Page 106 of Say the Words
While the audience toasted and cheered, Eden stood and wrapped me in a huge hug.
“I told you not to make me cry,” she said in my ear.
“You knew I would if I could.”
We sat down again for another quick speech from Uncle Joel, thanking everyone for coming. I still buzzed with nerves from being center stage while my brain malfunctioned over Ty. Worse, he hadn’t taken his eyes off me since before my speech. No matter how he stared, I couldn’t look at him. If I did, I would start to cry, and absolutely all of this mess had happened because I didn’t want to cause a scene at my cousin’s dang wedding.
With the speeches wrapped up, it was time for dancing. I wasn’t sure I had the heart to dance all night, but it was Eden’s special day—I would do whatever I could to make it perfect. The crowd slowly made their way into the next room, where the dance floor spread out beneath strings of fairy lights. Ty followed close behind me, and though we didn’t touch, the weight of his eyes on me had my heart in my throat. We had one last official duty as Maid of Honor and Best Man. A fake smile was one thing, but fake happy-dancing? I should have brought the purse bourbon.
Booker and Eden were introduced again as husband and wife, to room-shaking applause. They swayed together in the middle of the dance floor while “Love is Here to Stay” by Ella Fitzgerald played. Eden grinned up at Booker as if she were etching the moment on her heart, and he gazed down at her like he’d been handed the whole world.
My heart squeezed as if giant hands had wrung it out.I want to be like that.
Ty stood next to me at the edge of the crowd, close enough his body heat warmed me from the outside in. I stared straight ahead, looking through Booker and Eden, pulling all my pride and self-respect together. I could do this. One last dance. And then…what?
I didn’t have a clue, but the only way out was through.
Louis Armstrong’s “The Sunshine of Love” started, and I recognized my cue. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were supposed to join Booker and Eden out on the dance floor for the second song, but the party would really start when the third song played.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked Ty.
“I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.”
He held his hand out to me, a silent invitation. Fighting the gravitational pull threatening to crash me straight back into my foolish hopes, I slipped my hand into his. He walked us onto the dance floor beneath the twinkling lights, then drew me to him. Held close in the comfort of his arms, his hand warming the small of my back, all my plans to be detached and distant evaporated. I wanted to sink into his closeness forever. My heart seemed to swell up with that want, even though I knew I should flatten it back out.
“June.” My name sounded like longing on his lips, a secret confession in that one word. “I should have told you as soon as I knew Bret wasn’t being true to you. I’m sorry I let you go through that.”
The desperation in his voice squeezed my chest, slowing my breath. The song played on, the bridal party swayed in time, and all around us, other guests watched us dance. But for me, nothing else mattered but Ty.
“I wanted to tell you, but how could I? Your heart would be hurt either way. I was the only one who stood to gain anything. I was crazy for you from the day we met.”
My heart thundered in my ears until I had to strain to hear his words.
“I looked forward to every conversation I had with you, every glance, every stray touch of your hand. I thought it was okay, because I was the only one who would get hurt. But what did that make me, falling for my brother’s girl? I couldn’t stand seeing you with Bret, who didn’t understand you, and didn’t deserve you.”
His hand holding mine tightened, his thumb stroking my knuckles as his words soothed my bruised heart.
“When he stupidly told me what he was doing, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t be the one to end your relationship that I’d come to hate. I knew I was being selfish either way. How could I pretend I was only doing right by you when I wanted you for myself?”
His soft words of confession were a balm on my soul, sweeping away all my doubts and worries. Hope spread its wings and soared, filling me with a giddy lightness. I might have been floating for all I knew, held to earth only by Ty’s hands as we danced circles with the bridal party.
“And I do want you, June,” he said, his voice hoarse, as if every word cost him. “Maybe I’m still being selfish, but I love you, and I don’t want to lose you.”
I stopped swaying as though I’d come up against a wall, and we stumbled together, Ty wincing at the contact. Those three marvelous words flooded my senses, obliterating all coherent thought.
“You love me?”
Raw emotion etched his face. “Hell yes, I do.”
My heart was fit to burst, a star exploding from joy. “That’s good, because I love you, too.”
Relief and victory lit his eyes before he leaned down to press his mouth to mine. Sweet and tender, the kiss conveyed everything he felt for me in those soft touches. When he finally drew away, he rested his forehead on mine.
“I don’t know what I could do in Austin, but if that’s where you need to be for your new business, then that’s where I’ll be.”
I pulled away, my mind shifting gears to try to follow that left-turn. “What? No.”
Doubt crept back into his face, lining his forehead and tugging at his mouth. “No to which part?”
