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“How about that,” Cole said, not looking at them because he was still smirking at her. “They’re here.”
Mira’s palms itched.
“Are you ready?”
“I think so,” she said. But when she turned to see Paul and Chrissy stroll toward them, she wasn’t so sure. They looked too happy, too perfect—Paul in a dark gray suit, his yellow tie matching Chrissy’s pretty yellow cocktail dress, their hands tightly intertwined like that’s just where they lived, like they probably only ever let go of each other when one of them had to use the bathroom.
Without warning, a warm hand snaked around her waist, then Cole’s words were in her ear. “Act like I just said something absolutely fucking filthy to you.”
A shocked laugh burst out of her.
“That’s better,” he said, so close his exhale brushed over her neck. “You looked sad for a minute.”
“Aww, look at you two,” Chrissy crooned. “So cute. Aren’t they cute, Pauly?”
“Adorable.” Paul’s tone was stiffer than the collar of his dress shirt. Then, noticing the cake behind her, he softened. “Wow, Mira. You’ve outdone yourself.”
Cole squeezed her hip, and she couldn’t decide which felt better, Paul’s compliment or Cole’s hand. Only one left an imprint on her, though—a patch of warmth that lasted long after he pulled away.
“Good to see you again.” Cole reached out to shake Paul’s hand. “And Chrissy.” His smile was polite, not the one Mira was used to. There was no teasing twist to it, no humor in the way his lips pressed together. “You look lovely.”
“Oh, this old thing?” Chrissy twirled her hips, her skirt flaring. “You’ve got yourself a real charmer there, Mira.”
She could only agree.
Running a hand through his hair, Cole said, “I’d better go get the rest of the way into my tux and make sure Madigan’s remembering to breathe.”
“We’ll catch up later,” Paul said, and Mira turned instinctively toward the stern, almost demanding tone he had no right using.
“Looking forward to it,” Cole replied, unfazed. But instead of walking away, he pulled Mira close again and said, “See you in a few.” Then, like it was normal, like it was something they justdid, he brushed his soft, full lips behind her ear, and she melted straight out of her dress, through the floor, past the earth’s crust to take a lap around its molten iron core.
Fighting to keep her eyes from fluttering up behind her lids, she managed a wispy “Okay.” But that was it, the best she could do while she watched Cole walk away from her and tried to keep her wobbly knees from buckling. Knowing without a doubt that her face was now as red as her dress, she avoided making a single second of eye contact with either Paul or Chrissy or anyone within a twenty-mile radius and said, “We should probably find our seats.”
* * *
Snifflesand soft sobs surrounded her, the line of family standing up for Madigan and Ashley—Davis, Maude Alice, Madigan’s brothers, and Cole—all wiping their red eyes or blinking hard to keep the tears at bay. Even Murphy looked wrecked, sitting between Davis and Maude Alice, his ears drooping, his huge head hanging between his shoulders.
They’d written their own vows, which was, Mira realized, a truly unfair thing to do to your wedding guests. Ashley’s had been beautiful. But the second Madigan opened his mouth, the entire guest list took a collective, shuddering gasp. While Madigan spoke—the room growing so quiet a pin would have crashed like a cymbal—Mira’s gaze drifted to Cole in time to watch him pull out his pocket square and dab at his eyes.
After showering Ashley with words that redefined sincerity, Madigan ended his vows with “So many things in my life have made me strive to be a better man, but none of them have affected me as deeply as you. There was a time I didn’t think I’d live past thirty. Now I want to live as long as I can so I can grow old and gray, or grayer”—this got some watery laughs—“by your side. Being with you has taught me something I’d thought I’d already learned, but I really hadn’t. You taught me that life is a gift. And one of the reasons life is a gift is because there’s a chance for each of us, if we want it, if we’re lucky, to find a love like this one. You’re the gift, Ashley. You’re the love I live for now. And I will spend the rest of my life trying to give that gift back to you.” When he touched his forehead to hers and said, just loud enough for everyone to hear, “All the stars in the sky shine dim,” Mira recognized the lyric from one of the Makers’ songs, and her chin threatened a wobble.
While she wondered what it would feel like to have someone love her the way Madigan loved Ashley, the universe, with its impeccable cosmic timing, drew her attention to Paul sitting beside her, hugging Chrissy close. And then, when she looked away, it cleared a path to Cole across the room. His eyes were clear, calm, and locked on hers.
“That isnotfunny,” she told the universe under her breath.
As good as he looked, as good as he felt, as good as he made her feel, it didn’t matter. None of this was real. She was still Mira from Montana with a small, messy life and too many responsibilities. And he was still Cole from Seattle, a rich and famous dream three states away from ever coming true.
The wedding was beautiful, Ashley and Madigan were made for each other, Paul and Chrissy were probably soulmates, and no matter how close to him she’d felt last night, no matter how much fun they might have tonight, tomorrow Cole would leave, and Mira would be perfectly okay.
CHAPTERNINE
COLE
Cole was not okay.He was nowhere near okay. He might never be okay again.
Making his way through the crowd to find Mira, needing her close for reasons he didn’t care to examine, Cole fought to pull himself together. He had a job to do at this wedding, and having an emotional meltdown over the fact that he—someone who, as a boy, married his Barbie doll to his G.I. Joe action figure, and then both of them to Snake Eyes in the most epic power throuple ever—was fifty-three, still single, and might remain that way forever, wasn’t it.
“Are you all right?” Mira asked when he finally reached her after stopping once to hug Madigan’s parents, then a second time to become the meat in a Madigan-brothers three-way hugwich.
