“So to Olivia and Owen,” she raises her glass. “May you always be as happy as you are today. And may you always remember that love is worth the risk.”
Everyone drinks. Juliette sits down and immediately wipes her eyes.
“I’m such a disaster,” she mutters.
“You’re perfect.”
“My makeup is running.”
“Still perfect.”
The DJ announces the first dance. Owen and Olivia take the floor to some slow song I don’t recognize. They sway together, Olivia’s dress spreading around them like a cloud, both of them lost in their own world.
“They look happy,” Juliette says softly.
“They look like they know.”
“Know what?”
“What you said. That they found their person.”
She turns to look at me. “Do you believe in that? Finding your person?”
“I didn’t use to.”
“But now?”
I meet her eyes. “Now I know it’s real.”
The moment stretches between us until the DJ calls for the wedding party to join the dance. I pull her close, one hand on her waist, the other holding hers.
“The entire room is staring at us,” she murmurs.
“Let them.”
“They’re probably wondering why I’m dancing with someone who looks like they went ten rounds with a hockey enforcer.”
“Three rounds. Maybe four. And you’re dancing with me because I’m devastatingly handsome.”
“That’s one theory.”
“What’s another?”
She pretends to think. “Temporary insanity?”
“I’ll take it.”
We turn slowly and I catch sight of Garrett and Melissa. He’s watching us, his expression unreadable behind the tape on his nose. Melissa is saying something to him, her hand on his arm, but he’s not listening.
“Garrett’s watching,” I tell Juliette.
“I know.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No.” She looks up at me. “Let him watch. Let him see what it looks like when someone actually wants to be with me.”
“I more than want to be with you.”
