“Ha! I bet you’ve never uttered those words before, Brooke.” Joey laughs.

We stop as the preacher turns and faces everyone and I quickly glance up and over to my right, finding Reese’s eyes on me and quickly dropping my stare back down. I let go of Brooke and she sighs in relief, massaging her reddened arm.

“Okay everyone, we’re going to do a quick run through of the ceremony, just to make sure everyone knows their places. So, if I can have the groomsmen, best man, and the groom all standing to my left right here,” he motions down at the stairs below him. “And ladies, and gentleman, if you would line up at the front doors and we’ll get started.” Oh good. I’ll only have to walk with Reese at the end of the ceremony down the aisle. That’s not too bad. What is it? Twenty-five, thirty feet of contact? I can handle that. We quickly form a line at the back of the room as I stand in front of Juls, Joey in front of me, and Brooke hopefully leading the way. God help her if she can’t make it up to the altar.

“You ready for this?” Joey leans back and whispers.

“Yup. You?”

“Oh please, have you seen my baby up there? Gorgeous.” I giggle at his response and hear the preacher announce for Brooke to start walking, which she does after Joey gives her a right shove. “Asshole. She’s going to be such a pain tomorrow,” he says before he begins walking and I can’t help but smile. My assistant as a bridesmaid. Of course.

“I love you,” Juls says behind me and I feel my eyes water a bit.

“Love you,” I say as I begin making my walk up the aisle. I don’t want to, I really don’t want to but my eyes find his immediately and I finally get my first real look at him in eighty-four days. He’s wearing a black suit, perfectly tailored to that body with a green striped tie and white dress shirt. His hair looks like it’s been cut a bit but still has its perfectly tousled look to it and his eyes are piercing into mine, the green beaming out of them thanks to his tie color choice. I see them quickly drop and run down my dress before he flicks back up to meet mine, jaw set and tense. I take my spot on the same step as him and finally look away towards Juls who is with her father at the back of the church. She begins her walk up and I keep my eyes on her even though I can feel him looking at me. Studying me.

The preacher runs through the ceremony, going over the vows that Ian and Juls’ picked out for tomorrow. I smile and laugh as they recite them and keep turning around to make sure Brooke is still upright and awake. Joey gives me a reassuring wink with each turn and I know he’s got her covered. Thank God. After the mock exchanging of the rings and pronouncement of their marriage, the two of them begin filing down the aisle and I quickly clamp my eyes shut, knowing what’s coming next. Shit. He’s going to touch me. He’s going to touch me and I’m going to lose it.

“Ok, now Dylan and Reese, you may walk down together. Billy and Joey, you can follow when they are about halfway down the rows.” I open my eyes and step forward after the preacher finishes and see Reese already waiting for me, elbow out so that I can easily slip my hand through it. I swallow loudly and grip the inside of his elbow as we begin walking silently down the aisle. I can hear his breathing, slow and steady as if he’s unaffected by this entirely. Figures. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting here. The sight of me causing him to faint possibly? But no, not even uneven nervous breathing.

“You look beautiful,” he says, low and throaty and I gasp slightly but don’t respond. We reach the end of the aisle and I quickly drop my hand from his arm and move to stand next to Juls and as far away from him as possible. Shit. Don’t be affected by that, Dylan. After the rest of the wedding party comes down the aisle, we all say our momentary goodbyes as we file out towards our vehicles. I quickly walk to Sam and scramble in, wanting to avoid any alone time with Reese as I see him walking out with Ian and the other men. His eyes fall on my delivery van fleetingly before he hops in his Range Rover and pulls away from the church. I drop my head on the wheel. “Okay. Half of the night is over. Now, you just need to get through the dinner and you’ll only have to worry about tomorrow.” After my little pep talk, I start up Sam and make my way towards Casa Mia’s.

The rehearsal dinner is booked at a quaint Italian restaurant and a long rectangular table has been set aside for us in the very back. My place is next to Juls and three seats down from Reese who is sitting next to Ian. I’m immensely grateful that he isn’t seated on the opposite side because I’ve done enough looking for one evening. Joey plops down next to me and let’s out an exhaustive sigh.

“Problems with our favorite bridesmaid?” I ask, noticing that she hasn’t graced us with her presence at the table yet. I pick up my water and take a few sips.

“I’m going to kill her. She insisted on riding with me and then tried to feel me up in the car.” Water shoots out of my mouth and covers the thankfully empty place setting across from me as I quickly bring a napkin up to my face.

“Jesus, Dylan. Are you all right?” Juls asks as I continue coughing. I glance over at her and see that everyone is staring at me, and I mean everyone as I quickly shake off my choke fest.

I turn quickly towards Joey. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look serious? I feel like I’ve been molested. She almost made me cause an accident on highway eleven.”

My coughing turns into giggling as I lean my head onto his shoulder and we both crack up at the situation. “Oh my God. That’s amazing. I so needed to hear that right now.” I laugh out as he shakes his head at me, picking up his water.

“What’s going on?” Juls asks softly as our dinner is brought out to us. I’m suddenly starving and the dish that’s in front of me is about to be destroyed.

I eye her up mischievously. “Your lovely sister has been putting the moves on JoJo.” Her fork drops.

“What? Oh great. That’s just great.” On cue, Brooke appears and quickly claims her seat next to Joey who stiffens next to me. Juls leans across and snaps her fingers at her sister. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry Joey. That was a bit embarrassing. Although, was it just me or did something move?” She giggles and orders something alcoholic from the waiter that Joey quickly cancels for her.

“Did something move? Are you fucking insane? And no booze for you. I can only imagine what would happen if you started drinking.”

I shake my head and take a bite of my chicken picatta, moaning around my fork as a familiar face moves towards our table and stands across from me.

“Hey, Dylan. How’s it going?” Juls’ cousin Tony eyes me up and I quickly smile and wave at him from my seat. We’ve known each other for years and go way back, but never anything more than friendship.

“Hey, Tony. How are you?”

“I’m great. Get your sweet ass out of that chair and come give me a hug.” I laugh and scramble out of my seat, walking down the side of the table that does not contain my ex-fling and get quickly lifted into the air. “You look good, girl,” he says into my hair as he gives me his usual bear hug.

“Thanks. Jesus, put me down already.” He sets me on my feet and I shake my head at him, straightening out his tie. “So, what’s new in the world of computer programming?” My eyes quickly flick towards Reese who is staring at me with daggers. Oh please. Like you have any right anymore.