And there's this moment?—
This moment where everything else falls away. The cheering, the music starting up again, the guests getting to their feet. It all just disappears.
And it's just us.
Looking at each other across this altar, across two years of silence and distance and all the things we never said.
And I swear I can feel it.
Every lifetime we've found each other. Every version of us that has existed across time and space and circumstance. Every iteration where we've looked at each other exactly like this and known—just known—that we're supposed to be together.
That we're inevitable.
But in this lifetime, in this moment, it's different. Because this time it's not just recognition.
It's grief.
For all the time we've lost. For all the chances we've missed. For all the ways we've hurt each other and ourselves trying to do the right thing.
Her eyes are bright with unshed tears and I want to say something. I want to cross this space between us and tell her everything I've been holding for two years.
But I can’t. Not when I'm still trying to figure out how to be a person who deserves her.
Mia and Ollie are walking back down the aisle, and we have to follow.
Nora turns away first and I let her.
Because that's what I do, it’s what I’ve always done.
I let her go, even when every part of me is screaming to hold on.
The Eden Country Clubis decorated exactly how Mia wanted—string lights woven through the trees outside, tables draped in white linen, flowers everywhere.
I make my way through the cocktail hour on autopilot. Shaking hands and smiling when people tell me I did a good job up there. All while scanning the room without meaning to, looking for her without wanting to find her.
Nick appears at my elbow with a glass of sparkling water.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
He doesn't look convinced. "You sure about that?"
"I'm fine."
"Nate—"
"I'm fine," I repeat, and take the glass just to have something to do with my hands.
He studies me for a moment, then nods slowly.
"She's by the bar. In case you were wondering."
"I wasn't."
Except I was.
"Right." Nick claps me on the shoulder. "Well, if you need anything?—"
