Simon was probably right to stop me. Even if I didn’t mean to, I was liable to start a fight right now.
“I genuinely hate to break this up,” Corey said. “But we’ve got twenty minutes before showtime and Simon’s still not dressed. Your mother will kill us both if we’re late.”
“She’s about to be your mother,” Simon muttered.
Corey snorted. “Thank you for the reminder. Tell her that for me.”
Simon’s lips twitched. He looked away from Corey to meet my eyes, smile turning apologetic. “Duty calls.”
I slipped off his lap, wondering if he was grateful for the rescue.
Madelaine was right. I needed to talk to him.
Unfortunately, I still didn’t know, exactly, what I needed to talk to himabout.
21
SIMON
After what had endedup being hours separated from him, seeing Theo across the packed courtyard trying to blend in with the plants was the highlight of my day so far. I wove my way through the crowd, avoiding gesticulating glasses and frighteningly efficient wait staff along the way, tensed the whole time for fear of being called away.
The way his face changed when he saw me, eyes widening and lips curling into a smile that looked as relieved as I felt, swept away everything that’d come before. All there was in the world, for the three heartbeats it took to reach him, was Theo.
“Simon,” he said, as though it was the first breath he’d taken since we’d been split up earlier.
I’d been afraid ever since that I’d done something wrong just before we’d been interrupted. The thought that I hadn’t had a chance to find out, that Theo might be hurting and I couldn’t do anything about it, had haunted me all through the ceremony and pictures and rounds of handshakes and congratulations I couldn’t just walk away from.
So it felt as thoughIwas taking my first breath since then, too.
“Miss me?” I asked, grinning at him. I couldn’t help it—whenever Theo came into touching range, my happiness rose a handful of notches. I wasn’tunhappywhen he wasn’t around, usually, but I was a lot happier when he was.
“Always,” he said. “Simon, I?—”
“And now, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice booming over the sound system cut Theo off. “It’s time for the first dance!”
Theo’s mouth twisted into a wry smile, shoulders heaving with a sigh. The crowd moved as one, clearing the central part of the courtyard as though they’d all known in advance what to do on their cue. Maybe they had. Maybe there’d been a seminar while Theo and I had been in the living room by ourselves.
However it’d happened, it left me and Theo near the front of the crowd once everyone was done moving. It was then I realized how well-timed this was, the afternoon light just turning to gold, lighting up the cleared space as though it was glowing.
A sigh rippled through the crowd as Delilah stepped out in a completely different dress from the one she’d gotten married in. This one was still white, but sheer to the waist except for just enough of a strip of opaque fabric to cover her nipples, poofing out into a ballerina skirt that fell to calf length. The whole thing sparkled in the sunlight. She must’ve put body shimmer or something on, too, because her skin glittered as she swept out onto the floor with Corey.
She made him look like the most ordinary man in the world. He looked at her as though she was the only woman in it.
“Wow,” I murmured.
“Yeah,” Theo responded beside me, shuffling a little closer. “That’s my baby sister.”
His voice was rough, and when I looked at him, I caught the faint glimmer of tears welling up along his lower lashes. He blinked them away and they vanished, but I knew what I’d seen.
A swell of affection for him welled up in my chest. He did love Delilah. Enough to want her to be happy.
Theo thought he wasn’t a generous or kind person, but I knew better. He was. He was just also kind of a grouch sometimes. That was part of his charm.
The opening notes of The Cure’sJust Like Heavenplayed over the sound system, loud enough to drown out any possible further conversation. I wondered how Delilah had gotten her mom to sign off onthat.
A hush descended over the crowd as all the lights and lanterns strung around the place came on at once—for the benefit of the photographer, I assumed, who was set up in what would have been the best vantage point, tripod propped on one of the benches, standing behind it on a stool.
I’d met her earlier for wedding party photos. She’d been impressed when I read off her Sappho tattoo—mnásesthaí tiná phami kaì ústeron amméon.
