“I’m not insulted at all. I understand.” She rose to her feet, and I scrambled to do the same. My legs were asleep, tingling from how I’d been sitting on the ground. Bending down, I picked up my uniform jacket and shook it out before shrugging it on.
“You’re wrinkled.” Jacqueline brushed my back as I buttoned up. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No one’s going to care. The pictures are all from the front.” I winked at her. “All right. Do we both look like we’ve just been sitting by ourselves, contemplating the meaning of life?”
“And not like we’ve been making out in the grass, you mean?” She tugged on the hem of her dress. “Yeah, I think we’ll do.”
“One more thing.” I caught her hand and pulled until she stumbled against me. “One more for the road.”
Our lips met in a kiss that was more demanding and aggressive than our first had been. It was also filled with more promise, an assurance that there would be a next time.
Which reminded me ...
“I need your phone number.” I wound a strand of her hair around my finger and murmured against her cheek. “So that our delayed gratification can be ... gratified.”
“Good point. I’ll have to trust you, because I don’t have my phone with me. It’s in my purse, back at the table.”
I freed my phone from the back pocket of my pants and swiped a finger across the screen. “Okay. Lay it on me.”
She recited the number, and I entered it carefully, repeating it back to her to make sure I’d gotten it right.
“I’ll text you later on, so you have mine.” I put away my phone, wishing I had another excuse to linger here with her.
“I’ll look forward to it.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Guess I better go first. I’ll walk around and go in the far side of the tent, and then you can wait a few minutes and slip in this way.”
“All right.” I stole one last kiss before she slipped out of my arms. I watched her move slowly into the dark. “Jacqueline.”
She paused, waiting.
“I’m glad you followed me out here and shared your wine with me.”
I could just make out the shape of her smile. “I’m glad, too. This was the high point of the whole wedding for me.” Without saying anything else, she began walking again. I kept my eyes on her until she disappeared around the side of the tent.
And then I retrieved the nearly empty bottle of wine, finished it off with a swallow, and whistling softly to myself, made my way back to the party.
