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As for me, I was wearing a satin wine red dress with an exposed back, praying the built-in bra cups would hold my breasts in place. It was a daring choice of attire, but with two of my ex-boyfriends and my current boyfriend in attendance, I was okay with turning heads. I walked into the kitchen as I fastened one of my dangly earrings, finding Jamie throwing some granola bars into her overnight bag at the kitchen table. “How’s my hair?” I asked her.
But she was looking past me. I glanced over my shoulder at Daya, who emerged from my room behind me. She and Jamie locked eyes, staring each other down as though I wasn’t even there.
“Be careful tonight,” Jamie said.
“We will,” I answered cheerfully, trying to smooth over the tension between the other two as I put my second earring in.
“Daya.”
“What?” Daya asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“I’m telling you to be careful.”
“I heard you.”
“You look… beautiful,” Jamie said in an almost whisper. Daya ignored her, but her cheeks tinged pink as she adjusted her cardigan. Standing between the two of them was almost unbearable.
“Well. Safe travels to Indy,” I told Jamie before we left.
**
Sarah and Owen’s wedding venue was enormous—and it was a good thing, too, considering they’d invited everyone they’d ever met. Heath was there with Abigail, and they sat in a row with a bunch of other teachers and staff from Grissom. Even my old boss, Cates, was in attendance with his husband. I sat directly behind the rest of my co-workers on the bride’s side, noticing a moment later Finley and her grandparents were seated directly opposite us. She waved at me from her grandma’s lap, beaming.
At exactly 3:00 p.m., the pianist began playing a beautiful rendition of “Invisible String” by Taylor Swift. “Why do I feel like crying?” Daya whispered in my ear. “I don’t even know these people.”
She wasn’t the only one with a lump in her throat. I had to admit, the sight of Owen up there awaiting his bride affected me in an unexpected way—I was filled to the brim with happiness for him. And when Mason entered the room with Jenny on his arm, I held my breath. Dressed in a sharp black suit, his rust-colored tie perfectly complementing Jenny's dress, he looked effortlessly handsome. As he made his way down the aisle, Finley's excited voice pierced the air, declaring, "Daddy!" Laughter erupted around us as Mason gave Finley a fist bump.
A hush fell over the room as the double doors opened at the back of the venue, and Sarah emerged in the most beautiful gown I’d ever seen—it was an ivory off-the-shoulder dress with billowing layers of lace and tulle. Her hair was pulled back in a sweet but elegant updo. I instinctively glanced toward the altar, where Owen was struggling to keep it together. The man beside him—whom I could only assume was his brother since they looked so similar—squeezed his shoulder as Sarah approached. My eyes found Mason’s, and we exchanged smiles over the heads of the people in front of me. “God, he looks so good up there in his suit,” I whispered to Daya, squeezing her arm.
“Please tell me you’re not talking about the groom.”
I shot her a playful glare. “Daya!”
As the ceremony unfolded, Sarah and Owen exchanged vows that were just as cheesy and adorable as I’d expected, with Owen mentioning something about the “teacher across the hall” being worth the wait. And as the preacher rambled on about the meaning of love, Mason’s eyes found mine again, igniting a warmth that spread beneath my skin. He barely took his eyes off of me for the remainder of the wedding, turning to give Owen and Sarah his attention when they kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
Immediately following the ceremony, the entire wedding party headed outside for pictures. We made our way to the other side of the massive room, where there were dozens of round tables waiting for us. Finley found me and grabbed my hand, beckoning me to follow her to the table where her grandparents were already sitting. “Oh, there’s probably assigned seats, Fin,” I said, but Daya pointed at the seating chart on the table beside us—Sarah had put me at Finley’s table, anyway. She must have known I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere near Heath.
So we took our seats with Mason’s parents and his sister, Lesley—really getting a head start on that whole “spending time with his family” thing.
“Are you Finley’s teacher?” Lesley asked, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder.
“Yes, I am,” I said, grinning as Finley climbed onto my lap. Lesley turned to her mom, and the two of them exchanged a knowing glance—it was subtle, but I caught it. Did they know about Mason and me?
“We heard all about you on Thanksgiving,” Lesley said, unwrapping a Hershey kiss for the little boy beside her. “We all went around and said what we were thankful for, and Little Miss Finley here said she was thankful for her teacher.”
Finley looked up at me with a sheepish grin. “You said that, Fin? How sweet. I’m thankful for you, too, kiddo.”
Lesley smiled. “So what’s it like having my butthead brother volunteer in your room?”
“He’s…” I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Just a few feet away, Mason’s mom was facing her husband, but I could tell she was listening closely. “He’s very helpful.”
“That’s surprising.”
I laughed. “He really is—and the kids adore him. I’m going to miss having him around when he gets too busy working for Owen.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Lesley said, raising her eyebrows. “I can’t picture the two of them getting any actual work done together. They’ll probably just… build a robot that can jerk them off, or something.”
Beside me, Daya almost choked on her water. Finley raised an eyebrow at her aunt, asking, “What does that mean?”
