As if on cue, Laney pulled Theo’s face down and went for a blackhead on his nose. He jerked back, then smacked her hand away.
Which made Nova smirk.
Jules pursed her lips. “She doesn’t want him, but she doesn’t want anyone else to have him either.”
I grunted because… pretty much. “Who else?”
She sighed. “Bowen and Maggie, Cash and Charlie, Liam, James and Willow.” Who was adorably dancing on the toes of James’s dress shoes. “Your parents, Blue and Anna, Granny and Gramps, your aunts, uncles, the rest of your cousins, Grandma Lisa, Blue’s Mom, Madden and Persephone and their crew.”
“Laney’s parents,” I said quietly. “You can’t forget them.”
“Of course I can’t,” she said in a hush.
“Was that your favorite part of the day?” I asked. “When Mr. Lannister walked you down the aisle?”
“No.” She smiled softly, watching the Lannisters talking with my parents. But she said nothing else.
“Having all your friends here as your bridesmaids?” I prodded.
Fallon, Briar, and Riley stood in a circle, chatting like excited schoolgirls. Though the trial was on the horizon, the judge had already declared their DayGlow contracts null and void. Fallon lived in Seddledowne now and worked side by side with Peyton and Jules at DoubleTake Beauty. Briar and Riley had both been given contracts with some other brand that Jules wholeheartedly approved of—headquartered in South Dakota, of all places. So this was the first time they’d all been together since everything went down.
I smiled. “I’m pretty sure you set a world record on the number of bridesmaids you had.” Fallon, Briar, Riley—even Laney—and every unwed Dupree and Bishop female stood beside her while she said her vows.
“Maybe. But that wasn’t my favorite part either.”
“Then what?” I asked.
She turned to me. “You really don’t know?”
“No.”
She licked her top lip. “The part that comes next.”
“Next?” I asked, afraid to believe we were finally there.
“Hmm.” She tipped her head to the side. “Maybe after another slice of cake.”
“Don’t tease me like that.” I smacked the table, making her laugh. “I’ve been waiting a year and a half. Do you have any idea how long that is?”
“Yes. It’s a year and a half.”
“Maybe for a woman it’s just a year and a half. But for a man, it’s like dog years.”
“So I’ve waited a year and a half, and you’ve waited…” She looked up, doing the math. “Ten and a half years.”
“No, longer—turns out it’s fifteen dog years to every human year. Anna told me that the seven-year thing has been debunked. So really, I’ve waited twenty-two and a half years.”
Jules clicked her teeth. “That’s a long time.”
“It is. So again, don’t tease. I’m a man on the edge.”
She threaded her fingers through mine and looked me in the eye. “No teasing,” she said, agonizingly slow. “No cake. And no more standing on the edge. It’s time…to jump.”
“Oh, heck yes.” I scooped her up in my arms and shot to my feet. “We love you all!” I shouted. “Thank you for coming! Goodnight!”
I jogged through the crowd, and Jules laughed into my shoulder.
“He sounds like you on our wedding night, Blue,” Anna said somewhere in the crowd.
