“It’s only been two years,” I countered, but I was certain no one heard.
“Oh please, Jenn. You know Anna isn’t ever going to be over him,” Marie huffed, and I watched Daniel tighten his grip on her arm as a warning.
“Marie, that’s...” I shook my head, stunned. I didn’t know what to say. I knew what I wanted to say: that’s fucked up. Uncalled for. Disrespectful. Untrue. But the words seized up in my throat. I hated that she said this. I hated the preposterous edge in her voice. I hated that every word she said wasn’t bad when it was just ink on paper, but the tone, the expression, and her eyes filled with pity all made me feel like a stray dog they shooed away at brunch. My chest tightened as I remembered there was nothing like a wedding to highlight my singleness. Even with someone as handsome as Isaac Morrison on my arm, my sisters didn’t care. I would always be the one that never got anything quite right.
“Well, this is a start!” Jenn said. “It’s so good to meet you, Isaac.”
“You too. The wedding was lovely. Congratulations,” Isaac said.
“Thank you. I better go find myhusband!” she squealed. “We have rounds to make.”
I smiled and watched her walk away. When my eyes landed back on Marie, she looked entirely confused, examining me with this man called Isaac. Awareness prickled at my senses, and I worried she knew we were faking it.
“So, how long has this been going on?” Marie asked.
Isaac raised my hand to his lips. “Not long enough,” he said, and my heart fluttered.
Marie nodded, and Daniel said, “What do you do?”
“I’m a teacher,” Isaac answered. I smiled proudly at him.
“Nice.” Daniel slurped his bourbon.
“Well, the bouquet and garter toss will be in a few minutes,” Marie said, glancing at her wrist that didn’t have a watch. I tried not to roll my eyes. “You’ll be out there, I assume.”
“Oh yes, we are nearly thirty years old and absolutely dying to let the toss of wedding props decide our fate,” I said.
Marie winced.
I thought about sticking out my tongue at her but restrained myself from being so juvenile, just as I felt Isaac’s fingertips brush against my cheek, brushing a loose curl away from my face.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “But, if you’ll excuse us, we must go find your parents. Have you seen them?”
Daniel and Marie pointed across the room, and we excused ourselves from my big sister’s torture.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I murmured when we were out of earshot.
“No, you were drowning in nerves. I saw it, and that is simply not who you are,” he replied.
I tilted my head in his direction. “You’re so encouraging and, also, you don’t know me. Drowning in nerves is my specialty regarding awkward social encounters.”
He paused at the outskirts of the reception room, staring down at me with hooded eyes and soft lips. “I may not know you now. But I will. It’s my mission to get to know you.”
I bit my lip to contain my smile, and he moved closer to my face, pressing me against a white pillar. “You need to relax. Get whatever tension it is winding you out of your system.”
I swallowed hard, nerves rattling in my gut like marbles on a wood floor. “Do you understand how many eyes are on me tonight?”
I flashed a side-long glance at the wedding guests surrounding us and he immediately tilted my chin back to face him. The refocus made me exhale just as it made something pinch down low in my belly.
“Oh, so you think you’re important? Trying to upstand the bride?”
I let out a laugh, releasing the tension. “No, I mean... people are going to talk about the handsome teacher who couldn’t take his hands off Anna at her sister’s wedding.”
“Isn’t that the point of all this?” he whispered. As he moved closer, I knew he was right. That was the point. He tucked his fingers in my hair, and I felt the tension in my body release into his hands. “If you don’t want me to kiss you, just say it.”
“Isaac,” I breathed out with a laugh, heat hitting my cheeks as I glanced around us again.
“I like it when you call me that.” His grin deepened, and I realized I liked it, too. I enjoyed creating a version of us in a bubble. It was like we painted this picture of who we were together in a different dimension, and no one knew about it but us.
