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Two people who had a first love, lived a long life with that love, and then, had to grieve their heartbreaking losses. But through the ashes of their grief, they’ve found a renewed love within each other.
This, right here, is such a rarity in life. Most people struggle to find one true love, and somehow, Sal and Stella have found it twice.
“Darlin’, can I just say how unbelievably beautiful you look today,” my dad begins, and a little giggle jumps from Stella’s throat. “Also, seeing you in this dress makes me incredibly thankful that we’ve both healed from our…fall.” He waggles his brows. “Because you and I are going to have quite the night, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, Sally!” Stella bursts into more laughs, and just about everyone in attendance joins her.
The minister clears his throat, and my dad respectfully focuses back on his vows.
“My Stella. You are beautiful and funny, and that wild spirit of yours has shaken up my world in a way that has me living again. Really, truly living. Because of you, I laugh, I smile, I dare to dream again.”
Stella sniffles, and my dad smiles affectionately at her, even reaching up to swipe a little tear from her cheek.
“Today, darlin’, I marry you with my eyes wide open. You have helped me let go of the past, and together, with you, I embrace the future. There are an infinite number of reasons why I love and adore you. Why I’m downright crazy for you. Honestly, we’d spend the rest of our days right here on this altar if I went through the whole list. And even after that, we’d spend the rest of our afterlife together with me still rattling off all those reasons why I love ya.”
Stella sniffles again, eyes shining with her heart inside their hazy depths, and my dad continues.
“Darlin’, falling in love with you wasn’t falling at all. It was walking into a house and knowing you’re my home.”
Those last words hit me straight in the chest.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, has felt right since I left Florida last month.
Nothing has felt right since the moment Sal and Stella told us they were getting married and everything got all messed up.
Even when I went back to New York, my own fucking apartment didn’t feel the same.
Nothing felt good or right or where I should be.
And just like that, I finally get it.
Carly isn’t just someone I was falling for, someone I saw a possibility in.
I had already fallen for her. My heart had already latched on to a future with her, and it hasn’t altered course since.
I’m in love with her. And deep down, I’ve probably been in love with her since the moment she stole my fucking taxi. She came barreling into my life with her wild red hair and her devilish smile and her big, beautiful blue eyes, flipped it all upside down, and I’m forever changed.
I can’t go back to the man I was before her.
I can only move forward as the man I am with her, the man I am because of her.
The urge to tell her these things, to pull her into my arms, to fix this mess between us becomes too overwhelming to just keep standing here.
I need her to know. And it needs to happen right fucking now.
The urge overpowers me completely—my sanity, my normal understanding of societal norms, my realization that it’s not really the best idea to interrupt a fucking wedding.
But like a man who’s gone off the fucking rails, a man completely possessed, that’s exactly what I do.
“Dad,” I chime in over his voice as he continues to repeat the words the minister is now saying to him. “Your vows are…well, quite frankly, they’re life-changing. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to need you to pause for just a moment.”
My dad looks at me over his shoulder, his brow furrowing in puzzlement. “Ryan?”
But I don’t wait to explain. Instead, I stride past Sal and Stella and the minister, and I don’t stop until I’m standing right in front of Carly.
“We need to talk.”
“What?” Her sapphire eyes are big and wide. “Uh…Ryan…” She pauses, her shock palpable as she glances around the room that’s filled with a hundred people waiting to watch my dad and her mom get married. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here …”
The way we’ve Freaky Friday’d this shit and have quite literally switched places makes me smile. “Baby, I love that you’re now the one trying to make me follow the rules. But you know what, Carly? Fuck the rules. This is both of our parents’ second wedding. I’m sure they’ll understand.” Without wasting another minute, another fucking second, I take action into my hands. Leaning down, I grip her perfect ass and toss her over my shoulder.
