Page 19 of Truth or More Truth (Throwback RomComs #3)

eighteen

. . .

I can’t keep my eyes off Melissa as she interacts with the wedding guests while they filter out of the church’s sanctuary.

Although her dress is borderline hideous in my opinion, she wears it well.

Her brunette waves are pulled up into what Kelli would call an up-do, and my gaze keeps falling to her bare neck.

For the first time in my life, I’m looking forward to a wedding reception, because it means I’ll be able to get my arms back around Melissa during the wedding party dance.

I don’t know who I need to thank for pairing us up, but I’m grateful.

The photos take much longer than I think they should, but the photographer finally finishes up all the different poses Leslie requested, and we head down the street to the Oakville Community Center for the reception dinner and dance.

Ash, Leslie, and the bridesmaids pile into cars for the five block trip, but the rest of us guys make the trek on foot, as the sun is out and it’s not overly cold today.

Diego sidles up to me and asks, “You hanging in there? Have you talked to Kelli today?”

I run my fingers through my hair. “I called this morning. There’s no change.”

“I’m sorry, man.”

“Yeah.” I contemplate whether to tell him about the near accident last night .

“You going to answer my first question?” he asks.

I sigh. “I’m OK.”

His eyes search my face. “You don’t seem like it.”

“I know. But I have to be OK. They need me to be.”

“No, they don’t. They may need you to be strong, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings. You don’t have to be OK.”

“Yeah.”

“What else?”

“What else what?” I don’t look at him as we cross a street.

“There’s something else you’re not telling me.”

My gaze cuts to him. “How do you do that?”

“I’ve known you a long time. I can tell when you’re keeping something from me. Tell me. Is it about Melissa?”

I shake my head. “No.” I pause. “Well, not directly. We almost had an accident last night.” I run my fingers through my hair again. “I was driving. It was pitch black. There was a deer in the road, and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid it. I … didn’t handle it well.”

Diego’s hand lands on my shoulder. “What do you mean by that?”

We’re almost at the community center, so I say, “I won’t go into detail, but I basically shut down.”

“How did Melissa respond to that?”

I don’t need to think about my answer before simply saying, “Perfectly.”

I decide to try to avoid Diego the rest of the night, because I don’t want to talk about Kelli or Nanette or Melissa or what happened last night, and I know he won’t leave any of it alone.

Instead, I choose to stick by Melissa’s side.

I’ve seen a few guys eyeing her, and I don’t like it.

I also don’t like that I’m feeling protective and possessive of someone who can never be mine, but I can’t help it.

After this wedding and the ride back to Chicago, I’m not sure when I’ll see her again.

I want to make the most of the time I have with her, even if it can’t last beyond tomorrow .

And I don’t feel bad keeping her from getting to know any of the single men here. None of them are from anywhere near Chicago, so there’s not much of a chance she could make things work with any of them anyway. In fact, I’m doing her a service by not letting her get her hopes up. Right? Right.

Leslie chose to have a small head table at the reception, with only Randall and Wendy sitting with her and Ash. I’m happy with the setup, because that means I’m not on display to the entire room, and neither is Melissa.

She and I are assigned to a table with Wendy’s half-sister Andrea along with her daughter and mom, as well as Shannon and his childhood friend Danny and Danny’s wife Amelia.

Somehow, I end up sitting next to seven-year-old Emily, who reminds me a lot of Kelli at that age—talkative and with a vocabulary well beyond her years.

“I know her,” Emily says to me as she points at Melissa, who’s sitting on my other side and chatting with Amelia. “She was in my aunt’s wedding.” She cocks an eyebrow at me. “You were in her wedding, too, weren’t you?”

I nod. “I was.”

Emily asks, “Is she your wife?” Before I can answer, she continues, “She’s pretty.

Is that why you married her? Uncle Randall says he married Aunt Glinda—that’s what I call my aunt Wendy, because she reminds Uncle Randall of the good witch from The Wizard of Oz —anyway, he married her because she’s pretty and she’s smart and she knows how to put him in his place.

I’m not sure where his place is, but that’s what he says.

So did you marry your wife because she’s pretty or because she’s smart or because she puts you in your place? ”

She props her elbow on the round table and rests her chin on her hand as she waits expectantly for me to respond, and I can’t help but grin at her and mimic her posture so we’re facing each other.

I glance beyond her to her grandma and mom, who aren’t paying any attention to us.

In fact, they seem to be paying a lot of attention to Shannon, which doesn’t bother me in the least, because he appears very preoccupied with Emily’s pretty, red-haired mother, who looks like she could be Wendy’s twin.

“Well …?” Emily prompts, when I don’t answer within two seconds.

I shake my head. “Melissa’s not my wife.” It shouldn’t pain me to say those words, but it does.

“Hmm.” Emily now taps her chin with her finger. “But she’s pretty, right?”

