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The crowd murmured their response, and Luke continued.
“Brent and I have been friends since high school, and I can easily say, I love the guy like a brother.”
“I love you too, buddy!” Brent hollered, making the guests chuckle.
“And I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that my friend has found a woman who loves him as much, if not more, than I do. A woman who is kind, compassionate, funny, and smart. Because she realized, even when others didn’t, that Brent is a great guy.”
Every word was obviously coming straight from his heart.
“God, isn’t he fantastic?” Kendall’s friend Darcy asked, having come up beside her without her knowing it.
“Here’s your drink, miss,” the bartender said.
Marley picked up her drink and shot Darcy a small, forced smile. “He’s definitely something.”
?
??He is just so delicious.”
Back off, sister, he’s mine.
Marley ignored Darcy, her attention focused on Luke as he continued his speech. “When we think about love, parents, grandparents, siblings, and such come to mind because, they are our family. We have to love them, even when they hurt us or break us or make us want to never speak to them again. Romantic love is different, because if we’re not careful, if we take it for granted and lash out at it, it can be gone like that.”
Luke snapped and it was like a knife plummeting into Marley’s chest. He was talking about them. How she’d destroyed his feelings for her. Nausea bubbled in the pit of her stomach, and she pushed down the urge to vomit.
She needed to hear this. For Luke.
“Or is romantic love really any different?”
Wait, what? What did he just say?
Her mind couldn’t process it quickly enough before he was speaking again. “Because true love, the kind you feel for your family, that’s supposed to be unconditional. So, despite whatever hurtful actions your lover may commit, those feelings don’t go away. No matter how hard you try not to think about that person, she’s always going to be in your heart. Because that is what truly being in love is. It is forgiveness. It is unconditional. And it is forever.”
Luke’s gaze fell on her from across the room and he raised his glass. “To Brent and Kendall. Forever.”
“Forever,” the reception echoed.
Marley downed her appletini, trying to catch Luke’s gaze again, but he’d already turned away to kiss Kendall’s cheek and shake Brent’s hand.
Marley ordered another drink from the bartender, more confused than ever.
Had that speech really been about Brent and Kendall, or had Luke been trying to tell her something?
The only way she could find out for sure was to ask him. But she had to catch him first.
* * * *
Luke lost sight of Marley after his speech, and an hour and two more Jack and Cokes later, he was ready to give up and go back to the hotel. There was no point in staying if he wasn’t going to speak to Marley; he definitely didn’t want to dance with anyone else.
“Okay, we need to talk.”
Luke looked up as Marley sat down in the chair next to him, sipping on some neon green liquid and looking pretty sauced.
“About?”
She swallowed a large mouthful and set her glass down on the white linen table cloth. “About my letter. Your speech. Why you’re messing with me.”
“I’m not messing with you,” he lied.
