Page 99 of Moving Forward

Before Grams can reply with her two cents, everyone goes quiet as music starts to play throughout the hall. I immediately turn around, searching for the one person I’m really here for.

Most girls might’ve protested at the idea of their man seeing them before the grand unveiling, but my Max didn’t seem to care. She let me watch her get ready, blushing every time I complimented her, whether it was meant to turn her on or just make her feel beautiful. Admittedly, it will never matter how many times I see her—dressed like a slob or runway-ready—she’ll always steal my breath away. When she starts down the aisle, all the air leaves the room and my heart needs resuscitation, reminding me of everything I felt the first time I saw her. She’s my angel. The one.

The dress is gorgeous on her and I’ve already taken the time to fully appreciate it, but it’s not what gets to me. It’s the unshed tears in her eyes that sparkle as they search for and lock with mine. It’s how she walks as if gravity is pulling the two of us together. It’s that soft smile that belongs solely to me and tells me she feels everything I do.

It’s the way she brightens my life.

Conner gives me a teasing grin from over her head as they pass, his arm linked through hers. He knows I’m a goner. This woman owns me.

As Max takes her place at the side of the altar, everyone slips away again, until it’s just me and her. I want to see her in white someday. Mark our forever with vows and rings, kiss her as my wife, and then run down that aisle, her last name now Hazelton.

Someday, if she’ll have me, maybe.

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Max curls up against me in my truck as we watch Danny carry Ellie to the limo that’ll take them to the airport. She and Ellie have already said their tearful goodbyes while Danny and I waited in the wings to bring them back from the brink of drowning in their own tears. I’ll never understand how girls can alternately cry and laugh, jumping around at the same time. When Danny told Ellie it was time for them to leave, you’d have thought that a dam broke somewhere.

I took Max back to my truck to say our own goodbyes in private before she leaves with her parents. “You guys will see each other all the time,” I tell her quietly. “I’m sure the second she gets to where she’s going, she’ll call you, and then when they get back she’ll visit and tell you every detail.”

Max doesn’t say anything, only wraps her arms around me tighter.

“And then she’ll be back two days later to tell you everything that happened in the two days since she last saw you, and so on.”

I frown when she remains silent. I pry myself away from her to see her better. “Just because she’s married doesn’t mean you won’t see her again. You don’t live that far apart.”

She shakes her head. “No. That’s not the problem.”

“It’s not?” I reach across her to get a tissue out of the glove compartment. “Here.”

“Thanks.” She wipes around her eyes and then drops her hands to her lap. “I just want more time with you.”

“I do too,” I admit.

“Don’t forget that you made a promise to me that you’re all in. As soon as you’re ready to get back together, I expect to hear from you.” She starts sniffling and I squeeze her tight. “Please don’t go back on that promise.”

“I won’t break my promise.”

“You better not,” she says with a hint of a temper. She situates herself until she’s in my lap, facing me. She braces her hands against my chest to steady herself. “I know you don’t want to believe that we’ll make it because you don’t want to get hurt. But we will make it. I know we will. We have to. I love you too much for it not to work out.”

I open my mouth to warn her that love isn’t always enough. Lives aren’t saved by love. Wars aren’t won because of love. Problems aren’t solved by love. The world doesn’t revolve around the sun through the power of love. I could love her every day for the rest of my life, only for there to come a time when that love isn’t enough.

Before I can tell her that, she kisses me deep and rough, telling me with her lips all the things about love she wants me to understand, and more. Her tongue darts in with quick precision, making me lose my train of thought. Maybe I don’t want to place too much power in the hands of love, but this love . . . this love can save a dead man.

Her salty tears mix with the taste of her, and she pulls back and wraps me in a fierce hug. I close my eyes, memorizing everything about her. How soft she feels. How she still smells like peaches, but she smells like me now too. How I can feel her heart racing. How she hugs me back when I hold her.

“If you asked me to stay, I would,” she says softly against my throat.

“I know. But I could never do that.”

She peels herself away and opens the door, tumbling out awkwardly. We both share a small laugh. She shuts the door and comes over to my side, then motions for me to roll down the window. She leans in to place another kiss on the side of my mouth. “You can do this. You’ll heal and we’ll find our way back to each other.

“I can and we will,” I tell her honestly.

I squeeze her hand. All I want is to get this moment over with. I want her to walk away so the pain ripping my heart open will finally stop. This is the right decision, but it still feels wrong. “You’d better go. Your grandfather looks antsy.”

“Alright. Just one more thing, okay? I love you. More than anything.”

“More than anything,” I repeat.

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