Page 13 of I'm Yours

Chuckling, I place a hand on his shoulder and squeeze lightly. “Thanks, man. I’m good. Just… ready to get this show on the road.”

“To get it over with or to be married?”

“To be married, you jack ass.”

“Just checking. Figured as much, but what kind of best man would I be if I didn’t double check that you were okay with giving your dick to the same woman for the rest of your life when you’re only twenty-two years old?”

Someone knocks on the door and my dad peeks his head inside. “It’s time, Reed.”

I nod, readjust my tuxedo jacket, and lick my lips. “Let’s do it.”

Katherine and I met in college but didn’t fall in love fast. It was slow and over time. Friends first. She’s nothing like I expected to end up with. Well, that would be impossible because she’s not the person who I expected to be with, but today’s not the day to think of Sadie Jones. I’ve moved on. She married Billy and I can only assume, and hope, that she’s happy.

I walk to the front with the pastor and turn, waiting for our two groomsmen and bridesmaids to make their way down to me before the flower girl and ring bearer do their job of making people giggle and laugh. Then it will be Katherine’s turn on her dad’s arm.

We had considered waiting to get married because we were still young, but her dad’s fight with cancer is a losing one. Katherine wanted him to walk her down the aisle, so we moved the date up.

I take a second to look around at our guests, wondering who Justin was going on about so dramatically a few minutes ago. There are a few pretty ladies here, some I recognize and others I don’t, but no one that I would call beautiful. At least, not in the way Justin was going on about.

And then I see her. Head bent so she’s looking at her lap, I know without a doubt who’s sitting in the second to last row, seated at the farthest end from the aisle so she can make a quick escape, I’m sure. My heart rate picks up speed and my stomach clenches. I’d know that hair anywhere. I’d know those hunched shoulders and small frame as if it were one I’d seen every single day.

Sadie… the name is barely whispered from my lips as I swallow hard. The piano music continues to play but I barely hear it. I just see her. I swallow again and fight against the urge to run down the aisle and take her into my arms. Probably not the best timing for that. She turns her head to the side when the person next to her says something and my heart sinks. It’s not her.

I shake my head at myself, frustrated that I’d conjure up the image of her right before I’m set to marry someone else. Pulling on my shirt collar, Justin nudges me and leans over to say something. I didn’t even realize he’d stepped up next to me or walked down the aisle. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I thought I did.

I need a distraction so I ask out of the corner of my mouth, “You find your girl in the crowd?”

I see his nod and he shifts his weight, probably anxious. “Sure did. Way in the back on the right side.”

I glance over to see if I can spot who he’s looking at just as the music changes and the doors open. My attention switches to Katherine and her dad at the end of the aisle and my breath is stolen. I’ve already seen her when we took pictures before the ceremony, but seeing her here, at the end of the aisle waiting to walk down so she can become my wife, it’s even better than my first look.

“There he is,” Justin says from beside me. “You just needed to see her, huh?”

I don’t hear anything else. I only see Katherine walking toward me with a smile on her face that I’m sure matches the one on mine.

It’s not until I say “I do” and Katherine does the same that out of the corner of my eye I see someone with long dark hair quietly leave the back of the church that I look at anyone other than her.

And after the ceremony, when we’re on our way to the reception, Justin grumbles about the beautiful woman leaving before the end, before he could get his chance to dance with her.

I don’t give myself more than a second to think too deeply into it. I just got married to Katherine and I’m happy. Moving forward with my life, just like Sadie always told me to do.

* * *

Sadie

Ithrow my dark wig in the passenger seat and drive away from the church, wiping away the tears that continue to fall from my eyes. Away from Reed Sanders and the memories of the way his lips felt pressed to mine, how his hand always found mine when we were walking somewhere, even though we were never together. He made me feel safe and loved during a time that everything felt like it was upside down.

Reed Sanders is married now. I heard it with my own ears. Saw it with my own eyes. Now I can move on and stop pining over the man I fell in love with when I was just fourteen years old.

Chapter Four

Reed - Present Day - Two Weeks Later

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