"And are we still pretending Beth and Wade aren’t a thing?”
"You better believe it. Those two are all blushes and not touching each other. Unless Wade took my advice.”
He lifted a brow. "What advice was that?”
I shrugged. "I don’t know. Just to make a move. Beth didn’t want him to make a move for the longest time, but then when she did want him to, he wouldn’t. He basically said he’s in it for the long-haul with Beth and didn’t want to push her too hard.”
"Wade’s a good guy,” Daniel said, turning into the restaurant parking lot.
"He really is.” I squeezed his hand. "I would know. I can pick them.”
Pulling into a spot, he turned to me and planted a light kiss on my lips. "I picked a good one too.”
He kissed me again, and again. And before I knew it, we were making out in the car. Hands all over each other. His tongue in my mouth.
I jumped when there was knocking at my window. Henry and Alice stood outside my door, both looking incredibly uncomfortable. I cursed under my breath and straightened my dress, but Daniel, oh-so-helpfully, just laughed.
Opening the car door, the words slipped out, "Sorry.”
Henry shrugged. "I just didn’t know if we should let you finish or not, but everyone’s at the door, and we’ll be late for our reservation.”
Daniel cleared his throat, coming around the side of the truck. "Good call, man.”
They bumped fists, and the tension eased.
Alice looked beautiful in a lavender crochet top with a floral skirt. Henry wore a white dress shirt and gray slacks. I got the sense from both of them that they were excited to be getting dinner with the "grown-ups” and had dressed to impress. I liked it. They were getting married, and if they wanted to do other grown-up things, they should.
We walked toward the restaurant, and I hung back to walk next to Alice. "So, are you excited about the wedding?”
Alice smiled, and when she did, she looked even younger. Granted, Henry was only five years younger than me, and Alice was only seven years younger than me, so it wasn’t like she was a baby. Sometimes she just felt like one. Probably because of how youthful she looked, or maybe because she was my "little” brother’s girlfriend.
"I’ve never been more excited to do anything in my life.” She took a deep breath, clasping her hands together. "Growing up as an empath was challenging. Life was always better alone than with people, because feeling everyone’s emotions could feel like too much sometimes. But being separated from people was lonely too, until I met Henry. He was kind, funny, smart, we had a lot of the same hobbies, and his emotions were so quiet. So predictable. He pulled me out of a really dark world and brought me out into the light.”
"It’s nice when we find our one,” I said, my gaze clinging to Daniel’s back.
"And now, we get to be married. We get to live together. Life is just perfect.” She sounded giddy.
"It really is.”
We reached the others, and there were hugs all around. Beth and Wade were standing, with a little space between them. Carol and Bryan were about as close as two people could get. And Deva and Marquis? They were exchanging smiles like this was the greatest day of their lives.
"Ready?” I asked everyone, after the greetings were done.
"Ready,” Carol said. "I’m starving.”
We made our way inside, focusing on each other and laughing as we gave the host our name. Deva was telling us about one of her servers accidentally dropping a piece of cake in someone’s lap with so much detail that we were cackling like jackals when we finally reached our table in the back.
I slid into the booth at Bon Appétit, the only nice dinner restaurant in town, the red leather squeaking under me. The rustic charm of the place wrapped around us like a warm embrace. Small, and intimate—it was one of those places that made you forget you were just minutes from home.
Everyone settled in, picking up our menus. The conversation died down as we read, but it was a comfortable silence. A silence between good friends.
Bread that smelled divine was set out swiftly. The wait staff slipped away, giving us time to figure out what we wanted. Music played in the background, creating a pleasant ambiance.
"Looks good, right?" Daniel's big frame barely fit on the opposite bench.
"Definitely." I scanned the menu. We all did, even though we knew it by heart.
"Hey, can someone pass the bread?" Henry fumbled with the cloth napkin, his movements awkward but eager.
