We pulled into the Ruby Round driveway. It was full of commotion as people unloaded last-minute things from a couple of vans and trucks. But there weren’t too many cars yet. Grant put the truck in park, and I reached for the handle of the door. “Wait.”
He jumped down from the cab and circled the truck before opening the door for me. I grinned at him. “I am actually capable of opening my own door. In case you didn’t know.”
Grant’s hands landed on my hips, and he helped me down from the cab. He lowered me to the ground slower than he strictly had to. Our bodies brushed together, and I was incredibly aware of his strength. Of the way he could easily overpower me, and the fact that I knew he never would. “I think there’s very little you’re not capable of, Cori. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you need to. Call me old-fashioned for it. But when a woman rides with me, I make sure she’s taken care of.”
A fiery blush crawled up my cheeks and neck. Of course, he was talking about opening the door. But it was easy to believe that he was talking about something else. And the sparkle in his eyes told me that he was well aware of the double meaning of his words.
He offered me his arm again. “Shall we?”
The house was a cozy bustle of activity, and Lena happened to be passing by. “Cori! Perfect timing. Come with me.” She grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the stairs. I looked back at Grant and waved. He just smiled and shook his head. Neither of us expected anything less from Lena.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“You know I’m not technically supposed to be, right?”
“Whatever.” I heard the eye roll. She ushered me into one of the guest rooms, where Grace was sitting at a table and being made up in the exact makeup I’d had on the other day. Her dress hung against one of the windows, and a nearby table was filled with champagne flutes and cookies. A photographer lurked, taking photos.
Grace spotted me. “Hey, Cori.”
“Hi. Thanks for letting me come back.”
Grace waved a hand. “You’re a part of this too. If we weren’t keeping the wedding as small as possible, you would have been in one of the bridesmaid dresses.” She glanced at Lena. “It’s already bigger than we expected.”
“Oh hush,” her friend said with a grin. “You know you love it.”
Grace smiled.
Lena turned on me. “First, you look fabulous. Holy hell. And second, Grant? That man is fine in a tuxedo.”
“Don’t let Jude hear you say that,” I teased.
She snorted. “Odds are he’d agree with me. I don’t think there’s any sane person who would say that man isn’t smoking hot barbecue right now.”
“Barbecue?”
“Good enough to eat,” Lena clarified.
I burst out into a laugh and sat down. This was good. Nice. I was glad I didn’t have to be alone. The bridesmaids’ dresses were a cool purple. Lovely for the time of year, and they’d done that thing where everyone had the same color dress, but they each had a style that suited them. It looked great.
“Okay, Cori,” Evelyn said, sitting down next to me and handing me a glass of champagne. “Don’t kill me.”
“I can’t think of a single reason that I would have to kill you.”
She smirked. “I was running a couple last-minute errands this morning for the wedding, and I drove by your house.”
“Okay?”
Sipping her own glass, she drew out the drama. “As I was driving by, Grant came out your front door.”
The whole room went silent, and everyone turned to look at me. My whole body went pink, and I took a much-needed sip of my drink. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Honey,” Lena said. “Did we mention the barbecue? None of us would judge you if it was exactly what it looks like.”
I laughed. “No, he slept on my couch.”
Evelyn looked at me, and she suddenly went serious. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling too brightly. “Not something to talk about on a happy day like this.”
She searched my face and nodded once. But she reached out and touched my hand. “If you want to talk about it, let me know.”
“How did you know?” I lowered my voice.
“Lucas stayed on my couch when I didn’t feel safe. It was one of the things that got me to truly trust him. And the Resting Warrior guys, they’re always like that. Grant has a perfectly good bed next door. So, if he was sleeping on your couch and not in his bed? There’s a reason.”
I swallowed. “Maybe later.”
“Okay.”
“Time for the dress!” Lena called. The photographer clicked away while we all helped lower the dress over Grace’s head to avoid wrinkles. It was gorgeous. More delicate and feminine than I thought Grace would choose, but since everything had happened and she’d been with Harlan, she’d unlocked that side of herself more.
The dress was strapless, the skirt a gentle swoop of a ball-gown style. The fabric glimmered. In the sun, it would sparkle like crazy.
Lena teared up and turned to dab her tears. “It’s perfect.”
“It is,” I said. “Time for photos?”
The photographer took one more picture. “Yeah, time for the first look.”
Everyone who wasn’t Grace filed out of the room and down the stairs. The men had congregated in the living room below. “I just need the groom. Everyone else, please wait outside. We’ll call you for photos soon.”
I saw Grant walk out, and I followed in the cloud of bridesmaids. Looking back, I saw Grace come out of the room and look down at Harlan. And the way he looked at her…
My heart ached. I wanted that. He was looking at her like she was the most stunning, perfect woman in the world. Like nothing would ever change the way he felt about her.
That look was the dream.
Pictures were a whirlwind. I wasn’t in most of them, though Grace made me jump into a couple. The photographer captured every combination of people possible. Groomsmen, bridesmaids, the couple themselves. The Resting Warrior crew. Neither Harlan nor Grace had any family. This was their family.
Soon, the sun was setting, and people had filled the area where the ceremony was meant to take place. Since I was friends with both the bride and the groom, it didn’t really matter where I sat, but I found a seat near the front on Grace’s side and sat.
Lena did an incredible job. The white tent blew gently in the breeze off the mountains, the actual ceremony space decorated with twinkling lights, fabric, and white flowers that made it both subtle and beautiful. Everything was shades of white with that cool purple sprinkled through.
If I ever got married, I needed to hire her. Hell, she might have launched an entirely new business for herself with this wedding.
The music, which had been soft and unobtrusive, changed. There was something nice about this wedding being so simple. It didn’t need much. Grace and Harlan had a hell of a story, and they’d waited years for this. They didn’t need extra complications.
Lucas walked down the aisle with Evelyn. Jude walked down with Lena, and she was so stiff next to him that I wanted to reach out and smack her. But of course it would make her nervous. The two of them danced around each other like nothing else.
Grant was escorting one of Grace’s friends that I didn’t know. As he passed where I sat, he winked at me, and I felt that wink all the way down to my toes. Holy shit.
Music changing again, Harlan turned and looked down the aisle at Grace. There was that look again. That awe and love that were so bright and so deep, it almost hurt to look at. And under Grace’s veil, she had tears. Seeing how happy they were brought tears to my own eyes. They deserved this. Finally.
I was listening as the ceremony began, and yet I wasn’t. Because suddenly, I felt a sadness in my chest that this wasn’t me. It wasn’t my wedding. That wasn’t a rational thought, but I still felt that ache.
Before everything happened, I’d thought that Joel and I were on a marriage path. Clearly, that would have been awful. A disaster. And I was grateful I’d avoided the hell a marriage like that would have been. Still, I wanted this.
Not the wedding, but…a partner. Someone who looked at me the way Harlan looked at Grace. The marriage. Not having to shoulder everything in life by myself. Someone who would be able to help sort through the stuff with my family and not judge me for it. Someone I could laugh with and cuddle with and look forward to seeing at the end of the day.