Page 23 of Aisle Come Back to You

Blair isn’t wrong. Ronnie looks stunning, but it’s more than that. The shot is truly magical. In the photo, Ronnie’s face is beautifully framed and illuminated by the sunlight as it shines through the trees. A one-of-a-kind shot, and I’m positive it’s something only Blair could capture.

“It’s stunning,” I agree. “You’re both absolutely crushing it,” I assure them, giving Blair a meaningful glance so she knows just how much I mean it and that it’s not just lip service.

“The only problem now is that my actual wedding photos are going to look so amateurish in comparison,” Ronnie whines, her lips forming a small pout.

“Hey now, I offered to shoot your wedding, too, but you shot that down real quick,” Blair reminds her.

“Only because I need you by my side more than I need perfect pictures. In fact, the pictures wouldn’t be perfect unless you’re standing right next to me in each and every one,” she counters, as Blair rolls her eyes.

“I second this,” I chime in. “Because Ronnie had also mentioned that if you weren’t her maid of honor, I’d have to fill in and be the man of honor, and that’s way too much pressure for a guy like me.”

“Oh, whatever, you would have done just fine,” Blair dismisses as she looks back down at her camera.

“He is the most put-together one out of all of us, even after all these years,” Ronnie agrees with a small shrug. “I think you’d do a much better job than you give yourself credit for.”

“I may keep you all on task, but you’ve both always been the ones with the best ideas, especially when it comes to weddings. I’m hopeless. Believe me, just ask Jenny.”

There had been plenty of times during our own wedding planning that Jenny had asked for my advice or opinions on everything from dresses to flowers to seating plans, and never once had I been able to provide any useful feedback, or so she claimed.

“Psh, Jenny is divorcing the greatest man I know. Her opinions are less than valid here,” Ronnie huffs.

“Well, you two were never her biggest fans in the first place, so I don’t know if your opinions count here, either.”

“And obviously for good reason,” Blair mutters under her breath, but seemingly not quiet enough, since it’s clear by the look on Ronnie’s face that we both overheard it.

“And on that note…” Ronnie says, playfully wincing as she takes a few steps back, once again lifting her dress to keep it from dragging on the dirty ground. “I’m going to go back to the car and touch up my makeup before we take the next couple of shots.”

Nodding our heads, Blair and I stand in awkward silence, the tension thickening as we watch her retreat toward the car.

“Sorry about that,” Blair finally says, but instead of looking at me, she keeps herself busy by studying and flipping through the pictures she’s already taken on her camera.

“No, it’s fine. I get it. You have every reason to dislike Jenny. If it wasn’t already made clear the other day at the coffee shop, she isn’t exactly your biggest fan either. If anything, I never should have kept trying to force the two of you to have some sort of friendship.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, for your sake, I really did try, but clearly I’ve never been all that good at keeping my feelings to myself.”

I let out a small chuckle. “Well, there were often times that you had me questioning myself, wondering if our feelings were mutual growing up, but when it came to how you felt about my girlfriend, yeah, that was always pretty obvious.”

“Hey.” She frowns, though the corners of her lips are quirking up into a grin as she reaches out and gives me a light shove. “You could’ve at least lied to make me feel better.”

“I could, but lying about my own thoughts and feelings is likely what got us into some of this mess,” I joke, even if there is some truth to it.

We both would’ve been saved from a lot of heartbreak if either of us had been brave enough to confess our feelings before it was too fucking late.

“In your defense, the two of us not sharing our feelings was probably for the best.” She shrugs as my eyebrows furrow. “Maybe that’s the whole reason we were ever able to be friends for as long as we were. For all we know, we might never have worked and ruined everything either way, but destroyed it all even earlier.”

“Or maybe we would’ve been the ones getting married and you wouldn’t have ever left Evergreen Grove and I wouldn’t be on my way to getting divorced,” I say, deciding I’m no longer in themood to hold back. Clearly, that never benefited us before, so what’s the point in continuing this ridiculous charade?

She frowns, tilting her head to the side as she seems to contemplate my words. “Unfortunately, I did leave, and you did get married to someone else, and that’s just the way it is. For my sanity, I can’t live in a world of what-ifs. I have to believe that it was all for the best and that this is how it was always meant to be. Plus, what would I even be doing if I stayed here? Teaching Photography at the local high school like you and Ronnie?”

My brow knits together, not sure if I should feel insulted or not. “What’s wrong with teaching at the high school?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she sighs, reaching out to place a hand on my arm. Suddenly, it’s like I’m back in high school, hyper-aware of the intense heat that nothing more than a simple touch from her hand brings. “I just feel like I need more than that. Repeating the same lesson again and again would’ve caused me to lose my mind, even more than I already had before leaving. I also don’t feel like it ever would’ve given me the opportunity to really explore my creative freedom.”

“No, I get it. Your talent has always surpassed what this town could provide, but we could’ve figured something out. It isn’t like you’d have much competition. Didn’t Ronnie say that she had to reach out to someone from a few towns over just to find someone with enough talent to cover her wedding?” I point out. Evergreen Grove isn’t devoid of people who can take decent photographs, but there isn’t anyone that could truly offer anything close to what Blair is capable of.

“I still think she should’ve just let me do it,” she huffs, wrinkling her nose.

“No way. Like she said; we need you in the pictures too.”

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