Practice Makes Perfect (When in Rome, #2)(94)

I laugh while simultaneously tingling with anticipation. “Peel them off. I see what you did there. Does this mean you’re coming over later?”

“Leave your window open.”

So this isn’t goodbye yet? I get one more night with Will Griffin.

“You know you can use the front door now, right?”

“What fun would that be?” He lets go of me and gestures with his head for me to follow the rest of the wedding party to the field. “I’ll see you tonight, Annabell.”

“I guess you will, William.”

I peek back over my shoulder while I walk away and find Will holding his phone in my direction. I think he just took my picture.



* * *



—

Will made good on his promise and climbed through my window an hour ago. Now, he holds me against him in my bed—my banana pajamas happily discarded to the floor. It’s late, but my sisters still aren’t home, and I assume they are staying at either Noah and Amelia’s place or maybe even at James’s house to give me and Will some privacy. I’m grateful. There’s been so much change and so many revelations during the last few days that I feel like I’ve run a marathon. Or an iron man. Or run against Harriet for town councilwoman.

Tonight, Will and I never do get around to saying goodbye or what we’ll do after he’s gone or if there’s even anything to be done, because every time I try to bring it up, he changes the subject. Instead, we make love and snuggle and Will kisses my forehead more times than I can count. And that’s that. The next morning when I wake up and the sun is just peeking over the horizon, Will is already gone. And the latest pirate romance I was reading that was sitting on my bedside table is gone too.

Did he take it as a memento of me?

While making coffee, I tell myself not to worry. I’ll see him at the wedding. There’s no way he’d miss it. And there’s no way he would actually leave without saying goodbye.

Right?

But then I think about last night and how he held me like he was afraid I was slipping away. How he kissed me, even after we’d made love, until my mouth was swollen. How in the light of his absence this morning, I realize that last night felt a lot like goodbye.

And that’s when I realize that he’s not going to be at the wedding. He’s not even going to say goodbye—and he intended for it to be that way from the beginning.

How dare he.





CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE


Annie





The ceremony is set to start in about ten minutes. I’ve never loved a dress more than the ones Amelia provided for us bridesmaids. It’s a mint-colored midi with a plunging V-shaped bodice and several layers of soft mesh overlay at the skirts, adding just a touch of princess whimsy. We’ve all been in James’s house for the last two hours getting ready—Noah and his groomsmen on one side and Amelia and us bridesmaids on the other. But we’ve been kept separated so we don’t accidentally get a peek at one another before the wedding.

I managed to slip out of the room we’ve been using as the bridal suite without Emily noticing, though, which feels like a real accomplishment. She’s been barking orders and making sure everyone is toeing the line all morning. Oh, Amelia has a wedding planner, but even that woman seems to be a little afraid of Emily and has stepped back more than once to let Emily run the show. No one is fiercer than an elementary school teacher when it’s time to get people in order and hold them to a schedule.

But I wanted a minute alone with Noah before the ceremony, so after tiptoeing away from Amelia and my sisters, I knock on James’s bedroom door, where I know Noah has been getting ready.

“Come in.”

Inside, I find Noah standing by the window, dressed in his tux and gazing out over the farm that has been turned into a magical wedding venue. I was here all morning with a few hired hands setting up flower arrangements, so I don’t need to look outside to know what Noah is seeing. Instead, I’m more interested in watching my big brother. I blink back tears, soaking in the sight of the man who’s carried our family from far too young an age, about to marry the woman of his dreams. He gets to walk through life with her now—share his happiness and his hurts. And no one deserves a happily ever after more than him. I wish my parents and my grandma could see him now. They’d be so incredibly proud of the man he’s become.

“Hi,” I say, moving to stand beside him at the window.

“Hey, you,” he says in a soft tone, reaching out to wrap his arm around my shoulder and pull me into a hug. Noah and I have always shared a special bond. Maybe it’s because he’s several years older than me so we never fought, or maybe it’s because he and I are both quiet souls, but I always feel comfortable with him. And he’s never called me Angel Annie, so that’s a plus.

“How is it you’re getting married today?” I ask him. “Just yesterday you were running through town in your Spider-Man underwear.”

“How do you know about that? You weren’t even alive yet when it happened. Dammit, is Mabel spreading that story out there today?”

“All morning,” I say looking up at him with a bright smile.

He groans and stares up at the ceiling.

I pat his chest. “Are you nervous?”

He tilts his face back down and frowns. “Hell, no. I’m ready to get it done. Seal the deal and be married to that woman already.”