I nearly collapse forward as all movement stops, and I gasp for air.
“Damn,” I mumble, wanting to do that again and again.
17
BRAX
2 weekslater
“I have an idea. You should remodel the bar,” Aunt Daphne says to Lulu as she sits down at the table next to us.
Not only did Lulu handle all the wedding details, she somehow made the bar not look anything like it normally does.
She only had the last twenty-four hours to transform the old, dark space into something straight out of a modern fairy tale for my sister. We couldn’t close the bar longer than that. I didn’t think she could do it, but from now on, I’m never going to doubt her abilities again.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lulu says, but I can see the gleam in her eyes. She’s nearly salivating at the idea of getting her hands on this place.
I don’t know how it looked when my grandparentsfirst opened it, but not a single thing has changed since I was a little kid. There is a comfort in that for me, but for customers in today’s world, it is far beyond dated.
“New flooring would go a long way,” I say, lifting a shoe off the tile that’s been washed so many times, it no longer has a protective coating.
“Part of me loves this place,” Lulu says with a sigh. “But the other part wants to tear everything out and start from scratch.”
“That’ll be a small fortune,” Mason says, wading into the conversation.
“Not necessarily,” Lulu replies. “I didn’t spend much on this.”
The three-piece band Lulu somehow scored on her limited budget starts to play as Wylder walks out of the back room, looking as if he’s about to pass out.
The poor guy. He’s been down this road before, but his first wife was a complete bitch. I don’t know if I could do it again if the first time was a disaster.
Everyone in the room stands as the doors to the bar open, and Hazel and Maddy walk in, looking cute in their flowy dresses. Hazel smiles as she throws flower petals, and Maddy walks at her side, looking bored as always.
I squeeze Iris’s hand as my dad and Tate fill the doorway, trying to ignore the gust of cold air that wafts through the dining room.
“She’s so beautiful,” Iris whispers as I stare at my sister.
She really is. She looks so much like our biological mother in their wedding photo from before we were born. I wonder if my dad’s heart ached a little when he saw her today.
“She is,” I whisper back as my dad and sister walk down the makeshift aisle.
Tate’s eyes are pinned on Wylder, and he stares at her without moving, as if he can’t do anything but watch his future solidifying before his eyes. It doesn’t take long until she’s in front of him with my father at her side.
Father McConnell smiles at my sister, the same priest who baptized us when we were babies. He’s been a staple of the neighborhood, and although the rest of us aren’t regular churchgoers, my grandparents insisted on his doing the ceremony.
“Who gives this woman to be wed?” he asks as he looks at my father.
“I do,” Dad says, but his voice cracks as he places Tate’s hand in Wylder’s. “I love you, baby girl.”
“Love you too, Daddy,” she whispers to him and sniffles.
Man, neither one of them is a crier, but the emotion today is high. I know they’re both thinking of Marissa, our bio mom, and how she should be here. No shade to Tilly. She’s the bomb and has done everything possible to step into some big shoes. Butthat doesn’t mean there still isn’t a hole in our lives on special days like this.
Dad wipes at the corner of his eye with the backs of his knuckles as he walks over to the table to sit with his wife. Tilly gives him a sweet smile as she takes his hand before he has a chance to sit. Her gentle touch is exactly what my dad needed after losing my mom, and especially today. A lesser woman would be threatened by the emotion of missing his first wife, but not Tilly. Maybe because she lost her first husband. They’re tied together in a grief that no one else would understand except the two of them.
Thankfully, the ceremony is a condensed version of the extremely long ones I’ve sat through way too many times to count in my almost three decades on this earth.
When Father McConnell says, “You can now kiss your bride,” and Wylder sweeps Tate into his arms, kissing her a little more passionately than I’d expect in front of the family, the bar erupts into applause. I don’t know if they’re excited for them or happy the ceremony part is over so we can get down to the party.
