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She smiles. Her bottom lip shakes, she’s nervous. I want to wrap myself around her and whisper into her ear that she has nothing to be afraid of. Everyone in this building is just as captivated with her as I am.
Sondra reaches forward, slipping her hand into Winter’s. Winter’s smile widens.
“Sondra, Dottie, Keith, and I have this saying that love is like trying on clothes. Throughout your life, you try people on until you find the perfect fit. Some fit you, but don’t flatter you, while others flatter you, but aren’t quite…you.”
“Thensome…” She turns to Sondra and smiles, giving me a full view of her gorgeous face. “Well,someslip over you like a second skin.” She looks down and swallows hard. Her smile falls slightly and I’m on the edge of my fucking seat.
“It’s when you find that perfect fit that you feel your life click into place.” Her eyes trail up to Sondra, then she looks past Sondra’s shoulder, past Preston, right at me. It was only a second, but it was there.
“When you met Preston, we knew he was your perfect fit. He slipped over you like a second skin, and together, your livesclickedinto place. I’m so happy to have witnessed your love grow into what you’ve now promised each other will be forever.”
Women in the crowd wipe their tears, along with Sondra, and I swallow down the beach ball in my damn throat.
“Take care of her, Preston. Be her person, and in return she will love you fiercely, because that’s how she loves. I, no,we”—she gestures to Dottie and Keith—“are so happy to welcome you into our family. Congratulations, you two.”
Sondra stands and wraps her arms around Winter. They hug while the crowd claps and cheers, then Winter walks behind Sondra and Preston’s seats to hand me the microphone.
I stand, and without thought, slide my arm around her waist like we’re magnets.
“That was beautiful, Winter,” I whisper into her ear, then kiss her cheek before taking the microphone, and she smiles meekly, then sits.
Trying my hardest, I peel my eyes off Winter to look out at the now quiet crowd. Crowds I have no problem with; charming people is kind of my thing. It’sloveI don’t know dick about. And Winter just put experiencing it so elegantly, I feel about the size of an ant in her presence.
I clear my throat and smile. “That’s not the easiest toast to follow…” The crowd chuckles. “Thank you for that, Winter.”
I turn and look at Preston. His shit-eating grin telling me he’s about to laugh at how unnatural this is for me.
“The first night Preston and Sondra met, he called me. I remember because it was one in the morning in LA, which meant it wasfourin the morning in New York, where I lived. I hadn’t heard that kind of excitement from him since we were eleven and he got his first pair of roller blades.” My shoulders bob with a laugh and the crowd quietly joins me. “He told me he met a woman at a club and he fell in love. That was it. He spent three hours trying to get to know her over the deafening beats from the speakers, and that was enough to convince him he was in love with her.Naturally,I assumed he was drunk…” Another chuckle from the crowd.
“In the coming months, he would tell me he hung out with her again and again. The more time they spent together, the more deeply he fell. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop because, honestly, who the hell meets the woman they’re meant to marry at anightclub? Uh…” I scratch the scruff over my jaw. “The answer to that question is Preston. Preston does, because hedid.”
I glance up at Winter, her eyes glazed with unshed tears and my ribs squeeze tightly around my heart.
“Then I came to LA to visit, and I saw them together for the first time, I knew he was right. He was so clearly in love with her, and I could see why. It wasn’t just that she was amazing, it was that she fit into his life so naturally and so perfectly, like they had been together all along. And you’re right, Winter…” I look at my girl, who is now swiping tears from her rosy cheeks. “Sondra is Preston’sperson, and he is hers. Trust me, I know people, I’m a lawyer.”
The crowd laughs, claps, and whistles while Preston stands to shake my hand. I pass the microphone off to the DJ, who takes over,thankfully, and announces that the dance floor will be open shortly.
Clinksbounce off the walls as the crowd urges Sondra and Preston to kiss again and again. Some make their way to the bar, and Winter stands, whispers something in Sondra’s ear, then grabs her purse from the table and walks toward the hall that leads to the restrooms.
“We’ll figure it out,”I told her. That was my way of not dealing with this because the truth is, I went through with our bullshitplanbecause I wanted Winter in a way I haven’t wanted anyone. I’ve been testing myself.Can I do this? Can I make her happy? Can I be enough for her?There’s no denying the way I feel about her, the girl with two seasons for a name.
I stand, wanting,needing, to speak with her. To tell her we don’t have towork it outbecause I’m not letting her go. I can’t. Winter has filled a void I didn’t realize was so vast. She’s become something I didn’t realize I needed in my life. She’severythingI want in a companion, everything I find myself craving in the moments I used to find peaceful. I realize now, I onlyperceivedmy life as accomplished, I fed it what Ithoughtit needed. Now I know it needs something else. Something small and sassy, something brave and vulnerable equally with caramel-brown hair, blood-red lips, and the voice of my greatest fears and desires coming to life. It needs Winter.
As I near the hallway to find my girl, Gary steps in front of me.
“Aleck, join me for a drink, won’t you?”
“Yes, sir. Lead the way…” I swallow down resentment and put a pin in asking Winter to be my girl tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after.
Gary and I grab a couple of drinks and settle around a high-top table on the other side of the Hall, so we can hear each other speak over the now playing music.
“Great speech, Aleck. Well done,” he says into his glass, before taking a long, slow sip of his whiskey. “Public speaking has never been my thing. I commend those who can.”
“Thank you. Honestly, it felt clunky.”
He laughs. “Not at all. You did fine.”
I scan the room, looking for Winter, but don’t see her. If I know my girl, she’s probably crying in the bathroom stall because all of this romance makes her so happy she’s sad. She admits to being a romantic, but she’ll never reveal the extent of it. Especially in front of me, a man who has claimed to deny love’s existence. That makes her sad too, no doubt.
