How could words heal and hurt so much at the same time? “You seem to be forgetting I want a family and you have a very weird aversion to marriage.”
He shook his head. “I haven’t had a weird aversion to marriage all this time. I’ve actually had a very sensible aversion to marrying any woman who isn’t you. I just didn’t know until now that’s what it was.”
She stared at him—this man she knew and could read better than anybody—and there were no tells. No hesitation. He wasn’t just telling her what he thought she wanted to hear.
“You think I can’t commit,” he continued. “But I havealwaysbeen committed to you. To us. We got through school together. High school, for fuck’s sake. Then college. Relationships. We’ve gotten through everything together because you and me...we’re what has always mattered to me.”
There wasn’t a damn thing Carly could do about the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she managed a smile. She reached out her hand and he took it in his. “You’ve always been here for me. You’re my everything.”
He tugged on her hand until her body was almost touching his and she had to tip her head back to see his face. “Carly, I want to be the guy standing on this dock with you when your dreams come true, but I don’t want to be the best friend standing next to you, holding your flowers. I want to be the best friend looking into your eyes and vowing to love you every single day for the rest of our lives.”
“Every day,” she whispered. “I love you. And yes, I aminlove with you.”
He kissed her so hard it took her breath away, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold herself steady. Then he grinned at her. “We are going to have the best life together. You and me. And a bunch of kids.”
Carly melted inside. “A bunch, huh?”
“Can you imagine the adventures we’ll have?”
“I can.” The life she’d always wanted, with the man she wanted to live it with? She really could have it all. “I can’t wait.”
This time he took his time kissing her. His mouth claimed hers and she lost herself in him, everything fading away. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying his face in her hair.
“Hey, Noah?” She pulled back far enough to see his face. “I wasn’t really drunk that night.”
He lifted her off her feet and swung her around until she squealed and squeezed his shoulders. “Neither was I.”
Epilogue
Later that summer...
Noah managed to stand still long enough for his mother to pin a boutonniere of daisies and some other white frilly flower to his white shirt—untucked and short-sleeved, but it had a collar—and then he was in motion again.
“I need a hammer.”
His dad chuckled. “You’re getting married, son. What do you need a hammer for?”
“I just want to make sure there aren’t any nails popping up. Carly’s terrified she’s going to trip walking down the dock while everybody’s watching her.”
“Her granddad had every kid in town working on that dock all week. Not a single nail sticking up. No uneven boards. No splinters.” His dad rested his hand on Noah’s shoulder. “The Justice of the Peace is here. My buddies are ready to fire up the barbecue grills and your mom’s church ladies have outdone themselves with the potluck dishes. Everything is perfect.”
Noah grinned, his mouth watering in anticipation of Miss Alice’s famous macaroni salad. Nobody threw together a potluck barbecue like their hometown. And Carly’s mom had baked the cake herself, which might explain why not a single person had RSVPed they couldn’t make it. You didn’t pass up a chance at one of Margo Randall’s cakes.
“It’s time,” his mom said.
Noah’s stomach tightened and his pulse quickened, but it wasn’t nerves or cold feet. He was so ready for Carly to be his wife and it wasfinallytime.
She’d gone home with him the night he’d told her he was in love with her and stayed there. It had taken several weeks for all of her belongings to fully migrate, but her place was empty now and just waiting for the rental agent to take pictures and list it online. They’d brought the samewhy waitenergy to their wedding planning, too. The sooner, the better was how they’d looked at.
But apparently,it’s timemeant something else in wedding-ese and it took forever to get everyone seated. His dad escorted his mom to her seat in the front row, across the makeshift aisle from Carly’s parents before taking his place to the left of the dock.
As Noah walked down the narrow wooden walkway to the dock itself to take his place next to the JP, he scanned it for any tripping hazards. They’d done a good job on it, he had to admit, and then he turned and waited for his bride.
Holy crap, there were a lot of people in the yard, he thought. He didn’t feel self-conscious very often, but everybody staring at him expectantly gave him a strong urge to fidget or start cracking jokes to pop the tension. His dad had offered him a shot of whiskey earlier and he’d passed because he didn’t need to down liquid courage to marry Carly. But this? Alcohol wouldn’t have hurt, and it was one more addition to the long list of times he should have listened to his father.
Jim and Emily were sitting a few rows behind his mom, and Jim grinned when he caught his eye. When they were sending out the invites, Noah had realized there was no way they could leave them off the guest list, but surrounded by family and friends talking about him and Carly, Jim and Emily would figure out they’d been lied to pretty quickly. So he’d manned up, taken Jim out for drinks and then confessed the truth of his relationship with Carly. Jim had laughed long and hard and called him an idiot. It had been a huge relief.
Then Carly stepped around the corner of her grandfather’s house with Zoe at her side and everything and everybody but his future wife fell away.
