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I ignore him.
“I still don’t get what happened between you two,” he says.
“We didn’t work out.” The words are bitter. I could have tried harder.
“Right.”
I close my eyes and steady my breath. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing, my man. Anyways, I think I’ll go find my seat now. See ya out there. Remember, big smiles. I’ll have my camera ready.” He punches my shoulder as he walks away.
The door opens, and I turn and find Cassie and Nora filing out of the room. The bridesmaids behind them.
“Okay, ladies, take your places. Let’s get this party started, shall we?” Her voice is like a balm to my soul. Only she doesn’t look at me and I push all that aside. This day isn’t about me. It’s about Nora. So I keep my promise to my sister and I smile at her.
“Ready to do this, Nora?”
Her eyes shine bright with excitement and her smile is so fucking big.
“So ready, Teddy. Take me to my husband, please!”
I chuckle and do just that, walking her down the aisle.
I keep my emotions in check.
I’m not the tool who cries at weddings. Not even at my own wedding, not that I had the chance.
But if I was going to cry at a wedding, it would have been Nora’s. Seeing my little sister marry her best friend would have done it. The love they have for each other stirred around a warmth in my chest. I felt their passion and, for the first time in years, I found myself envious. They had a love I had thought I once had for a woman who didn’t have the same love for me. And it caused me to rage in silence, alone. But this realization also came with the fact that a new kind of love for a woman who made my day truly sunny had been blooming whether or not I tried to fight it.
Cassie and I could have shared that unconditional love.
But I chose to throw it way. I chose loneliness over passion and realized that fucking hurt.
Shaking myself out of the mental anguish I find myself in, I watch on as my sister poses with her new family for photos. The guests are taking their seats at the reception, getting ready to celebrate this new marriage.
Watching how my sister seems to perfectly fit in with her new extended family puts a smile on my face and happiness for her that she will be well loved but also a twinge of pain knowing I’m no longer her go-to person in life. I’m no longer her only support system. She has a husband and in-laws to walk with her through life.
I have no one now.
I rub my chest. I take my leave as the photos wrap up. I need a whiskey stat.
Wandering into the reception, the DJ is already playing some tunes, and the guests are all smiling and getting drinks, waiting for the party to start. I spot Charlie flirting with a group of women. Rolling my eyes, I ask the bartender for a drink.
As I wait, I scan the room for the sunny blonde who I would really like to get a moment to chat with.
“It was a beautiful wedding,” a woman standing next to me says. Turning my head, I look down at an elegant older woman. She doesn’t look familiar, so she must be a relative of Mateo’s.
“It was.”
“You’re the bride’s brother, yes?” She doesn’t pull her gaze away from whatever she’s looking at.
“I am, Theo Abbot.” I reach out my hand and she finally looks at me with a knowing smirk. She takes my hand and shakes it.
“Ruth Ann James.” Her voice is husky. Her expression throws me off. I wrack my brain to place her, but nothing about her seems familiar.
“My apologies, but do I know you?”
“Oh, no, my dear boy. But I very much know you.” She smiles and something about it says this woman is an instigator. I narrow my eyes.
