Page 158 of The Wedding Menu

I kiss him, and as I lean back, Ian smiles. After hesitating for a while more, he shakes his head. “Wow. That’s a tough act to follow.”

Gentle spurts of laughter come from the crowd as he hesitates.

“There’s no word that feels just right. They’re all… not permanent enough.” Looking down for a few seconds, he clears his voice; then he stares deeply into my eyes as if we don’t have any audience at all. “I wasn’t looking for anything when I found you. I liked you and I wanted you, but I didn’t want love.” He shakes his head. “I fell for you without noticing, because it didn’t feel like falling; it felt like standing. So fucking high.” He inhales sharply with a hiss, looking embarrassed and throwing a look at the officiant. “Oh, shit—sorry. And sorry again.”

When the woman waves him off, he turns to me. “You became my best friend, and my home, and my safe place, and at the same time my craziest adventure. Until at some point you weren’t justinmy life: you were all of it.”

I swallow a sob. The feelings he is expressing are so familiar, it’s like he plucked them out of my brain.

“Today I vow to you, Amelie, that I’ll let you listen to Beyoncé whenever you want, though she’s definitely overrated. That the best years of our life aren’t your twenties. They’re yet to come, and we’ll spend them together. That I’ll never pronounce another Q-word ever again if that’s what you want. That I’ll take you onroad trips, and if Christmas is your favorite holiday, then I’ll make it memorable every single year.” He grins widely. “I vow to always make sure your champagne comes with cheese nachos, to always talk during a movie, and to come up with the cheesiest pickup lines your heart can take.” He steps closer, holding both of my hands in his. “I promise to buy you flowers and to always value your opinions, popular or unpopular.”

I almost expect the guests to stand up and clap, but when there are only sniffles and sobs, I cover his lips with mine. “I love you and also I hate you for being so good at this,” I say in a choked-up voice. I can’t imagine the state of my makeup right now. Waterproof’s one thing, butIanproofis another.

“Yeah?” he whispers. “Now can you please be my wife?”

“Yes.”

The officiant continues with the ceremony, and besides speaking when I’m asked to, then signing, then kissing, it all blurs together. We walk back up the aisle as husband and wife, then we dance and we eat and we talk to the guests who managed to be here despite the late notice. There are plenty of empty tables, our dance is to the notes of a song neither of us knows, and Ian eats only one of the several dishes planned for dinner, yet it’s as perfect as it can get.

I know, because by the time most of the guests have left and I’m dance-napping on my husband’s shoulder, there’s a peaceful smile on my face. The smile of someone who has found their happy place.

“What about our honeymoon?”

“Hmm?”

He kisses my forehead, then pushes some hair off my cheek. “Our honeymoon? Are we jumping on Martha and Trevor’s?”

“No, they’re going. They got time off work, so they’ll do the honeymoon first and the wedding later.”

“Another wedding, huh?”

“Yep. But judging on what she has planned, you won’t even notice it’s one.”

He kisses my nose, runs his hands over my back, holds me as close and tight as he possibly can. “So what’s next for us?”

“Good question.” We’re starting over, and it’s not scary as long as it’s with Ian, but the possibilities are limitless. All I know is that I’ll never have to live another day without talking to him. Another day sending him pickup lines and waiting for an answer back. And for now, that’s enough.

Which reminds me: “Which was the line that made you smile?”

“Excuse me?”

I look up into my husband’s kind blue eyes. “The pickup lines I texted you when I was blocked on your phone? There was one that made you smile.”

“They all made me smile.”

“But one made you smilemore,” I insist.

His eyes narrow for a moment, and once it hits him, his eyes widen. “Oh, right.” He kisses my jaw, then my cheek, my nose, my lips. “Know what’s on the menu?”

As he flashes the brightest smile at me, my heart flutters.

Idoknow what’s on the menu.

“Me ’n’ u.”

Epilogue: Welcome to Roseberg

— ONEYEARLATER—