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The photographer snapped a few, and then he began to give instructions to Uncle Jim and some other people in the back.
I had wasted too much time. Now I was feeling helplessly in love—like I couldn’t get close enough to Micah. Becoming aware of time being wasted was enough to spur me to act. I let my hand touch his, and with no hesitation, he took my hand securely in his.
He turned to look at me. I reached out and held onto his arm with my free hand. I gently latched onto him, staring up at him as he focused on me. He worked out and took care of his body. He stood up straight and had confidence and looked like a rockstar. I could barely see that first guy I met—the one who seemed like a lost little brother to me. Micah was no longer that man. I was breathless as I looked up at him now.
People were murmuring around us, trying to get Uncle Jim situated, and I just stared at Micah. I could see his chest rise and fall.
"Isaac said he told you my secret," he said quietly.
I grinned. "I liked that secret," I said. "Is it true?"
The butterflies were out of control. I felt like I could actually fly away—blast off into outer space. I had never in my life felt so attracted to a man, and unbelievably, it was a man I had been around countless times before.
"Of course it's true, Claire. I would do anything to be with you."
He spoke slowly and quietly and I hung on his every word. His face. His gorgeous square jaw. He smelled clean.
"Are you for real right now with how you're looking at me, Claire?" he asked the question quietly, his mouth barely moving as he stared down at me.
The photographer called for our attention before I had the chance to answer. I turned to face the camera without answering, but I did not let go of Micah. I would be obviously holding onto him in the pictures, and I didn't care.
The photographer either didn’t see us or didn't care because he never said anything to me. I had to let go of him after we were finished. Isaac wanted to get a photo with just the guys, so I walked toward the other side of the room so I could start making my plate from the buffet.
I glanced back constantly and I saw it when Micah and Isaac started talking again. They spoke for what must have been five or ten minutes—long enough for me to talk to several people and make my plate.
Finally, I walked back over to them, carefully balancing my plate in my hands.
"Micah's leaving for Austin tonight," Isaac said, seeing me walk up to them.
"I know," I said. "He told me. That's why I'm trying to spend all my seconds with him, and you're over here hogging him. It's your wedding night. Go ahead and be with your bride."
Isaac looked me over. "Micah's only got a few more weeks on the road before he can come home for a while."
"I know," I said.
"And when he comes home next time, we'll both assume that you won't have another boyfriend that he has to contend with."
"I will have another boyfriend, just not one that he has to contend with," I said. I balanced my plate in one hand as I took Micah's hand with the other. "Congratulations, brother!" I said.
People were all around us, and it was too chaotic for me to think about what I had just said.
I sat at a table and shared that plate of food with Micah. We talked to each other and those around us for the next half-hour or so, but we stayed together the entire time.
Finally, he sat back in his chair, rubbing his thighs and taking a deep breath as he regarded me. "I have to leave in a minute," he said.
Micah had been back and forth, in and out of Seattle for the past four or five years. And never before had I felt so desperately sad to see him go.
"How many days until you get back?" I asked.
He grinned. "Three weeks."
"Twenty-one," I said.
"Twenty-one," he replied. "Austin, then Oklahoma City, then Nashville, then I'm not sure after that. I think maybe Charlotte."
"I'm going to miss you," I said.
I always said nice things to Micah when he left town. I'd say 'have fun', 'you're a rockstar', 'I'm proud of you', 'stay cool'—I'd say any number of things to him—I switched it up. But I had never said I'd miss him. I did miss him when he wasn't in town, but I had never said as much to him.
