Julie pulled her bare feet to the leather couch and rested her chin on her knees. “I can’t talk about what I don’t understand.”
“He matters to you,” Lauren said, and it wasn’t a question.
“He’s about to be your brother-in-law,” she said, avoiding a direct reply. “That’s trouble waiting to happen.”
“You’re both grown adults. You can be around each other if something doesn’t work out.”
Julie snorted. “Adults who break up rarely act like adults.”
“You’re making an excuse to avoid him when you don’t want to avoid him at all,” Lauren said. “And honey, I’ll tell you right now that since the first time you were with Luke, you’ve changed. He’s in your head and you can’t ignore that. Deal with it one way or the other.”
It was true. She’d changed in so many ways. “Since Luke…” Her words trailed off and she zipped her lips. This was not the Julie ‘boo-hoo’ show tonight. She sat up and grabbed a bag of cookies from the table, then smacked the box against the one Lauren had set on the couch. “Eat and let’s talk about your wedding, not me.”
Lauren started to object and Julie added, “Don’t make me go down the road and get Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”
Lauren held up her hands in acceptance. “I’ll never fit in my dress if you go that far. I’ll eat cookies. Just don’t hide in the bathroom with the best man right before the ceremony, okay? At least wait until after.”
“Fine,” Julie laughed. “After.” And she tried to put Luke out of her mind. But couldn’t. Later, when she and Lauren had snuggled into their beds, with the wedding only hours away, she lay there thinking of him. Of the kisses, the touches, of how he’d said ‘if it’s important to you, then it’s important to me.’
She had no idea what got into her, but she grabbed her phone and typed a text to Luke. Thank you.
He texted back almost immediately. For what?
Still being the kind of man the world needs more of, she thought, but instead she typed, Everything.
And his reply, Anything for you, Sweetheart, gave her a funny feeling in her chest that she didn’t want to try to identify.
***
The wedding was held at Pier Sixty off New York’s Hudson River, the spectacular views enjoyed by all the guests. Julie, like four other girls, was dressed in a pale blue sheath, but only she was allowed in Lauren’s private room before the ceremony.
“What if I trip going down the aisle?” Lauren asked, wringing her hands. “I mean, my father has politicians from all over the country out there.”
Julie’s lips turned up in a smile. “I have no doubt Royce will catch you. And this day isn’t about your father. It’s about you and Royce.”
Lauren nodded. “I know. I know. And when I see him I’ll forget the rest.” She scrutinized her appearance in the mirror, “Are you sure my make-up isn’t too dark?”
Julie walked up to Lauren, carefully avoiding her long skirt, and put her arm over her shoulder. Lauren was a princess in a full, sleek figure-hugging skirt that flared mermaid style. “Look at you,” Julie whispered. “You’re stunning.”
Lauren made a weak effort at a smile. “You think?”
“I know,” she said, her gaze tracing the auburn ringlets around Lauren’s face. “Your hair is so beautiful like this. The diamond-studded headband and sheer veil will be as perfect as the dress.” Julie softened her voice. “He loves you like a man needs to love a woman to marry her. It’s special, Lauren. You two are special together.”
Lauren gave a sad smile. “I wish my mother was alive for today.”
Julie took Lauren’s hand in hers, thinking of how close Lauren had been to a mother stolen too young by cancer. “She’s here,” Julie said. “She’s here and she approves.”
Lauren turned to Julie and tried to hug her and Julie backed up, waving a finger. “Your hair and your makeup. We hug after pictures.” A knock sounded on the door.
“Five minute warning.”
Ten minutes later, Julie stepped into the foyer outside the wedding venue, slid her arm inside Luke’s in preparation to walk down the aisle. When their eyes connected, she felt it clear to her toes. She felt...something she’d never felt in her life, something unidentifiable.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured softly.
Her lips curved. “You clean up pretty nicely yourself there, cowboy,” she whispered, giving a teasing reference to the redhead’s remark a few nights before.
He chuckled low in his throat. “And tonight is a cold winter’s night.”
She smiled at the inference that she should keep him warm as the music began to play. A short walk later, Julie’s eyes pinched with tears as she watched the faces of the bride and groom fill with love. For the first time in her life, she believed in marriage.
***
The bride did not fall down as she had feared but the bride’s maid of honor did cry. Julie stood inside the elegant reception hall. It was filled with tables decorated in the same shades of blue and white silk that framed the ceiling-to-floor windows overlooking the river. There was a fire burning in a corner stone hearth, and long tables of food lined the walls, the scents of yummy treats lacing the air. The entire scene held a romantic, warm feeling as perfect as the couple who had just been married.
Feeling emotions she found more than a little unsettling, Julie watched as Lauren and Royce had their picture taken for the millionth time since the day started. They were happy, in love, and ready to be alone. A person would have to be blind to miss the scorching eye contact the two kept making.
She walked to a window, a sense of happiness and loneliness filling her that was at odds with the hundreds of people around her. She never spoke to her mother, and hadn’t seen her father since she was a small child. Her grandmother was dead. She was alone.
“What are you thinking?” Luke said stepping up beside her as he settled his hand on the small of her back. A shiver of awareness rushed down her spine. He had taken advantage of every chance he could to touch her throughout the events of the day and she couldn’t say that she was sorry.
She turned to face him, carefully masking her emotions. “That they really love each other.”
Luke looked at his brother and new wife who stood not far away, and then back at Julie. “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. “I believe they do.”
She looked down, breaking eye contact with him as her mask started to slip. Luke made her feel things she didn’t understand. These last few days she’d been one big bubble of out of-character emotions.
Luke gently tipped her chin up making her look into his eyes. “You okay?”
He was so confident, so sure of who and what he was. She’d thought she was, too, but her world was spinning out of control, and she barely recognized herself right now. A part of her wanted to let go for the first time in her adult life and lean on Luke, but the past few days reminded her how important it was to stand on her own. He made her forget that, and she couldn’t afford to forget.
“I’m just...tired,” she said, turning away from him again, before she said something she’d regret. She stared out at the water rather than into his soft brown eyes. They made her want to throw caution to the wind and just get lost in him. But Luke did what Luke always did. He refused to be dismissed.
The call for the cake cutting was announced on the microphone.
“Come,” Luke said and took her hand. “We can’t miss the cake. You like sweets too much for that.” He pulled her along with him and even put a huge clump of his icing on her plate. She laughed and gave him a chunk of her cake. That he knew her so well, and she him, made her chest feel funny.
When it came time for the bride and groom to dance, Luke slipped his arm around her waist. “We’re next.”
A few moments later she was on the dance floor, in his arms, their bodies so close their legs brushed, the heat of his body seeping into hers. “This is where you belong,” he murmured near her ear.