“That’s the first time I’ve seen you actually smile tonight,” Tripp says.
“Stop,” I say.
“I’m serious. Your smile throughout the wedding looked like it was recycled.”
“How dare you?” I tease. “I have a fabulous smile. It’s a universal fact about me.”
Behind me, I hear a soft snort, and I turn my head and raise an eyebrow at Tripp’s bartender friend, who’s pouring a Coke for a guest. “You disagree?”
“Don’t mind me,” he says. “I wouldn’t know.”
I unleash my full Julia Roberts smile on him and then drop it just as fast. “See?”
Sean looks at Tripp. “It’s a pretty good smile.”
Tripp and I go back to looking at the guests. “I know youcansmile. But you haven’t smiled likethatall night. What’s goin’ on with you and Aldridge?”
“Nothing,” I say truthfully. “We’re the exact same as we’ve always been.”
“I think you two are missin’ the ‘growing’ part of ‘growing old together.’”
I roll my lips together in thought. “We’ve been together for a long time. We never fight. We like most of the same things. Everything about us makes sense. What is there togrowinto?”
“If you ain’t growing together, you’re growing apart,” Tripp says.
“Is this an intervention or a Ted Talk? I can’t remember which one I requested when I RSVP’d.”
I hear another soft laugh behind me, but I purposefully donotlook at Sean. He’s probably drying a wine glass or buffing the counter while he laughs at me.
No,withme. The timing of that quiet laugh was definitely in my favor, not Tripp’s.
“I want to make sure you know what you’re doing, that’s all.”
“With the team?” I ask, purposefully misunderstanding him. “Not at all. Who would have thought finding a coach would be so hard? Also, when did you start talking like Grandpa Tag? You sound like an old man.”
“You’re two years older than me.”
“Yes, but I make it sound so much cooler.”
Sean fully laughs this time, and the warm, easy rumble makes me grin.
I love laughing. I love funny people who can get the humor in a situation or comment without it becoming mean. With my eyes on the dance floor, I see plenty of laughter. Cooper and Liesel are dancing together, and judging by their gleaming eyes, they’re engaged in their unique brand of playful banter. Nate and Juliet are dancing again, and I can tell she’s teasing him about something based on her wide, batting eyes and the way he’s trying not to laugh.
What would it be like to tease and be teased? To have the man I love say something that makes me throw my head back so my laugh reaches all the way up to the stars? To love so fervently that just looking away from the object of my affection is painful? To love so confidently that dancing with friends isn’t a sign of escape but of empowerment?
I can only imagine.
Tripp’s wife, Jane, is beckoning to him from the dance floor. She’s giving her husband acome hitherlook I’ve never made to Aldridge.
“Go dance with your wife. We’ll catch up later.”
Tripp eyes me uncertainly, but I wave him away.
“We’ll talk later,” I tell Tripp. “Go dance with your wife while she can still put up with you.”
“I’ll be back,” he says before heading out to dance with his wife.
I turn away from the dance floor toward the bar. I close my eyes and take a slow, deep breath.
