“Thea,” I say her name sternly, forcing her attention back to me, “Stop thinking about the label and your manager and the press for a minute. If you go through with this, will you be happy? Will you live the rest of your life with no regrets and be fulfilled?”
“No.” she answers immediately.
“Even if you kept what you have now?”
She nods, “What’s the point of singing about love if I don’t even have that? I don’t love Jared, in fact, I fucking hate him with every part of me.”
“Then you can’t get married today, Thea. The rest is just noise, okay? We'll deal with that later.”
We both startle when the door bursts open and Tripp comes storming into the room, eyes immediately finding Thea. Noah’s right behind him, his eyes only for me.
“Let’s go,” he opens one arm for her, and whatever they have between them, whatever it is that had him charging in here, it makes her move. She goes to him without hesitation, and he pulls her close, tucking her against his chest.
“Are people here already?” Thea asks, but it’s Noah who answers.
“Yes, and the press.”
“I don’t want them to see me,” she whispers.
“The van,” I blurt. “It’s still out back.”
“Okay?” Tripp frowns.
“We pull it right up, bundle you both in the back and get out of here. No one will be watching the service entrance.”
“What do we tell people?” Thea goes on.
“Don’t you worry about that, my little pickle,” Betty shows up out of nowhere with a flourish, throwing the end of her bright pink scarf over her shoulder. “I’ll handle it.”
“We should go now,” Tripp says, “before anyone comes looking.”
I agree, and we form a little circle around Thea, rushing down the narrow halls of the chapel. “I’ll pull the van up.” Noah says, capturing the driver’s attention. He passes over a wad of cash, and the guy miraculously walks away, no questions asked, while Noah hops into the driver’s seat and backs it up. I open the doors, and the two of them don’t waste a second to get inside, and then I lock them in and hop upfront with Noah.
He looks over to me, a grin on his face, “Well, it won’t be a slow news day now.”
I shake my head and laugh, “Just drive.”
It’s a little after six when we finally make it home, the neighborhood quiet around us. The trees have all lost their leaves now, and the flowers that were in the meadow two months ago have all disappeared, but this place is still as beautiful as it was when Noah first showed it to me.
It’s now ours.
We’ve mounted pictures on the wall in every room and hallway; bouquets of flowers sit on every surface in every room, and our clothes are in the closet in the bedroom. There’s a mix of us both here, from the stack of books on the table to the blankets thrown over the couch.
It’s our home.
Noah dumps the keys in the bowl by the door and strolls toward me, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Let me pour you a glass of wine.”
Internally, I cringe.
“No, I’m okay. Thank you.” I brush him off, “What should we have for dinner?”
“You’re hiding something.” He calls me out immediately. That’s the trouble when someone knows you, right down to your bones. I can’t lie.
“What?” My voice is high-pitched and nervous. “No, of course I’m not.”
His eyes narrow, “Sidney.”
“Mm?” I fiddle with a loose thread on the blanket, pretending to be indifferent, but inside I am panicking. I wanted to wait to tell him, just until the doctors confirmed it for me. I only took the test this morning, and since it’s Saturday, I haven’t been able to get an appointment with my doctor’s office.
