“I’m not waiting for anything.” Felix leans in, and even though he’s smiling, there’s something dangerous in his eyes. “Piper dodged a massive bullet when she called off your wedding. Any man who treats a woman the way you did doesn’t deserve her. Not for one second.”
Bradley’s mouth opens and closes like a fish. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is that so?” Felix tilts his head. “I don’t know why you’re talking to her like you two are buddies, but I do know guys like you. The kind of douche canoes who make their partners feel small so they can feel big. As far as I’m?—”
“Felix.” I stand and place a hand on his arm. “It’s okay.”
He looks down at me, and some of the tension drains from his shoulders. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” I shift my gaze to Bradley. “I hope you and Marie are happy together, but Felix is right. I dodged a bullet. So thanks for that.”
My ex-fiancé’s face goes through several shades of red before he manages to stammer out, “Marie’s waiting,” and beats a hasty retreat.
I watch him go, then look up at Felix. “That was?—”
“A little extra?” He winces. “Sorry. I might have gotten carried away with the whole caveman vibe.”
“It was a ten out of ten moment.” I rise up on my toes and press a kiss to his cheek, not caring who’s watching. “Thank you.”
His eyes darken, and for a moment, I think he might kiss me for real. But then he smiles and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Anytime you need someone to tell your ex that he’s a douchebag, I’m your guy.”
I laugh, feeling about a hundred times lighter than I did when I walked into the ceremony a few hours ago. “Can we go home?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he says with a giant sigh of relief.
He tucks my elbow into the crook of his arm as we head toward the parking lot, and I let myself bask in the contentment I feel at this moment. Maybe I don’t have to have it all figured out right now. Maybe it’s okay to lean on someone while I find my footing.
Maybe—and this is the scariest thought of all—I don’t just want Felix here tonight. I want him here tomorrow and the day after that and every day for the foreseeable future.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks as he hits the button on his key fob to unlock the vehicle.
“How happy I am right now.” The admission slips out before I can stop it. “And how much that scares me.”
He stops walking and turns to face me, his expression serious. “Being happy scares you?”
I nod. “I’ve been here before. Convinced things were good, and then—” I shake my head. “I don’t want to be hurt again.”
“Piper.” He cups my face with one hand, his thumb brushing my cheekbone. “I can’t promise I won’t mess up. I undoubtedly will, because I’m an idiot when it comes to this stuff. But I can promise I’ll show up when you need me.”
The sincerity in his voice makes my chest ache. “That’s a pretty good promise.”
“It’s the only one I know how to make.” He leans down until our foreheads touch. “Is it enough?”
I can hear the faint sounds of the reception as we stand here together—laughter and music and the clink of glasses. The mountains are steady in the distance, and the first stars have appeared in the darkening sky.
And Felix Barlowe is here, wearing a too-tight suit, having crashed my high school friend’s wedding just to make sure I didn’t have to face it alone.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “It’s enough.”
His smile is brilliant and beautiful and aimed directly at me. “Good. Now let’s pick up Ellie and go home.”
“Home,” I echo, the word taking on extra meaning when it involves the three of us.
Sure, my life is a mess. I don’t have a job, I’m living in my childhood home with the father of my baby—who I’m pretty sure I’m falling for—and I’m carrying enough emotional baggage to fill a cargo plane.
But right now, I’m happy, which is also enough.
