Page 154 of Forty, Flirty & Fall Inn

And maybe that’s what my own version of forgiveness looks like.

Not a dramatic confrontation.Not a breakdown or a fight or some kind of epiphany.

Maybe it’s just the ability to let go of what hurt you.

To love someone in the now, not through the filter of every scar you’ve ever collected.

I let Veronica go.I let Kevin go.

Not because they deserve it.

But because I do.

"This is animal cruelty," Sage pants, leaning against the door.

"This is preventing an international incident."I straighten my tie, which Buttercup managed to partially eat during our struggle.“All of Armenia might declare war if she eats anything else."

"Don't be dramatic."

"Says the woman who promised our goat her firstborn."

"Our theoretical firstborn," she corrects, then freezes."I mean—not our—just?—"

"Sage."

"I wasn't implying we would have children.Together.Just that if I had children, which I might not, they would be?—"

I kiss her, partly to stop the rambling and mostly because she's beautiful and flustered and mine.

"Better?"I ask when we part.

"Temporarily."She touches her lips."But now my lipstick's smudged and we have a wedding to coordinate and you can't just kiss me every time I panic about the future."

"Can't I?"

"No.It's impractical.And we have schedules to maintain."But she's smiling, that soft smile that makes me want to forget about the wedding entirely.

"Later," I promise."After the ceremony.We'll discuss our theoretical children and my kissing privileges."

"Bold of you to assume you have privileges."

"Don't I?"

She pretends to consider."Probationary privileges.Pending review."

"I'll take it."

"Now go," she pushes me toward the door."Connor needs his best man, and I need to make sure this wedding happens without further livestock incidents."

I head back to the groomsmen's suite, finding my friends in various states of readiness.Callum's achieved tie success, Grayson's on his second champagne, Alex is negotiating pasta quantities, and Connor’s practicing his reading.

"Goat situation?"Callum asks.

"Contained.Literally.She's in bathroom jail."

"That seems harsh."

"She ate a three-hundred-year-old family heirloom."