“It’s Jo’s day. Jo and Eric’s. He should let it be about them.”
See, this is why I wasn’t over him. Trey was a good man. He always knew the right thing to do.
There was a spatter of applause as Colt began to play. Honestly? I wasn’t a huge Colt Henderson fan. He was a little too country for a girl determined to leave Bunyan behind. But he sure knew how to gauge his audience.
I recognized the opening of “I Miss You More,” the ballad Beth had written, a duet between a deployed soldier and his sweetheart back home. Everyone in these parts knew a father, sister, husband, neighbor who had been deployed. Colt sang it well, in a velvet whiskey voice with plenty of feels. And when Beth joined in, her radiantsoprano weaving and throbbing over the melody, the song arrowed straight to my heart.
“In the quiet,” she sang.
“When things get rough,” Colt answered.
They sang together.“Your calls and your letters are never enough...”
“That takes me back,” Meg said wistfully.
Back to when Daddy went to Iraq, to when Momma first moved us girls out to the farm. Back when we were a family, when I thought they would stay married forever. My eyes stung. Logically, I’d accepted that my parents’ relationship wasn’t perfect. But the two of them together was all I’d ever known.
“You’re not the only one.” I nodded toward our parents. In the fading light, I couldn’t see their faces. Only the pale flash of our mother’s hair and our father’s head, lowered over hers.
“They’re dancing,” Meg said in a troubled voice. Making herself responsible for everybody’s feelings. As usual.
“Honey, it’s fine,” John said.
“But...”
He turned her to face him, resting his hands on her hips. “It’s a wedding. Let them enjoy themselves for one night.”
She sighed and looped her arms around his neck. Giving in to the moment or the music or the memories. Eric gathered Jo close, holding her to his heart. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. All around me, couples swayed and shuffled. Colt and Beth sang together, voices twined, gazes locked.
“If this good-bye is forever...”
“I’ll still remember.”
“And miss you more.”
The twinkling lights blurred.
“Want to dance?”
I blinked. Trey’s face swam in front of me, smiling in the old way, easy and affectionate. You would hardly guess his heart was broken. Ofcourse, he’d had almost three years to get used to the idea that the love of his life was marrying another man.
Some things you don’t get over, I thought again.
“Nope. Sorry.”Not sorry.
Weddings were dangerous. All those feelings swirling around in the air. I didn’t want my sisters talking about me the way they talked about Mom and Dad. About Beth and Colt. Besides, if I danced with Trey... Well. I knew wherethatwould lead. Drunken Wedding Sex.
I was not going to be a cliché.
“I have to see Aunt Phee,” I said.
Trey lifted his eyebrows. “Now?”
“I may not get another chance. I’m going back to New York tomorrow.”
“Fine. I’ll come with you.”
My mouth dropped open. “You will not.”