There’s no way I can stop my smile. “Indeed, she is.”

“And she’s smart?”

“She’s that, too.”

“Does she put you in your place?” Emily cocks an eyebrow at me at me again. I think it’s her signature move.

I chuckle. “Sure does.”

“Are you married to someone else?”

I’m not sure I can stop this line of questioning, but we’re veering into dangerous territory. “Nope.”

“Is she married to someone else?”

“She is not.”

Emily pokes her finger into my chest. “Then you should marry her.”

“He should marry who?” Melissa’s voice interrupts our chat from behind me.

My face feels hot, and I don’t turn to face her.

“You, silly!” Emily exclaims. “He thinks you’re pretty.” She ticks this off on one finger. “He says you’re smart.” She ticks another finger. “And you put him in his place!” Now she throws both arms wide. “It’s a match made in heaven!”

In the silence following her declaration, I realize the entire table is watching us, and every single face holds a grin other than Melissa’s, though she seems to be fighting one. I, on the other hand, feel a bit sick to my stomach.

“Honey,” Emily’s grandma says as she lays a hand on the little girl’s shoulder, “let’s take things down a notch, shall we?” To Melissa and me, she says, “Sorry about that. She’s been really into weddings and people getting married ever since Wendy and Randall got engaged last summer. ”

“Tell me about it,” Andrea mutters.

Emily’s head whips around toward her mother. “What did you say, Mommy?”

Andrea’s eyes go wide for a split second before she smirks at me and says, “I said, ‘Tell me more about it.’”

“Oh, you mean more about why they should marry each other? Well, I don’t know,” Emily says. “That’s all I know about Miss Melissa. Mr. Bobby, why else should you marry her?”

Thankfully the entire table erupts in laughter before Emily forces me to respond.

“You looked like a deer in the headlights,” Shannon says through his laughter.

I feel like a cooler of ice water has been thrown over me as the memory of last night crashes back into my brain. Melissa’s hand lands on my leg and squeezes just enough to pull me out of my head before anyone else has time to notice.

I force a smile and say, “Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve been asked why I should marry a woman I barely even know.”

Melissa’s hand slips off my leg, and I immediately regret my words, although they’re true. I glance at Melissa, who’s looking down at her lap, and I know I need to course correct, even though I can hear my pulse in my ears and am hoping I’m not about to plunge back into panic mode.

I place my hand on the back of Melissa’s chair and say, “However, over the last few days I’ve gotten to know her well enough to confidently say that in addition to being beautiful, smart, and assertive, Melissa is also thoughtful, caring, funny, and loyal.

It’ll be a lucky man who gets to watch her walk down the aisle to him someday. ”

Melissa’s eyes shoot up to meet mine, and her cheeks flush pink. “Thank you,” she says softly.

Emily claps her hands, and our focus shifts back to her beaming face. “It’s gonna be you, Mr. Bobby! I just know it!”

“Okay, Emily. That’s enough,” Andrea says. “Why don’t you tell everyone what we did for Christmas?”

As Emily chatters away about the holiday, I quietly leave the table and head toward the foyer.

I need to step outside and get some fresh air to help calm my body’s response to the deer-in-the-headlights comment.

Okay, and also to thoughts of marrying Melissa.

And to Melissa’s touch and the look in her eyes after I complimented her.

As I suck in lungfuls of chilly air on the front steps of the building, the door opens behind me. I can smell Melissa before I see her.

“You okay?” Her arm slips around mine and her hand grips my bicep.

I look down at her with a small smile. “Better now.”

She smiles back. “Good.”

We gaze at each other for several seconds, and then she finally looks away and leans her body against mine.

“You don’t have to go back in,” she says. “We can go back to the hotel. Leslie and Ash will understand.”

I don’t miss how she said “we” instead of “you.”

I shake my head. “They don’t need to know what happened. I don’t want them to worry about me. I’ll be okay.”

Melissa takes a breath as if she’s going to speak, but then she doesn’t.

“What?” I ask.

She tightens her hold on my arm. “You want to talk about last night? Will that help?”

I can’t keep leaning on Melissa like this and not tell her what happened to make me this way.

Though this isn’t the ideal time or place, I need to tell her, and she’s given me the opening I need.

Goodness knows I won’t initiate this conversation, but she deserves to have it with me.

The more I’m around her, the more I want to try to make things work with her—for her.

And I need to be honest with her about my family and my past if there’s a chance that could happen.

“What are you two crazy kids up to?” Diego’s voice booms from behind us, followed by a chuckle.

Melissa’s arm drops from mine, and she spins to face him.

“Just getting some fresh air,” she says as I turn to face my friend.

“Aren’t you cold?” Diego asks Melissa before shooting me an exasperated look. “Give the woman your jacket, man. What are you thinking?”

I wasn’t thinking, obviously. But I quickly shrug out of my jacket and drape it around Melissa’s shoulders.