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Alex turned to me and my smile vanished.

“And do you, Mia Caetano, take Reid Voss to be your wife,” she intoned, her hands pressed together as if in prayer. “In sickness and in health, no matter how much she may annoy you, until death do you part?”

“Hey-” Reid began to protest but Alex shushed her.

I chuckled a little, Reid’s hand becoming a solid, steady weight in my hand. “I do.”

Alex clapped loudly, drawing the attention of most of the people around us. “Another win for the community. Now, I’m heading to the airport. I’ll see you at our next brunch.”

She kissed Reid’s cheek and hugged me tightly before disappearing outside, leaving Reid and me standing next to each other.

After a long pause, Reid cleared her throat. “Shall we get going?” she asked, and her voice held the faintest trace of embarrassment.

I nodded, letting her lead the way.

“So, how does it feel?” Reid asked as she sat on the sofa next to me. She sat a good distance away from me, her wine glass cradled in her hand.

I rested my glass up on my knee, keeping it steady with a hand.

The television hummed somewhere in the background; a show that Reid had settled on while I’d gone to wash up. I hadn’t expected her to break out the wine in celebration.

“Being married?” I ventured.

“Yeah,” she chuckled.

I took a deep breath. “I guess I’ve never thought about it.”

“What, getting married?”

“Yeah. Um, it wasn’t something I ever saw for myself,” I admitted, having only realized it at the court earlier that day. “I guess I always had so much going on, and work always took precedence over everything else. I never imagined someone would want to deal with that.”

“Even when you were a kid?” Reid pressed. She tucked her bare feet under her butt, leaning against the back of the couch. There were a few inches between our knees and yet she was overwhelmingly close.

I didn’t mind.

“I was a hopeless romantic as a kid.” I laughed, remembering all the times I asked my dad to pretend to be a valiant savior who would save my sister and me from our tower. “I always thought I’d grow up and do everything by the book; meet someone, date, get married. The whole white picket fence dream, you know?”

“What happened?”

A weight dropped into my stomach and I swallowed. “Uh, I guess I just grew up,” I hedged. “I learned that the world doesn’t have a place for little girls with heart eyes.”

“I think that’s sad,” Reid murmured, taking a sip of her wine.

“How so?”

“I think the world could do with more starry-eyed little girls.” She chuckled. “They deserve to feel safe and hold onto their dreams.”

I’d never thought of it that way; I’d just accepted that the world was cruel and did what I had to in order to survive. To support my family.

“That’s very romantic of you,” I teased, my own wine beginning to warm in my hands. I hadn’t had much of it, too distracted by Reid.

“Thank you,” she gushed, flipping nonexistent hair over her shoulder. “I’d like to think that I’m pretty experienced.”

I laughed.

“What about you?” I asked, and she lifted her brows in question. “How does it feel to be married again? Did you ever think you’d do it after what happened?”

Reid pursed her lips, her gaze drifting off in thought. I couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like to get married after her last partner betrayed her, and I hoped any resentment she may have had could be set aside.