Page 118 of Break Your Fall

I spot a few people already heading to the food cart propped up near seating, two of those people being Camille and Jessa. I chuckle at their gall, a string of hope around my heart that they’re seemingly getting along. Camille has been making the effort for me.

You’re a Wescott now.

And my sister is one of us now.

Julian is standing alone, several paces back from the seats, watching my mother and Aspen exchange vows. I can see Aspen’s mouth moving from here, my mother smiling at him like he’s a completed work of art while she’s only a rough sketch. I try to make my lips smile for her, too, but all I muster is a little jerk of the corners.

“Oh, God, I’m starving,” Tommy says through a groan after spotting the food cart.

“Well, you had quite the workout,” I tease him, and he laughs as I shove him along, his hand still in mine, pulling me along with him. We separate once we’re closing in; Tommy meeting up with Camille and Jessa while I step up next to Julian.

A Goo Goo Dolls song is playing softly from somewhere as my mother now says her vows. I haven’t told her, but I found Hootie & the Blowfish’sCracked Rear Viewalbum in my father’s desk at the gallery.

She’s running. Mom’s a runner. She’s been running from her heart my whole life, leaving a trail of destruction worse than mine in her wake, unknowingly teaching me to stand and fight. I’d floundered thanks to my own fears to confront deep waters, but the person waiting for me in that deep end only needed to remind me that I am brave. And now my heart is finally in the right place, with the right guy.

I’m not my mother,I think to myself without an ounce of uncertainty. And as the ocean breeze feathers across my cheeks, I feel free, unlinked to the woman who created me.

“Happy’s always looked good on you, Reyna,” Julian says with a small laugh, and I open my eyes, realizing they were closed, my head tilted to the wind with a smile.

“It does, doesn’t it?” I turn my smile on him. “And you too, you know.”

He nods, slow and thoughtful as he returns my smile, pointed toward the waves. “Despite everything, this is the happiest I’ve ever been.”

I nod now, my eyes scanning the people roaming the beach, some like us, spectating the ceremony from a distance. “We’re making it,” I say with pride and promise in my voice. “Everything we’ve wanted is finally falling into place for us.” I nudge his side. “And I owe you a thank you.”

Julian’s side-eye is doubting. “For what?”

“For being an asshole,” I say, my tone cheery, and amusement is already shifting his face as I tease, “It helped me get over you.” He laughs, and I add, “And now I’m with an amazing guy who’s perfect for me thatyou’vebeen blocking.”

“Ah, so it’s my fault.”

“Yep.”

“Okay,” he says with another laugh, then wraps his arm around me and pulls me into his side. “Come here.” I hug his waist. “You still wanna learn to surf? Iwouldlike to teach you.”

I hum. “Thanks, but … I’d rather play with a basketball now,” I say up at him, my voice playful, and he smirks down at me.

“All right, you two, watch the hands,” Camille teases as she joins us, Jessa and Tommy trailing behind.

“This is the lamest wedding I’ve ever seen,” Tommy says as Julian and I separate, my boyfriend stepping up to my side with a half-eaten lobster roll in his hand.

“The food’s good,” Jessa comments as she fills the space on my other side, between me and Julian now, and I agree with a moan as I chew the last of Tommy’s lobster roll he’s just fed me.

“So, are the rumors true?” Camille asks, and we all look over to see her stare directed at me. “Does Landon have a small dick or what?”

I cough through my swallow as Tommy guffaws and Julian chuckles, the three of us eyeing Camille without words while Jessa looks to me for the answer, the wait in her stare to hear something juicy drawing mine to hers and making me laugh.

“Well, speak up,” Camille chides my silence. “We’ve all been thinking it.”

I gape, all of them staring at me now, practically on the edge of their seats, like they’ve been wanting this verdict for so long and I’ve been withholding the evidence.

My eyes roll straight ahead, and I shrug, indifferent as I say, “I wasn’t impressed.”

Laughter erupts down the line, and I smile at their glee for now having insider information on our enemy, elbowing Tommy in the side as he traps his glee behind tightened lips. “You can be happy about that,” I tease him, and his laughter releases through an exhale.

“Another one bites the dust,” Camille says as movement in my periphery redirects my attention to the ceremony, which has now come to an end. Guests are standing from their seats and dispersing along the sand. “Well,” she chimes next. “Someone should at least have wedding sex.”

I feel my cheeks heat as Banks announces his presence with a smug, “I just finished.”

---