Page 74 of Loving You

Brenna chuckled—thank god—and turned to Ellie. “It’s your day, future sister-in-law. Do you wanna listen to my songs? I’ve got the new album on my phone so we can do a little friends-and-fam preview if you want.”

Ellie’s eyes went wide, and she nodded like a bobblehead. “Yes, play it! I’d love to hear the new album!”

I refrained from squealing like a teen with backstage tickets and smoothly handed Brenna the speaker so she could pair it with her phone and cue up the album. A few seconds later, a whimsical love song that seemed like it was written with this day in mind filled the room, and we popped the champagne.

When glasses were poured for Ellie, Brenna, Kate, Rachel, Jenna, and myself, we stood in a loose circle and held them in the air.

“To Ellie—the most beautiful bride this venue has ever seen,” I began.

“And to my sweet, charming, dumbass of a brother,” Brenna added with a wink at Ellie, “who finally got over himself and made a move on his best friend.”

We all laughed at that and tapped our glasses, cheering, “To Ellie and Jake,” before taking a sip.

But then Jenna cleared her throat. “I’m the one who pushed them into being roommates when she first moved back to town. Don’t I get a little credit for this day? I’d say let’s do another toast to my efforts.”

Ellie’s eyes welled up with happy tears. “Yes, you do deserve some credit. But I have to say, I had no idea it would turn into…this,so at first I was really mad at you for all that meddling.”

“I’m sure youweremad, sweetheart,” Jenna said, stepping forward to hug her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, “but somebody had to do something, right? Otherwise you two might’ve circled around each other for the rest of your lives without admitting how you’ve always felt. We wouldn’t have wanted that, now would we?”

When Jenna pulled back, Ellie shook her head with a watery laugh.

Then something tightened in my chest. Ellie and Jake hadn’t taken their friendship to the next level until Jenna had forced them to share a roof, and now…

Well,shit.

As much as I hated Cliff, I also had a brief flash of me toasting his sorry ass on myownwedding day—not that he’d be there to see it—and thanking him for being such a creep that I’d been forced to move into Eric’s place.

Sure, it’d started because the safety his Fort-Knox-ish home offered was too good to pass up. But that wasn’t the only reason I’d gone to Eric for help, and we both knew it.

Turned out, all we’d needed was a little push, just like Ellie and Jake. So, yeah, dick or not, I internally thanked my douchebag ex for being good for something. And if that wasn’t a silver lining approach to overcoming past trauma, I didn’t know what was.

“Let’s toast to me then,” Jenna said, wiping her eyes with a laugh and stepping back to her place in the circle.

We clinked our glasses, took another sip, and then Ellie spoke up. “One more thing.”

I flared my eyes at her. “Girl, let’s not send you down the aisle wasted. It’s not a good look.”

Ellie chuckled. “Hush. Brenna already said it was my day, so if I want to make another toast of my own, I will. Besides, we’re sipping here.”

I waved my hand and bowed, giving her the floor.

“It means the world to me that you’re all here. Jenna, Brenna, you’ve been my family my whole life, and I’m so happy to be joining the Walkers for real instead of just an honorary next-door member.”

Brenna blew her a kiss, and Jenna wiped her eyes again.

“Kate and Rachel, I’m so grateful to have met you both,” she went on, and I found myself seriously hoping that she had something special she wanted to say to me becausehello, why wasn’t I included in the friend part of this toast? “You two are already married to two Walker men, and the fact that we became friends and now get to be sisters is such a gift.”

I tapped my foot and arched a brow, making them all laugh again.“Oh, sure, so since I’m not married to a Walker man I don’t get to be included in that cute little part of the toast? I’mwithEric now, ya know.”

Ellie gave me a sassy smile. “You are, but have you told him you love him yet? Because if you’d have let me finish, you would’ve heard your owncute little toastabout how I hope you do it soon and that you and Eric will be next.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Dammit. You’re right. That would’ve been really cute. I suck.”

“You don’t suck, you’re amazing,” the bride replied, putting her arm around me and touching the side of her head to mine while the others smiled on. “I know it’s been a hard year—er, well,severalyears, but I’m grateful for our friendship, and I’m so happy you have us and we have you.”

“But you should really tell him you love him, dear,” Jenna said, pointing at me, “life is short.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well, now it’s like this flirty game between us. He says it and I don’t, and it’s all sexy and fun. I’m kinda here for it, so maybe I never will.”

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