Edward signals to a few people, and the guys are let out one by one.
“When you walk through those doors, you are to look straight, got it?” Edward asks.
“So I can’t look around?”
He shakes his head vigorously. “No. We need to keep it as much of a surprise as possible. This means that you paynoone attention, got it?”
I nod.
“When you get to the end of the aisle, you stay looking at the water until we tell you to turn around.”
I salute him. “Heard.”
He doesn’t look so sure, and regards me with a careful glance, as if his entire job is riding on me following thisoneorder. Maybe it is.
I mean, I’lltryto follow it. I get distracted by a damn butterfly.
Leo pats my shoulder one time before he exits into the sun. And suddenly, I’m standing alone.
Edward appears by the door, counting down from five with his fingers.
It’s all happening far too quickly now, and my heart starts beating out of my chest. My brain starts moving at a million miles an hour, and all the positive thoughts I was just thinking melt away into the abyss.
And when the doors open, I feel blinded by the sun.
Maybe that’s the whole point.
I step out, my thoughts whooshing in my ears. All I can hear is a mild murmur around me as I struggle to process what’s happening.
My feet hit the grass. I keep my gaze on the water.
I take a step.
And another one.
And another.
And all of a sudden, I’m nearing the platform in front ofme, a beautiful arch of hydrangeas looking grander than I could have ever imagined.
And they remind me of home. Of my grandpa’s garden, full of them.
Full of them because my grandma had planted them decades before.
I haven’t visited home in a long time. Maybe I should go and make sure they’re still there…
Snap out of it.
I defy Edward’s orders. Just a little. I make eye contact with Leo, his eyes round and wild.
Weird, but okay. He looks a little freaked out.
Having my friends there grounds me just enough to finish my walk. I stand on the platform, looking out at the water, counting to five, and then counting again.
The music changes.
Edward appears in front of me once more, keeping my gaze.Do not turn around yet,he mouths as cameramen flank him, capturing my every move as things happen behind me.
I bite the inside of my cheek.
