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Would it though?
I find my parents’ table across the room again; they’re divorced, but nothing seems amiss. No awkward tension or hidden resentment. They’re smiling, and it rattles something deep in my bones.
I sigh. I knew what perfection looked like, grew up with what most would dream for, and pieces still managed to go missing on a perfect, foolproof, faultless puzzle.
Finn and I,wehave no hope.
No one is safe.
People change, mindsets alter…
I shift in my seat, that last thought tugging at the invisible thread again. Suddenly this dress is too starchy, the softness of the silk too heavy on my skin.
Finn did say one thing I agree with though. Our son.
Aiden has every right to be in his father’s life. After these last few months of them being together, I can reconcile how wrong it was of me to keep them apart. They deserve each other, even if the same cannot be said for Finn and me.
“I-I would like, whoa…I have something I want to say,” Finn slurs, and my neck cranes, giving him my full attention for the first time all evening.
He’s standing in a similar fashion as his father, only he is slightly less put together and more sluggish.
The room goes quiet because, like me, I don’t think anyone else was expecting another to speak. Not tonight at least.
Our speeches aren’t meant to be given out until tomorrow after the ceremony. What could he possibly have to say now that can’t wait until then?
Finn’s eyes are glassy and the smile he shares is too loose. It’s sloppy and half drooped. Funny how even when lopsided, it still carries the Finn Casper confidence.
He starts by raising his glass, mimicking Abram again. Although he is far less dignified and clumsier. Especially after he fist-bumps his own tumbler, his grin hooking higher to one side in glee at the action.
I’m not sure if anyone else notices, but I do, and there currently isn’t an ounce of caution in him right now. Everything is overshadowed by his tipsiness.
I’m not sure why, but it puts me on edge and stirs a caution deep in my gut.
Eli’s chair scrapes the floor in his attempt to help him after his shoulders start to sway, but Finn shoves him back to his seat, a stern “no” echoing from his lips.
This churning, swelling sensation continues to swirl in my stomach. The intensity only increases with every extra second it takes Finn to normalize standing straight again. He’s utterly drunk.
Vulnerable, he looks too thin-skinned to be standing up like this. I want to help him, but I become frozen to my spot at the intensity of those hazel-green eyes as they find me.
I suck in a sharp breath at the clear clarity that suddenly washes over them. His posture is a stark contrast to the passion underneath those full lashes.
They’re so vivid but bleak.
His piercing stare shifts rapid fire to the people in front, and my shoulders droop, relaxing with my exhale.
“I wanted to start by congratulating the happy couple,” he says, tipping his chin down in Rory and Cole’s direction.
Cole gives his arm an appreciative squeeze.
He does a flawless job at making it come off seamless and genuine, but I wonder if it’s more out of warning to not fuck this up for Rory than it is his thankfulness.
Finn ignores it either way.
“This couple…” Finn pauses as his chin dips on a laugh. “This couple right here is special. For years, I’ve had the privilege of watching their relationship grow and be nurtured into what it is today. They never gave up on the other, neverquit.”
There are several awes, and my ears somehow manage to pick up past the pumping of my blood as it thins all over. For everyone else, he seems cute, sweet even, but I have my doubts because this nagging thing deep inside me knows this isn’t about Cole and Rory.
This impromptu speech is about us.
