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I knocked his knee with mine. “You didn’t feel like seeing them off with everybody else?”
He shook his head and stared straight ahead. Outwardly he seemed calm, but a muscle tightened on the edge of his jawline. “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone, so I figured it wouldn’t matter if I wasn’t there. Plus, I’ll still see everyone at the reception, right?”
My heart dipped with sadness. I didn’t love Tanner. I loved Josh. But my chest ached for the kind man beside me who’d been an unwitting Josh placeholder this week. “Right. And there’ll be lots of dancing. And drinking. Now that I’m thinking about it, I feel like I’m more nervous for the reception than I was for the wedding.”
He glanced at me, his amber-brown eyes warm on mine. “You didn’t have to be nervous. You did great.”
I owed him my friendship. And a much better time at this wedding than sitting alone in an empty room. “Thank you so much. So was I right? Were you super bored the whole time?”
His eyelids drooped. “No, I wasn’t bored at all. As far as lifelong commitment-making goes, I found it inspiring. I really think Lindsay and Troy will be in love forever.”
“Yes. I think you’re right.” I think anyone who saw Lindsay and Troy together would feel a little inspired that there was still love like that in the world. “But what’s bothering you about it?” Alarm bells went off in my head. Had he seen something so wrong with Lindsay and Troy? Some problem I had no idea existed? And on their wedding day?
“Everyone should find their forever love.” He gazed at me steadily. “Do you love me like that?”
“Oh.” My shoulders fell. This wasn’t about Lindsay and her future at all. It was about mine. “Tanner, I am so sorry. I’ve only recently—this week, no today, no,this moment—admitted to myself that I gave my heart away five years ago.” I blinked at him, guilt weighing me down, my heart pleading for him not to hate me. “I never really got it back.”
“Josh,” he said in a toneless statement of fact.
I nodded. “Josh.”
“Will you do me a favor?” he asked, tilting his head with brows hitched up.
“Anything.”
“Would you take me back to the store? I don’t much feel like going to the reception.”
“Of course.” Part of me was heavy with guilt that I was letting Tanner go, but I had to admit to myself a lot of me felt relieved. Tanner deserved to be more than a placeholder for love—a beautiful man who fit the part. I wasn’t in love with Tanner, and I didn’t believe he was in love with me.
“Thanks.” He held his arms out for a hug. “Friends?”
I smiled. “Yes, please.”
He squeezed me tight.
Someone came into the room, and I raised my gaze over Tanner’s shoulder to see Josh stop in his tracks and swallow hard.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked, pulling at the lapel of his tuxedo jacket. His lips were turned down. He looked more contrite than combative.
“Not at all,” Tanner said, stepping away from me. “I was just…letting Margot go.” He started to walk away but then turned back to me. “Take your time.” He nodded toward Josh. “I don’t mind waiting.”
I thanked him, and he went back to his seat. With small, thought-filled steps, I walked over to Josh. “Hey. Is someone looking for me? Somebody need me?”
He shook his head. “Just me. I need you and was looking for you.”
I smiled uncertainly, my heart hammering against my ribs, anxiety-filled for the dive into the unknown. “So you’re not going back to London?”
“Actually I am.”
My heart plummeted off the high dive.
“But just to pack up,” he continued after not nearly as long a pause as my poor heart had felt. “I’m moving home to Atlanta. I put my time in and now I want to come home. I want…I want to see you when I’m home. If you’re willing to see me.”
I inclined my head. “You mean like go on a couple of dates and see where it might take us?”
His bottom lip hitched down, and he stepped closer. “Not really. I mean admit what a mistake it was to ever leave you and grab on tightly and never let you go.”
I laughed as tears filled my eyes.
