Harper found herself hard-pressed not to cry just thinking about it. The idea of her best friend as her baby’s aunt was just too wonderful. And, of course, she knew she could count on Tara to fill that role in the child’s life no matter what — but could she really keep from Tara the fact that the child was a blood relative?
And what if, after the baby was born, it was obvious whose baby it was? What if it came out looking just like Theo? Then everyone would be able to tell. Everyone would know that Harper had been lying.
Oh, it was all too much. There was nothing that could be decided right now. She was just going to have to speak to Theo, find outwhat he thought about it all, and make all of her decisions from there.
Tara and Max exchanged their first kiss as a married couple and made their way back up the aisle to the sound of the recessional music. Though Tara had chosen to have her bridesmaids come down the aisle on their own, they were to go back up on the arms of the groomsmen they were paired with. Theo stepped forward, extended his arm to take Harper’s, and raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.
As complicated as everything was, she couldn’t refuse him. She took his arm, and together they made their way toward the back of the venue.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Theo murmured.
“There was a lot to do.”
It was a poor excuse. Harper knew it, and so did Theo. “I thought we were going to work on it together,” he said. “You made a big deal out of wanting me to be involved in everything. And then, as soon as I was ready to be involved, I stopped hearing from you.”
“We did this together,” Harper said firmly. “We put together this whole wedding. It was both of us. Maybe I took on most of the responsibility at the very end, but almost everything that’s happening today was planned by the two of us jointly. I hope you don’t feel as if I left you out of anything.”
“No, it isn’t like that,” Theo said. “You’re right. You and I did work together on everything. It was just that, towards the end there, I got the feeling that you were avoiding me. Are you telling me it wasn’t like that?”
They had reached the end of the aisle, and Harper pulled her arm back from him and stepped away. “We can discuss it more later, if you’d like,” she said. “For now, though, we have other responsibilities. We have to get ready to deliver our toasts. And the food is going to be served soon, and we need to help guests find their seats, so it’s really not a good time for the two of us to have a conversation.”
“I’m beginning to wonder whether you thinkanytime is a good time for us to have a conversation,” Theo said.
“There’s really nothing to talk about,” Harper told him. She could have bitten her tongue even as the words were leaving her mouth. Therewassomething to talk about, of course, and it was just about the biggest thing that could possibly exist between two people. Now she had prefaced that conversation by telling him that there was no conversation to be had, it was going to make the whole thing that much more difficult.
She turned and hurried away before she could put her foot in her mouth again. There was plenty to do, and it should be easy to keep away from Theo for the next few hours.
And it was. She busied herself by the gift table as guests began to pour in. Everyone went to find their place cards and make their way to the tables they’d been assigned to. Harper made a production of accepting everyone’s gifts as they came in and arranging them in an aesthetically pleasing way on the table, telling herself that she was doing it so the photographer would be able to get a good shot. The truth was, she was avoiding talking to anybody. She didn’t want to face Theo right now, and she also feared more questions from Tara about her pregnancy. She needed time to decide how she would answer those questions. She was going to have to tell her friendsomething. She couldn’t continue being evasive every time it came up.
Throughout the dinner, Harper managed to keep to herself. She was seated right next to Tara, but Tara had Max on her other side and the two of them were so caught up in each other that it was easy for Harper to focus on her plate and not speak to anyone at all. She got to her feet when it was time for her to make her speech. She had said all the most poignant and heartfelt things that she needed to say to Tara before the wedding ceremony. The speech was mostly for entertainment, and she was pleased when she got a few laughs, but her mind was on other things.
When she sat down, Theo got up to speak. Harper would have expected his speech to be dry and boring, not because he was that way himself, but because she knew Theo well enough to know that he didn’t like to express emotion publicly. And while he didn’t go over the top with it, she was surprised by how earnest he was. He told stories about his shared childhood with Max, and Harper couldn’t help thinking maybe she had inspired him to do that. He was also shockingly open about how much he liked Tara, and Harper found it moving. It was nice to see someone be so kind to her best friend.
Max and Tara got up for their first dance together as a married couple. As the music began to play, Harper stood back and watched. For the first time that day, she felt at peace. Tara was so happy. Her face was shining. And the way Max looked at her, as if she were the only person in the room, made it impossible to feel anything other than joy on their behalf.
That was, until Theo came over to stand beside her. “It’s all going pretty well, don’t you think?”
She looked over at him. He was devastatingly handsome in his tuxedo. It only hinted at the muscles she knew were beneath it, but the knowing was enough. She felt as if she were looking rightthrough his clothes, seeing the body she knew was there. This was the reason she’d needed to stay away from him all this time. It was impossible to be around him. She couldn’t even stand here next to him without thinking about him naked.
“I think it’s going fine,” she said, easing herself away from him ever so slightly and hoping that the tension between the two of them might crack.
But it only seemed to heighten. “We’re going to have to dance together in a minute,” he said. “It’s the wedding-party dance.”
She nodded. She had known that was coming next. She had tried to keep it out of her mind, to forget that she would have to take to the dance floor with him after the awkwardness that had existed between them lately. But there was no getting around it.
He was watching her. “This was the part you said you were looking forward to,” he reminded her. “You told me that you wanted to be here at the wedding with someone who was willing to dance with you. Someone you could enjoy the evening with.”
“I also told you that I didn’t think you were that person,” Harper reminded him. “I told you that I didn’texpectyou to be that person.”
“It doesn’t matter what kind of person I am,” Theo said. “We have this dance. We have these next few minutes to enjoy together.” He held out his hand to her.
Harper hesitated.
“Harper, I know things have been strange between you and me,” Theo said. “I don’t pretend to know why that is. But I also won’t stand here and pretend that I don’t have any idea what could have changed things between us. We both know what happened.I still don’t regret it, and I hope you don’t either. But either way, we have this dance. Tara and Max are married, and we’re here to celebrate, and I want to dance with you.”
She took a breath. Whatever else had passed between the two of them, she believed what he was saying now. And she felt the same way. She wanted to dance with him too.
She gave him her hand as the music changed, and he led her out onto the floor.
