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“I missed you too, Ty.” Relief washed over me, followed by a pang of guilt for assuming the worst. “So, when did y’all finally meet in person?”
“The day I got out,” Tyler said, his voice quieter than before.
“Hence the detour?” I asked dryly.
Tyler grinned. “Sorry for bein’ so vague about it, but I wasn’t sure if I’d show up on Candy’s doorstep in Vegas and she’d take one look at me and...”
“And what?” Candy prompted, her lips twitching.
“And call me ugly and turn me away,” Tyler admitted, ducking his head.
Candy let out a peal of laughter. “As if I could ever think that! I already knew you were beautiful on the inside, Ty.”
It didn’t bother me at all that she’d called him that. Obviously. Plenty of people did. It wasn’t a thing just between us. Now, if she pulled out some Skittles and started snacking based on her mood, we might have a problem.
“Well, there were definitely some guys in there with me who weren’t as pretty as I am,” Tyler joked, winking at her. “But I’d say we both lucked out on reveal day.”
“You guys didn’t send pictures?” I asked.
I picked up my drink and took a sip while I waited for their answers. Honestly, how could they fall in love without ever having seen each other’s faces?
That was…
I choked on my sweet tea, gagging and coughing violently. Which, of course, was karma.
There I sat, judging my brother and his girl for falling in love after who knew how many letters, and I still carried a boatload of pain and regret regarding a certain masked stranger. Afteronekiss, no less.
Well, and great conversation. But that physical chemistry? The minute-to-minute banter? That’d really done it for me. Ifit weren’t for what happened at the end of the night, I was mature enough to admit that I would’ve used the contact he’d programmed into my phone. Maybe even the very next morning.
Not that I’d admit that to anyone but myself, but still.
“Are you okay, Pais?” Tyler asked, reaching across the table to awkardly pat what he could reach of my upper back.
I nodded, recovering from my death-by-hypocrisy moment. “Fine, fine. Wrong pipe. Go on. Pictures?”
“We did, but ya know,” Candy said, waving a hand. “Either one of us could’ve been catfishing the other.”
“Of course,” I replied, clearing my throat one final time. “Well, I’m glad that wasn’t the case. And um… about those?—”
I pointed to their rings, and Tyler beamed with the power of the sun. “Oh, yeah. Best day of our lives, right, babe?”
“Right.”
Shaking my head, a reluctant smile tugged at my lips. “And since Candy lives in Vegas, is that where...”
“Where we got hitched?” Tyler finished, his grin widening. “Yep. It just felt right, ya know? Like it was meant to be.”
“A sign from the universe,” Candy added, her eyes misty.
I leaned back in my seat, processing this new information while also trying to cope with all the lovey-dovey talk. It wasn’t that the couples in the Cole and Wilson families didn’t have moments like this… but this was Tyler.
It was Tyler… and a stranger.
And there I went with the hypocritical stuff.Real nice, Pais. Real nice.
“And then y’all took your time drivin’ here from Vegas?” I presumed. “That’s why it took so long for you to make it to Charlotte Oaks?”
Tyler nodded. “We wanted to enjoy the journey, spend some quality time together before...” He trailed off, glancing at me uncertainly.
