The bride smiled, her eyes bright, even from our spot far from the stage.
“Simply put, you are my only, my everything, and my forever, and I’ll try my best to be the man you deserve every day.”
She made a check mark in the air with her finger before they kissed, to the applause and cheers from all their guests.
I dabbed at my face with a napkin. That had felt like a speech from a movie, something fictional, but it was real, right in front of me, and my heart lodged in my throat.
Wes’s arm rested on the back of my chair, the tips of his fingers brushing my shoulder. “Don’t cry,” he whispered into my ear.
I laughed at myself and pushed away from the table. “I don’t even know them, but that speech was so moving. Made me think, you know, I’d want someone to say something like that to me.” I shook my head. “Sorry, I’m fine,” I said, sitting up straighter.
The DJ announced dancing, and the opening beats of the music filled the hall as Felicia and a tall man approached our table. “My husband will not dance with me,” she called out over the music. “Will you two?”
Eager to escape the awkwardness between us, I stood. “I’m in. Who can resist ‘The Electric Slide’？”
“It’s electric.” Felicia’s smile broadened, and she took my hand, pulling me to the dance floor. I didn’t look back at Wes.
Enough.
46
BRITTA MOVED TO the beat of the song with Felicia, dipping and twisting, and it took monumental effort to shift my focus to Aaron. “How’s it going? Work good?”
“All right.” He shrugged. “Your PR people called me this week to arrange some magazine article about the company and the mentoring program.”
Another check in the positive column for Mason. “I think it’s supposed to be kind of a puff piece, but maybe it will get some donations.”
Aaron laughed. “Oh yeah. Just a small piece in a national magazine. What’s it like being such a god among us mere mortals?” Aaron took a swig from his beer.
“Fuck off,” I shot back with a wry smile.
“I’m just giving you shit. I know you love doing the CEO thing.”
“It’s a good gig,” I conceded with another glance to the dance floor. “It’s how I met Britta.”
“She works for you?”
“Client.”
He blew out a slow breath and cut his gaze to the dance floor. “So that’s the elusive Ms. Complicated, huh?”
I laughed. “You could say that.”
Jake approached the table. “Save me.”
“Man of the hour,” Aaron exclaimed as Jake joined the table. “You made the rest of us look like slobs with that speech. Thanks for that.”
Jake brushed his shoulders with a flourish and took the seat next to Aaron, loosening his tie. “Promise to not ask me about flowers, rings, proposals, or babies.”
Aaron placed his hand over his heart. “But I’ve been dying to hear, in painstaking detail, about these centerpieces.”
“They’re peonies and ranunculus flowers,” I said absently, bringing my attention from the dance floor to the curious looks from my friends.
“I guess if I get that question, I’ll send them to you,” Jake said with a laugh. “Later, we’ll come back to why you know that, but please. Any conversation not related to this wedding.”
“Wes here just informed me that his date is the woman he was texting after basketball. The client.” Aaron raised his eyebrows suggestively and nodded toward the dance floor.
Jake stretched across the table to clap me on the shoulder. “So, you took the shot, huh?”
I let my gaze wander to Britta again as I sipped my drink. The song had shifted to “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC, and she and Felicia were doing the Running Man along with some others on the dance floor. She was laughing, her face lit up, and a smile curled my lips. I was transfixed, hoping she’d meet my eyes.
“We lose you?” Jake’s voice snapped me back. He and Aaron shared a wry look.
“Sorry, got distracted.”
Both men laughed. “Clearly.”
“Take my shot? Kind of. It’s still complicated.”
“Still worth it?” Jake glanced from me to Naya, who was smiling kindly to a group of women and then flashed a help me expression as she strode toward us.
His question hung in the air as Naya joined us and sat on his lap. “Hello, Wife.”
She reached for his glass of Scotch. “Three of your sisters just cornered me with baby name suggestions. You know I can’t handle them when they team up.”