Kate laughed, the sound carrying in the open space as we moved closer to the infield. I stopped a few feet in front of her, suddenly aware of how real this was about to become. Two nights ago, we’d been buried in spreadsheets and contracts. Just yesterday, we’d still technically been only two people trying to figure out what we were to each other.
Now, we were standing here, about to get married because time had run out and the world wouldn’t wait for us to catch our breath.
She folded her arms loosely, looking up at the stands again before her gaze drifted back to mine. “So this is where you always imagined getting married, huh?”
“Yeah.” I looked into her eyes, watching a stray red curl float on the breeze for a fraction of a second. “I know it probably seems childish. I kind of thought I’d change my mind eventually myself, but it just never happened.”
Baseball was one of the only things in my life that had ever been simple, and although I hadn’t said that part out loud, her eyes softened a little. Like she knew anyway.
But then I noticed the hat she was wearing again and pointed at it. “That’s disrespectful.”
She innocently touched the brim of her New York Yankees cap. “What, this?”
“Yes, that.”
“It’s a classic,” she said.
“It’s a crime is what it is.”
“I’m not taking sides,” Will said mildly. “But it does feel intentional.”
Kate grinned. “Thank you, Will.”
“This is Chicago Cubs territory,” I said. “Show some respect.”
“I am respecting it,” she said lightly. “By improving it.”
I wouldn’t even justify that with a response, so I just stared at her instead and she stared right back. Then we were both laughing, the tension cracking just enough to let us have just one damn moment of something actually resembling happiness on our wedding day.
God, she looks beautiful.Just real. Tired, slightly windblown, and entirely herself, and despite everything, she was here. Still choosing this. Still choosing me.
Five years of emails. Three years of constant fighting. Weeks of pretending. Days of unraveling. Somehow it’d all led her here, to this moment on this field, standing in front of me wearing the wrong team’s hat, about to sayI do. The lawyer cleared his throat politely, drawing my attention away from her.
“Whenever you’re ready,” he said. “We should really get this show on the road, though. Before they realize there’s a Yankees fan getting married on our field.”
My heart rate spiked as Kate and I both turned to face him. He flipped a page in his binder, his tone remarkably similar to one usually reserved for municipal paperwork when he finally got started. “We’ll keep this brief.”
“Please do,” Kate said. “I have emails waiting and I’d like to sleep again at some point this century.”
“You’re getting married,” I said. “Try to live in the moment.”
She shot me a look. “Iamliving in the moment. This moment just happens to be inconvenient. Do you have any idea how far behind I am on all my other work?”
Will made a choking sound that might have been a laugh. Honestly, though, it looked like he was having the time of his life. I should’ve expected that.
Every time Kate opened her mouth, his expression brightened a little more, like he was thoroughly enjoying having scored a front-row seat to what he thought was sure to be a disaster. The lawyer cleared his throat and launched into it, the words he said blurring together a little.
Kate shifted her weight beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. Even through layers of clothing, the contact was still distracting enough that I had to force myself to focus on the lawyer’s voice instead of her warmth.
“Do you—” he began.
“Yes,” Kate said.
He blinked hard, clearly surprised. “Ma’am, I haven’t?—”
“Yes,” she repeated. “Whatever it is. Yes.”
Will outright laughed and the lawyer sighed but made a small note on his paper. Like he could just blow past it because itwasn’tthe strangest thing he’d heard from a client today, which honestly concerned me a little.
