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No way could she skip the wedding of their oldest son.
She faked a pitiful cough.
Nope. That wouldn’t fly either.
“Stay stroganoff, Kris,” she murmured to the empty room. Right. So. Okay.
On a groan, she threw off the covers and climbed out of bed.
Her gaze went right to the long bag hanging on the back of her closet door. Kate had insisted that Kristina needed armor to protect herself from He who shall not be named—Kate’s newest nickname for Noah. Kristina supposed that was a step up from the bastard though possibly a step down from that guy, but either way, her armor of choice was made of crepe de Chine. She removed the bag covering the sleeveless, floral, asymmetrical maxi dress. A teal and yellow print, almost like a watercolor, ran over the white silk. Paired with some gorgeous yellow heels, Kristina felt like a million bucks wearing it.
And she was going to need that feeling to make it through this day. She was sure of it.
As she got ready, Kate sent her a steady stream of funny memes around the theme You can do it.
One read, If Nicolas Cage can still get work, you can do anything!
The next had a picture of a cat staring at itself in a mirror. The caption read, Carl, you’re going to get out there and do it. This time you’re going to catch that red dot.
Another had a particularly sexy picture of Ryan Gosling and said, Hey girl, good luck today. I believe in you. Kristina made that one the background on her phone.
All too soon, she was on her way to the church. Of course, when she wouldn’t have minded a delay, she caught every green light and hit no traffic at all.
Talk about your bad luck.
“Okay,” she murmured to herself, walking up to the church door. “Big girl panties are now on.”
Inside, the usher, a Cortez cousin Kristina knew, led her to one of the front rows with the Cortez family. Noah was nowhere to be seen yet. She distracted herself by skimming over the beautifully engraved program until a murmur passed over the guests. When she looked up, Josh was standing at the top of the aisle. And Noah stood right next to him.
Seeing him again stole her breath and brought rushing forth every single emotion she’d been trying to repress these past months. Love. Sadness. Desire. Grief. Worry.
But mostly love.
Noah found her in the crowd and their gazes collided. Then locked tight. Kristina couldn’t force herself to look away. Seeing him after all this time was like water to a wanderer in the desert. Necessary. Life-giving. Absolutely and utterly undeniable.
The wedding march started, the warm, echoing tones of the pipe organ filling the church. Everyone rose, breaking Kristina’s connection with Noah. Kristina rose, too.
And, oh, Maria was such a beautiful bride. Not just because of the gorgeous beaded gown or the glittering jewelry or the hand-crafted lace on the veil, but because of the amazing joy radiating from her face.
The ceremony itself was a total blur.
Kristina was incapable of paying attention to anything besides Noah. And, holy crap, how he’d changed. He’d picked up weight, and the fine black fabric of the tuxedo jacket fit his noticeably bigger physique like a glove, the cut perfectly accentuating the breadth of his shoulders and the trimness of his waist. His face had filled out, and the dark circles were gone, replaced with a healthy-looking tan that said he’d spent time in the sun.
But it was his eyes where she most saw the change. They weren’t flat anymore. They were bright and full of life.
Silently, she sent up a few words of thanks. Noah was doing better, and Kristina couldn’t have been happier for that. Maybe she could finally let go of her worry, if not any of the other things she felt for him.
Another thought snuck in behind those—he’d gotten better without her. And that probably hurt more than it should.
When the ceremony ended, Kristina didn’t think twice. She cut through the crowd to a side door and made her way to her car. No way in hell was she walking through the receiving line because the best man would undoubtedly be part of it.
Instead, she drove to the hotel where the reception was taking place and waited in the air conditioning of her car until other guests began arriving. Soon, cars poured into the lot and wedding attendees streamed into the hotel lobby, and Kristina finally joined them in the ballroom.
It was a lovely space. Big framed mirrors lined three walls, and the fourth was nearly floor to ceiling windows with occasional doors that opened onto what looked like gardens beyond. Jeweled chandeliers hung from the ceiling and towering floral centerpieces decorated the tables in shades of bright pink and dark orange and golden yellow.
It was beautiful. Magical. A space in which any bride would be happy to celebrate her wedding and the start of a new life with the man she loved. So of course Kristina found herself fighting back tears.
No. There would be no crying here. Armor. Big-girl panties. Ryan Gosling. Right.
