“Damn right, I will.” Nana patted my chest. “So handsome. Julie needs to wake up and marry you before I do.”
I nodded, knowing that if I reminded her that we were just friends, she wouldn’t believe me.
And after a day of fighting to tear my eyes away from Julie, I wouldn’t have been too convincing.
“Does your wife want to join us, or is she still moping around?” she asked Dean’s father. The poor guy inhaled a deep breath as he ran a hand down his face.
“I’m not moping, Ma.”
Our heads whipped around to Dean’s mother, her huff now more sad than irritated, as it had been throughout the day. She swept her brown hair off her shoulder and smoothed her black dress as she glowered at her mother-in-law.
“I just wanted to have a big wedding for my only son. I guess that makes me a bad person.” A soft sigh fell from her lips as she trudged over to us.
“Your only son had the wedding he wanted, and you were able to be there. That’s all that matters, and this day is abouthishappiness, not yours. So, lighten the hell up, for Christ’s sake.” Nana huffed before scanning the casino floor. “That one feels lucky.” She pointed at one of the tables with her cane. “We’ll head there first.”
She yanked her son’s arm so hard he almost fell over. Dean’s mother followed, defeat in her every step across the patterned casino carpet.
“I feel like she’s going to be out a lot longer than we are.” Julie came up behind me as we watched Nana rest her cane against the edge of the craps table and drop the chips from her purse onto the felt.
“Longer than Dean’s parents are probably ready for.”
Julie’s laugh was easy and relaxed, and I’d try to do what she asked and enjoy her company without worrying about her once she was home. I agreed that it had been an emotional couple of days for a lot of reasons, but having her in my arms as we danced felt good. Putting what almost happened between us out of my mind was proving to be more difficult than I expected it to be, especially with her looking so damn gorgeous tonight.
Julie had always been gorgeous, and I’d never beaten myself up for noticing. But that was because I hadn’t been tempted to cross a line like I was last night. I’d need a few more days to reason my way out of it, and although I hated the thought of parting ways tomorrow, maybe a little distance between us would give us the space we needed to cool off.
“This hotel is so pretty,” Julie mused as we strode through the hotel’s botanical gardens, passing the batch of red-petaled tulips and daisies. The flowers were framed around an indoor fountain, with tourists meandering through each display and bumping into one another, focused on the flowers and not where they were going.
“It is,” I agreed. “Nice hotel for a wedding. Although watching them be married by Elvis like Dean wanted would have been something.”
She nodded, her arms cinched around her torso as we moved past more rows of flowers.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out a penny, motioning to the little boy across from us tossing coins into the fountain.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I asked, holding out my hand to show her the penny in my palm.
“Maybe I should make a wish. Couldn’t hurt, right?” She took the penny, rubbing it between her fingers. “Should we find a slot machine after I throw this to see if it worked?”
When her shoulders shook with a chuckle, my gaze fell on the cluster of freckles on her collarbone. My wish was to figure out how to make her see how gorgeous she still was and that she never had to hide from anyone. Although the way I’d been tempted to remind her of that last night was off-limits.
“We could. Like I said, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” I came up to her, holding her eyes as they searched mine. “Just don’t make me join Nana at the craps tables. I’m not built for that.”
She shoved my shoulder and stepped closer to the edge of the fountain, closing her eyes before tossing the coin into the water. My eyes followed the ripple of the coin as I made my own wish.
“I’m sorry,” Julie said, her whisper so low and almost drowned out by the running water.
“Sorry for what?”
“Well, for a few things,” she said, easing closer to me. “I’m sorry for lying to you all this time, and I’m sorry that I can’t get out of my own head and I keep taking it out on the people closest to me.”
“You’ve had a lot going on. It’s okay to be pissed at the world about it.”
“I guess. You want to hear something weird?”
“Always.”
Her eyes flicked to mine, a sheepish smile dancing across her lips.
“When we were sitting at the table tonight, all I could think of was how I wished I could be like Dean’s grandmother. To get to be that full of life at her age.”
