“I can’t,” he said. “You’re just so pretty.”
Winnie smiled to herself. “I got a new jumpsuit for the wedding,” she said. “It came last night, and I tried it on, and it fits pretty good.”
“And I didn’t get a fashion show picture?” he asked.
“A fashion show picture?”
“Whenever my sister gets new clothes, she sends us all fashion show pictures.”
“I didn’t know I needed to do that,” Winnie said.
“It’s kind of like the games you play in your family,” he said. “Remember how I failed at all of those?”
She laughed against his chest. “You haven’t failed at anything, Ty.”
“What color is the jumpsuit?” he asked.
“Red,” she said. “And it’s got white animal print all over it. It’s pretty cute.”
“Red and white animal print.” Ty chuckled. “I actually can’t wait to see that, so I guess we’ll have to go to the wedding.”
“I guess?” She almost scoffed but held it back at the last moment. “I don’t know why you’re so grumpy about going to this wedding.”
“I don’t know why you’re so jazzed to go,” he shot back. “It’s not like you know Judy or Trooper.”
“No, but they’reyour friends, and I like meeting new people.”
“Another thing I don’t understand,” he griped.
She pulled away and looked up at him. His eyelids fluttered open, and Winnie wondered if she should hold her tongue, but she wanted to be able to speak her mind with the people she spent her time with. If Tyson didn’t value that, then she didn’t want to be with him.
“Oh, you’ve got that look in your eye,” he said.
“What look?”
“It’s the same look my momma gets when she has something she wants to say, and she knows I’m not going to like it.”
Winnie pressed her lips together and looked over to the entrance to the living room. As Rocky entered, he meowed several times before joining them on the beanbag. She stroked her hand down his side, trying to find the right words.
“Are you going to be super surly at the wedding?” she asked.
“I’ll probably just be myself,” Ty said.
“Well, if that’s the super surly version of yourself, then I’m not sure I want to go with you.” She looked up at him. “I think true love is amazing, Ty. And even if we’re a little bit jealous, or we wish it was for us, or we don’t know the person, it’s something that can touch our hearts and we can appreciate it. If you can’t eventryto do that, then I’ll just wear my jumpsuit to church on Sunday.”
He searched her face too, his eyes sharp but everything else about him soft. “I just can’t believe you want to go to a wedding for people you don’t even know,” he said. “Just to meet a few of my friends.”
“Well, your friends are important to you, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” he clipped out. “But how are you not angry and bitter about the wedding that you didn’t get to have?”
“Who says I’m not?” she asked.
“I do,” he said. “You acted a little sad about it, for like, four minutes. And then your response was literally,I just need to find the right person.”
“Well, that’s true,” she said.
“I don’t understand how you can be so, so, so…cheerfulabout the bad things that have happened to you.”
