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Chapter Eight
Abel
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Idon’t know what itis about this girl, but she has made what I assumed would be a really shitty night halfway enjoyable.
I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed watching a woman squirm the way she did for most of the night.
Peyton blows out a slow breath next to me, resting further into the backseat of my brother’s car.
“You okay over there?” My eyes slide to where her hands are splayed out across her slender stomach.
“I feel like I’m about to bust,” she admits.
“How? You barely ate anything.”
“It’s the wine. Always makes me blow up. That’s why I don’t drink it often.”
“I see.” I nod slowly, not sure how to fill the lull in conversation when she falls silent next to me.
“Abel, do you want me to swing you by your place since it’s on the way back to the church?” Aaron asks from the front seat.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I let my gaze drift out the window.
Tonight has been unexpected. It’s been so long since I’ve talked to someone outside of Claire. Nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking, but just talked. Every day normal small talk. It made me feel normal for the first time in a long time. Not that I forgot about the hollow void in my chest for even a moment, but it seemed easier to live with.
It isn’t long before Aaron is pulling up in front of my apartment building. I look at Peyton whose focus is anywhere but on me.
I open my mouth to say something,anything, but for the life of me I can’t think of anything to say.
“You want me to pick you up tomorrow or are you going to meet us at the church?” Aaron asks as I unlatch my seatbelt and prepare to exit the car.
“I’ll just meet you there.” That way I can sneak out of the reception the moment it’s socially acceptable to do so.
“Okay, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” I open the door, pausing for a split second to look at Peyton. “I’ll see you later,” I tell her, watching her gaze slide to mine.
“Yeah.” She smiles. “See you tomorrow.”
With that, I climb out of the car, resisting the urge to look back at Peyton one last time.
——
“Look at Andrew up there.” Alex slides up next to me, gesturing through the open doors to where our brother is standing at the alter looking like he’s about to puke.
My mind flashes back to my own wedding day. It was nothing like this. Finley and I got married in a tiny chapel in Vegas. There was a total of four people in the room, including the two of us. I wasn’t nervous or uneasy. In fact, I had never felt surer of anything in my entire life. I wanted her to be my wife. It was that simple.
I still remember how she looked. The smile she wore as we stood at the alter and exchanged vows, the way her green eyes filled with tears as I promised to love her until death, and every moment of existence that would follow.
That was when she was still well enough to be Finley. Before the illness stripped away the girl I loved and robbed her from my life.
I’ll always remember that day as one of the happiest of my life, because it was. A day when the world existed for just the two of us.
“Yeah, he looks nervous as hell,” I finally comment, forcing myself back to the present.
“I know I was when Tanya and I got married. Of course, that was nothing compared to the day Malory was born. There’s nothing like looking down at this tiny person you created and realizing there isn’t one thing you wouldn’t do to protect them. I was filled with so much happiness and so much fear at the same time.”
