Page 100 of Aisle Be The Groom
“Oh. Dad didn’t come?”
“No, I thought it best he didn’t travel all this way with a concussion.”
“That makes sense. How is he?”
“Doing better.”
“Good.”
As we approached the truck, Matty came out. “Car, welcome home.”
The brothers hugged while I got into the truck. I took several deep breaths and watched them from the rearview mirror as they talked, too low to hear. Matty wouldn’t steal my thunder to soften the blow, would he?
They loaded Carter’s suitcases in the back of the truck, then joined me. Matty kept the radio off this time as Carter talked about his adventures in the Caribbean.
“It’s amazing, man.” Carter squeezed my shoulder from the back seat. “I’ll have to take you some time, Ozzie. You’ll love it.”
“I’m sure I’ll go someday.”Just not with you.
Matty knew my plan, so he pulled off the highway and parked in front of a restaurant.
“I still think we could have gone straight home,” Carter said as he got out of the car. Even though he was out first, he didn’t make any attempt to open my door.
“I’m hungry too, man,” Matty said. “It won’t take long. I hope.”
We entered the restaurant and found a table in the corner, the plastic seats cold under us as we sat. It was a classic road-house diner, the smell of grilled burgers and onions heavy in the air. Matty asked me to order him a light beer, then went to the restrooms.
A waiter stopped by our table. “Hi! I’m Dev. What can I get you folks?”
“Just three light beers for now,” I said before Carter could. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I’ll be back in a few.”
He walked away, leaving Carter and me alone. The restaurant was half-filled, but nobody else mattered. Just the man sitting in front of me.
“Ozzie, is something wrong?” Carter asked. “Tell me, and I’ll fix it.”
“And if it’s not fixable?”
“There’s nothing we can’t fix. We love each other.”
The waiter put our drinks on the table. A good thing too because I wanted to flay Carter alive with his careless words. Did he think what we had was love? I’d been stupid to, but I knew better now.
“Matty’s gone awfully long,” he said when the waiter left.
“He’s giving us privacy to talk.”
Carter sighed, reaching out for my hand on the table, but I pulled it away. “I know I was wrong for not coming back when I said I would. It’s just that I hadn’t had a vacation in such a long time. Once I was there, I realized how stressed I was, but that’sno excuse for leaving you with my dad and providing you with no support. But I’m here now. Whatever’s left to do for the wedding, I promise you won’t have to lift a finger. I’ll do it all.”
I fished his engagement ring out of my pocket. His mouth fell open, “Ozzie…”
“You didn’t realize I wasn’t wearing it, did you?”
“I…I didn’t.” He bowed his head as though ashamed.
“When you gave me this ring, I thought I was the happiest I could ever be.” I placed the ring down before him. “I was wrong. We can’t get married.”
“Is this because I went away?”
