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Should I be surprised though? No, because this is Rory. She’s always been more understanding than most people. She’s tough but empathetic.
“Just try not to make it a habit, alright?” I can feel the weight of her gaze on my back. “I think this makes us square, yeah?” Her throat clears. “I should’ve told you about Aiden when I found out…”
I glance at the royal-blue paint on the walls of her room, the color still as vibrant as the day I told the designer this was the choice. The lady my father hired wanted something neutral and basic, and I told her it wouldn’t work.
If I was going to be forced to stare at the room across the hall from mine, then I deserved something other than beige to look at. The designer had to change her entire plan but, in the end, it worked out for the best.
This hue is better suited for Lil Sis anyway.
“Rory, it’s your wedding day. We don’t have to talk about this now.”
We never had a chance to discuss it before now. At first, I was so angry I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, and then, time settled, and it never came up.
The truth is, I forgave her a long time ago for it. I know my sister, and she may not have told me, but she didn’t do it out of malicious intent. She was forced into a hard place, and I don’t blame her. My criticism belongs only to the person who should’ve told me from the beginning.
Aiden reaches for my bow tie, and I pinch at his smiling cheeks. Our matching black tuxes transform him into more of my mini-me. He’s so much like me. Sometimes, it physically hurts.
The weighty sigh I hear Rory express behind me is full and sober. “A dad really is an important figure in a child’s life, huh?”
“They are,” I agree. Why is my throat suddenly the one choked up and cloggy? “They areveryimportant.”
“I know I said we’re even but…” she exhales on a pause. “I need a favor. It is my wedding day, after all, so I’d say you owe me.”
I scoff, snapping my legs back to their upright position. “Whatcha need, Lil Sis?”
Her chin angles upward. Determination swells in her vision, but there’s also an overflowing amount of tenderness in them as well when she says, “I need you to go get Abram.”
fifty
Finn
CHAPTERFIFTY
Finn
The entire wedding went off annoyingly, fabulously well. It was sickening how adorable the entire day turned out to be.
If I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be fairy-tale perfection. I know that’s more than one word, but…whatever.
Blah…blah…blah. Yada…yada…yada…it was what every person who dreams of getting married would envy. I mean, we were literally in a conservatory surrounded by thousands of flowers.
The icing on the cake, though, was Rory asking Abram to join her down the aisle. No one—and I meannobody—expected it, least of all Dad, who agreed graciously.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my father try and hold back his emotions as much as he had at that moment.
I swear I even heard him sniffle when he thought no one was looking. Eli must have noticed, too, because he handed him his pocket square right before it was his turn to walk up with Hailey.
Rory and Cole have been gone for about two weeks now. They’ve most likely been humping like little bunnies all around the oceanfront cabana Cole gifted them with for their honeymoon.
The summer’s nearly come to an end, and in the meantime, I’ve started back up with more intense training.
Hailey hadn’t wasted any time leaving. She took Aiden with her as promised. The next morning, as the rest of us were waking up to breakfast and sending the two newlyweds off, she followed right behind.
She’s kept up with our makeshift agreement. The daily pictures and texts about Aiden are nice but aren’t enough, so after two days, I head back up to our house near campus.
I couldn’t bear to be in my childhood home anymore. It was suffocating me. The walls felt too lifeless, and it reminded me too much of when Dad used to travel for business all the time.
I miss everyone, okay?
