Melissa fluttered across the dance floor toward whatever she’d spotted over our shoulders.
“Was it just me, or was she actually nice just now?” I asked, my gaze following her departure.
“No, she was.” Sabrina huffed and turned her head back toward me. “How about a drink? Not like we’re driving home, right?”
Nope. We had a king-sized bed waiting for us after this was all over. Something I didn’t need a reminder of.
“Sure,” I said, following her over to the bar.
“I forgot about when I’d babysit Toni and you guys would come over,” Sabrina mused as she leaned against the counter. “You were really good with her. And patient.”
“She was a sweet kid. It was fun having her around.”
She nodded a thank-you to the bartender and picked up our drinks.
“I swore I’d have a million kids by now. Or at least one.” She lifted a shoulder before bringing her glass to her lips. “Honestly, I saw you with a wife and a ton of kids too.”
“I don’t know about a ton. I’m good with kids one at a time.”
“Me too. Although Emily’s soccer team isn’t that bad. Ever feel like time is slipping through your fingers, like all the things you wanted to do or wished for are just…fading away?”
“That’s deep for a wedding, Sab.”
“I suppose.” She chuckled around the rim of her glass as she took another sip. “Between the reunion and this, I guess nostalgia is kicking my ass a little.”
“Open bars make you wax sentimental?”
“Maybe,” she said, the sad smile curving her lips killing me and requiring every ounce of willpower I had not to kiss her troubles away.
But I didn’t need willpower, did I? Not tonight anyway.
I wove my hand into her hair, giving it a gentle yank for her to look up, and I pressed my mouth to hers. I only brushed her lips, but the electricity zipped right through me.
Her eyes fluttered open when I backed away.
“Maybe things are different from how we would have liked, but there is still plenty of time. Don’t write yourself off at thirty-eight, Tirado.”
The corner of her mouth twitched, and I couldn’t resist stealing another quick kiss.
Time was running out for me in a different way, unless I found the balls to do something about it.
EIGHT
CADEN
The rest of the night went by in a blur. Sabrina and I had goofed off on the dance floor, both of us laughing so hard at each other, we’d drawn weird looks from the other guests.
That was always us. Fun and laughs and good times until my pathetic heart yearned for more.
While I’d managed to stay in denial once we got back in touch, tonight, we would turn a corner. I already felt like things were different, and as the night drew toward a close, that hotel room almost glaring at us from upstairs, everything was about to change.
I hoped against hope that change wouldn’t mean the end.
“You two are cute,” Sabrina’s aunt Josephine said when we sat down for dessert. “I used to love to dance when I was that young.”
“Young?” Sabrina laughed. “I don’t know about that, but we have fun together like fools,” she said, flashing me a sneaky grin. “So I guess we look young.”
“You never smiled like that before,” her aunt said, pointing a bony finger at the dance floor. “When you were married, you’d just sit with us at weddings.”
