were meant to be more than just memories.”

Step.

“If I just think of the size of you, two hands are an absolute necessity. I need one hand for the microscope and the other for the tweezer.”

Step.

“You don’t feel it? I’m dying to kiss you right now.”

Step.

“I didn’t Men-In-Black you out of my life, Asshole.”

Step.

“Out of all the people in the world, I could’ve fallen in love with anyone else and this wouldn’t be so hard, but...fuck, it just had to be you.”

Step.

“I got so caught up in chasing the big adventures that I forgot that life with you is a continuous series of little ones.”

Step.

“No, Catalina, I’m not giving you up for anything.”

And all those memories culminate into this one moment, the moment when I take his hand and exchange our wedding vows. Scott is holding a single flower with peach-colored petals. It’s odd in its appearance. The petals on the inside look like three conjoined hearts arranged in a circular fashion, but they’re cupped and enclosed by the petals on the outside.

“This is a Juliet rose,” he says, sliding it into the middle of my bouquet of plain white roses. “It’s named after Shakespeare’s Juliet, and it’s the rarest and most beautiful rose in the world. It has ninety-six petals, which is more than most roses. And because they’re compressed into these little hearts, when it blooms, the petals don’t create a single spiral. This one is unique, so I guess it’s unfair to say that one rose is just like another.”

I smile. “And how do you feel about that?”

“Like the luckiest guy in the world.”

Scott and I exchange our vows with waves crashing in the background and random strangers taking pictures as they walk past. He barely waits for the priest to finish the last prayer before he pulls me into his arms and kisses me. We get a round of applause from our small band of guests before they all come up to congratulate us.

“So, the garter was right,” Dylan says as he shakes Scott’s hand. “You were the next one to get married...but then you went and gave it to Lia.”

“Well, we’ll just have to see what happens next.” Scott chuckles and winks at Peter. “Pete’s in it for the long haul now, ain’t that right, Pete?”

Peter doesn’t answer and instead gives a disinterested eye-roll before he slips a protective arm around Lia to pull her closer.

Because they’re right there, I can’t ask Scott what he means by that. I make a mental note to get to the bottom of the weird smirks these three men are exchanging later. Right now, I just want to bask in the bliss of being around all the people I love.

The slow, sexy beat of CNCO’sEl Amor de Mi Vidastarts to play, and the lyrics are the perfect depiction of our love story. The ambiance in the early evening air, the flickering of the candles in the dimming light, and the tempo of the song fill me with inexplicable joy as Scott reaches his hand out to me. “Catalina Carter, may I have this dance?”

And then hearing his last name at the end of mine – my smile stretches so wide, my cheeks start to hurt. I take his hand and he scoops me up with one arm, twirling me around before setting me on my feet again. I loop my arms around his neck and kiss him.

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