Of what? She wasn’t sure.
“Oh, uh… thanks, Gin,” he stammered. “You… I mean your dress is… cute.”
Cute.
She looked down at her dress, a spaghetti-strapped, rose pink, 1950’s inspired tulle masterpiece. Her hair was loose, falling in long, dramatic, heavy blonde curls over her shoulders with one side pulled back. She’d taken careful care to get her makeup just right. Ginny felt like a lovely, sophisticated woman. Not…cute.
“Thank you. No adorable socks to match, but Sadie picked it out for me,” she said, hiding her disappointment. “So, I like it. And theBest Womanhad to look good, so…”
Ryan nodded without looking at her again and cleared his throat, addressing the crowd with all the charm and grace he’d been missing only moments before.
“Hey, y’all. We’re so happy to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Dakota Remillard with you.” The audience cheered before he continued while strumming the guitar lightly with his finger tips. “Dakota’s baby sister, Ginny, and I are gonna sing a song for the newlyweds while they have their first dance. So, here goes.”
Cute. Baby sister.
After a momentary stutter, Ginny sang the first words to their duet, hearing the way Ryan’s harmonies blended with her voice perfectly. Like smooth maple syrup poured over warm, buttered pancakes. No need for practice or extra time together, however much she would’ve relished in it.
They worked. In a craving-finally-satiated sort of way. She could feel and hear and almost see it. And as she watched Dakota and Sadie sway to the music, lost in each other as if no one else were in the room, she wished that, just once, Ryan might see her the same way.
2
LOVELY DAY
BILL WITHERS
“Well, Virginia you were absolutely stunning up there,” Mrs. Edwina—Sadie’s mom—declared, bringing Ginny into a tight hug and kissing her on her forehead. She held her close. “I am so proud of you, sweet girl. And… your accompaniment wasn’t half bad either. That strawberry blonde hair mixed with his voice and a guitar… Whew! He’s a hero straight out of a romance novel. I had to fan my face a bit.”
“You should see him in glasses,” Ginny whispered, loving to fire up Mrs. Edwina when given the chance but not wanting to give Ryan the satisfaction of overhearing them. “Total, nerdy babe.”
The older woman shimmied and pulled away from her. “Young man,” she put her arm in the crook of Ryan’s, pulling him away from a conversation with Georgia, Caroline, and all the Lovett brothers, including Evan—who’d performed the wedding ceremony—and his extremely pregnant wife, Blaire.
“I just have to say, you have a God-given talent, son. Your voice was rich and resounding through this whole room.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Ryan said, a light blush, matching his hair, ran across his cheeks.
“And it certainly doesn’t hurt that you had this woman as your partner. I swear, I always love to hear my girl, Virginia Maple, sing. It doesn’t matter what it is. She could singRow, Row, Row Your Boatand I’d listen and probably get teary-eyed, just the same.”
For what felt like the first time that night, and maybe in months, Ryan met Ginny’s eyes. “She’s very talented,” he said clinically, but his eyes darted to somewhere behind her.
A rush of Axe body spray clouded her vision, and a foreign, strong hand rested against Ginny’s elbow. She turned to find one of Dakota’s Air Force buddies, also in his dress blues and at the perfect height for Ginny to make eye contact with his puppy-dog brown eyes, not unlike her own.
“Hey. It’s Ginny, right?”
Ginny smiled brightly, finding herself completely disarmed by the handsome stranger’s kind eyes and adorable dimples. “Virginia,” she said, holding her hand out for him.
He shook her hand but kept it in his. “Remillard told me all about his younger sister, but he definitely didn’t mention how absolutely stunning you are.” He smiled and let his thumb drift over her hand. “I’m Holder. And, Virginia, I am dying to dance with you. If you’d allow me?”
Ginny couldn’t hold back her grin. “Oh, I think we could do that. I’d hate to have a medical emergency on our hands.”
“It’d be your fault completely,” he said and pulled her towards the dance floor, letting his hand rest on the small of her back.
“We can’t have that.” She let her hand rest on his shoulder as they began to sway. “Are you gonna tell me your first name, Holder?”
“How do you know that’s not my name?”
She raised her eyebrow, and he relented. “My name’s Liam. Liam Michael Holder.”
“It’s nice to meet you. And dance with you.” He twirled her once then pulled her close again.
