AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” Sam kept her attention out on the guests, watching them dance or talk. “Beats a big wedding with bland food and having to sit with people you don’t know.”
“Is this the kind of wedding you want?” The question slipped out before he could think better of it, but now that it was out, he couldn’t retract it. So, he barreled on. “Something small like this? Or on a beach?”
“I don’t know if I’ll get married,” she said, her attention still on the other guests, though the hand she had on his neck had stopped petting him.
“You don’t know?”
“No.” After a while, she met his gaze. “I’ve seen what divorce can do to people. I’ve felt it.”
“Not everyone gets divorced,” he said, rearranging his hold on her so she’d turn more fully to face him.
“No, not everyone does, and not everyone is cut out for marriage.”
He held on to her waist, needing to support himself as he dug down to the root of the problem. “You think you’re not cut out for it?”
He wouldn’t let her go when she tried to peel away from him, and he could see her jaw working in the lantern light for a few moments before speaking. “I don’t know if I am or not, and I’m not much looking forward to finding out by getting divorced.”
“But why do you automatically assume that’s going to happen? You have to work at marriage, like people work at everything else.”
“Like you would?” Her brow rose as she puffed out a sound of annoyance. “You were just telling Laney this morning that working on your business isn’t your thing.” When he sloped back in his seat, she rushed out an apology. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry, Mike. I didn’t—”
“No, you’re right,” he said, because it was true. He hadn’t been working as hard as he could on growing his business, but they were talking about two different things. Or, at least, he thought they had been. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t work at my marriage.”
Sam dropped her eyes down to his loosened tie. “I had a conversation with my dad a few weeks ago, while…” She briefly met his gaze. “While you and I weren’t talking. He basically said he was sorry for not doing more when he was married to my mom. He took a lot of responsibility for everything that happened. Said he should have tried harder.”
Mike opened his mouth, but he froze when she lifted her watery eyes to him.
“Even if he worked harder, my mom still would have fallen in love with Lina. Some people aren’t meant to be married.”
He didn’t know if Sam was saying she wasn’t meant to be married at all or not married tohim. Either way, he didn’t like those answers. “Marriage doesn’t make a relationship any easier or harder. If you are committed to someone, it takes the same amount of energy and love. I thought I would marry Bianca and didn’t, but it still hurt when we broke up.”
“Exactly.” She blinked, and a fat tear rolled down her cheek.
He towed her to his chest. “Sweetheart, I can’t promise that I will never hurt you, but I can promise that I would never give up on you.” He kissed her temple, her ear, any part of her face that wasn’t buried against his neck. “I wouldn’t give up on us.”
“What did I tell you about saying those kinds of things to me?”
He stroked his hands down her back over and over until she sat up, the corners of her mouth threatening a smile, and a flutter of hope danced into his heart. “I can’t help it. I need to tell you, and I need you to hear me.”
She bit into the corner of her bottom lip as she stood, taking him by the hand. “I hear you.” Then she led him out onto the dance floor. The others danced to the fast tempo song, but Sam strung her arms around Mike’s neck. “Sway with me?”
He answered by pulling her against him, lacing his hands at the small of her back. She’d taken her heels off long ago, and she let her head drop to his chest. They swayed through three fast songs and one slow before Gem ambled over, carrying a wine bottle.
“I’m going to have to steal her for a bit,” she told Mike as she grabbed Sam’s hand.
Sam gave him a quick kiss on the cheek then held out her other hand to Bronte, who had her arm looped in Laney’s. They four walked down to the beach and sat down in the sand, the moon illuminating their shadowy figures.
Mike leaned against a tree, arms crossed, keeping an eye on them as they passed the wine bottle back and forth. According to all the flashes, it looked like Laney was taking some photos of them all bunched together.
“Oh, good.”
Mike glanced to his left where Chris strolled up, his shirt untucked and sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
“You already got eyes on the girls. I saw Bronte sneak off but not where she went.”
“I wanted to make sure no one walked off into the water.”
“Gemma would be the one to do that,” Jason said, appearing on Mike’s right, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Hard to keep that one in line sometimes.”
