"Yeah." I rub my palms down my shirt.

"You're nervous? Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous," I say in defence. "Who says I'm nervous?"

"Cam, you always do that... you get sweaty palms and wipe them on your clothes when you're nervous. What's up? Did something happen? You guys need money or something because—"

"No," I cut in, shaking my head. "It's not—" I sigh, and then wipe my palms again. Then I blow out a forceful breath, mustering the courage I need. "I came to ask if you'd be my best man."

His eyes widen, but he doesn't speak. He looks away from me, his body slumping with what looks like exhaustion. He scratches his head, while I sit here and wait for the moment of rejection. "If you don't want to—"

"No."

"Oh." My stomach drops to the floor. "Okay, I'll just ask—"

"No."

"Yeah, you said that. This is fucking embarass—"

"No."

"You can stop saying it now."

"No," he says, chuckling as he does. "I mean no, it's not that I don't want to. I'd be so—" He exhales a loud breath, and then finally looks at me. "I'd be so damn honored, Cameron. I'm just surprised is all. I didn't think that—I mean, there's absolutely nothing I'd want more in the world... but I have to be honest, I'm concerned about what your dad would say to you, I don't want him—"

"Stop," I cut in. "A, that asshole doesn't even know I'm getting married. I haven't spoken to him since he showed up at the hospital. B, even if he did know and had something to say about it, I wouldn't care. And C..." I wait a moment for the sweaty palms to kick back in. For the nerves to start. For my heart rate to increase. But there's none of it. Just that sense of genuine calm. "C," I continue. "You are my dad."

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

-LUCY-

"I can't believe this is the last night before you're someone's wife," Micky says.

"I know. I can't believe it either."

"I can't believe you didn't want a bachelorette party," Heidi adds.

Amanda scoffs. "Have you met Cam and Lucy? They're inseparable."

I smile at her words.

"True," Heidi agrees. "Where are the boys anyway?"

Micky scoffs now. "At the cages having man time. They're probably pounding their chests and cursing profanities at people."

"Logan's probably humping the bat," Amanda laughs.

We all do.

"Why are you telling them about our bedroom antics?" Logan shouts, halfway through the front door of the cabin. He gets shoved forward by Jake, and then by Cameron as they barge through the doors.

Heidi pours seven shots of tequila. We stand around the tiny dining room table and take one each. Cam's hand goes to my waist.

Jake clears his throat. "To falling in love, even when you don't know it."

Micky leans into him. Then her eyes begin to well up. "To finding friends that become family, no questions asked," she chokes out.

Logan speaks up. "To claiming your girls, owning them and making them yours."

Cam laughs and they nod at each other. I don't know what he means, but I don't ask.

Amanda wipes her eyes. "To not dwelling on why horrible stuff happens to good people. To letting love win, and to moving on." Logan kisses her temple while we all take a moment to think about her words.

Heidi sniffs once, bringing our attention to her. "To finding your forever and being able to keep them." I rub a soothing hand down her back. She inhales deeply before raising the shot glass to her lips. We all follow, and cheer as we do. They all take the shot, but before I can, my eyes catch the front door opening. "Dylan," I whisper. And they silently bow their heads. "No! You guys!" I laugh, pointing to the door. "Dylan!"

Their heads whip to the door.

Dylan drops his bags. "I couldn't miss my best friend's wedding."

-CAMERON-

I don't know which of us get to him first, but we all end up in a pile on the floor with him at the bottom. After several jokes of is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? we finally let him go.

Turns out he's on leave for two weeks. He came back yesterday but was staying with a friend in LA. Dylan, not being that technical, or social, never had a Facebook account so he didn't really keep in touch with many people. He saw his friend logged on last night and decided to check up on all of us. When he saw that we were getting married tomorrow, he took the first flight out.

I'm not too sure what happened with him and Heidi, but she's been quiet, a little standoffish. They sit together, but they don't touch, they barely speak—not that that's strange for Dylan.

We ask him questions about being deployed, and he says he'll answer them all—after the wedding.

The girls only hang around for a little while before they head off back to the main house. They'll be staying there overnight and we'll be here.

At around midnight, I get a text from Lucy asking to meet her at the dock. I tell the guys I have to help Tom with something. I'm sure they know exactly what I'm doing, but they don't question it.

She's sitting at the end with her shoes off and her feet dipped in the water. "What are you doing, fiancée?"

She turns quickly, almost shocked by my presence. "Nothing. I just miss you," she says, looking back out at the lake.

I kick off my flip-flops and sit next to her, my arm outstretched behind her. "You all good?"

"Yeah," she lies.

And my heart begins to race. "You having cold feet or something?"

She laughs quietly. "No. Nothing like that. I'm just... I don't know. It just doesn't seem real. Tomorrow we'll be married, and I'll be your wife."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I was going for with the whole proposal thing."

She shoves my shoulder with hers. "You know what I mean."

I wrap an arm around her waist.

She sighs and leans in closer. "I don't like not being with you. Even for one night. I know we shouldn't be seeing each other, but I had to see you."

"I'm glad you did, I was going a little crazy."

She leans up and kisses me quickly. "Let's stay until the sun rises," she says. "It'll be the perfect start to our new lives."

So that's what we do.

We talk all night about anything and everything. And even though we spend every spare second together, we never run out of things to say. She cries a few times, mainly about missing her mom, and remembering everything that we've been through. I sit, and I listen, and every second that passes, it's like a reminder of why it was so easy to fall for her so many years ago—why when Logan asked if there was a defining moment, I didn't have an answer. Because I think I've always loved her.

Always.

And forever.

***

I take one more look in the mirror, and chew my lip.

"You nervous?" Mark asks.

I release a breath. "Yeah. I'm kind of shitting myself, actually."