Tiffany’s veil lifted with a breeze. Beads of sweat had formed on Manning’s hairline. He squeezed his eyes shut briefly. Could I do it for him? Ruin a wedding, a marriage before it began, a life? My own sister?
He’d asked me not to. He’d asked me to let this go.
Sarah, behind me, rubbed my back, and I realized it was because I shook with silent sobs. Scalding tears flooded my eyes, warming my cheeks.
Manning finally looked at me, his face pale, his ever-dark brows drawn so tightly that his forehead wrinkled. In his honeyed brown eyes, I saw all the agony the last two years had caused him. Our hot, construction-site afternoons, our cool, starry nights, and all the days he’d lost because of me. He swallowed, maybe holding back his own tears.
My love for him spanned the ocean, the sky over our heads, an infinite universe of stars. I could do this to Tiffany, but I couldn’t do it to him. I sealed my words inside along with a great love that somehow fit inside me.
Maybe one day, Manning and I would challenge fate, defy gravity, and move the stars ourselves.
But today was not that day.