“That sounds…perfect,” I said, reaching out and placing my hands on his face, grounding myself in the warmth of him. “I’m so in.”
His answer was a slow, easy smile before he took my hand and kissed the back of it. “You look incredible, by the way. But you look good no matter what you wear.” His smirk returned, teasing now. “Scrubs, jeans, a dress—hell, even your work uniform does things to me. You wore that apron that one time?—”
“Brooks!” I groaned, blushing furiously.
He laughed, tugging me toward the door. “Come on, let’s go make some bad decisions.”
He gave me a cheeky grin before motioning me to exit. His hand was on my bare back as we headed to the limo, and I stopped. “I can’t believe you rented a limo. If I didn’t know you, I’d say it was showing off. But it’s you, so…thank you.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders from behind and pulled me into a backward hug. It felt incredible having his arm around me, enveloping me in his clean scent and protecting me from everything else in the world, even just for a few moments. “I figured you take care of everyone and don’t spoil yourself enough.”
“So you wanted to spoil me?”
“I wanted to see your smile, and I did, and you can’t take it back.” He kissed my neck, and I tensed, desperately wanting him to continue down my body and bite my collarbone and mark me so I’d see him on my skin for days. But he did no such thing. He moved to open the side door and paused when I stared at him. “What?”
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s confusing?”
“This. You.” I let out a long breath and spotted a bucket of champagne sitting on the seat. “Thank Christ.”
“I knew that would reel you in.” He laughed, and once we were seated in the back, he poured two glasses for us. He didn’t say anything when we clinked our glasses together. It was intimate. Really intimate. He held my gaze and lowered his head like he was going to kiss me but stopped. “Are you ready for your first limo experience?”
I almost panted. “Y-yes.”
“Excellent.” He licked his lips, and every nerve in my body tensed as I waited for his lips to touch mine. But, instead of connecting our mouths, he wiggled his eyebrows and opened the sunroof. “We’re going to yell at people.”
“What? You’re not gonna kiss me?”
He smirked way too big for me. “Glad to know where your mind is, Mitch. But no, not yet.”
‘Yet’ being the key word that hung between us.
He downed the glass and pulled me up so we both stood looking out of the sunroof. Our chests were pressed tightly together, and my stomach swooped when he cupped the back of my head. But there was no kissing, and this was the best date I had ever been on.
And we still had hours together.
10
Brooks
All my favoritechildhood memories involved my mom and my brother. One in particular came rushing back the moment we stepped into the venue.
The twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling reminded me of fireflies, blinking against the dim sky, the way they used to when my brother and I ran barefoot through the neighborhood on summer nights. We’d chase them until our lungs burned, cupping them in our hands like we were catching stars. My mom would sit on the porch, laughing so loudly it echoed down the street, calling us in only when we were covered in dirt and the sky was ink-black.
She never cared about the mess. She cared about the moment.
And standing here, in this softly lit room, Michelle’s fingers still loosely curled around mine, I found myself thinking about her words again.
She used to tell me love wasn’t about the grand gestures. It was about the in-between. The little things. The moments that didn’t seem important until they were gone. I missed her. I missed the way life used to be before sickness took over, before things became complicated and heavy.
Maybe that was why I was watching Michelle so closely.
She wasn’t looking at the decorations or the people trickling inside. She was looking for Fiona.
And the second she spotted her, something inside her changed.
Fiona was across the room, speaking with the wedding coordinator, her hands animated as she gestured toward something near the altar. She looked effortless—like she was meant to be here, meant to be celebrated.
