Page 92 of I'm Yours

“She was. Remember when I came inside and said I’d met a girl in the parking lot?”

“Yes?”

“It was her.”

“You said she had long dark hair.”

Justin shrugs. “Wig? Dyed her hair? I don’t know. But I’m positive it was her.”

Sadie was at the wedding? How did I miss that? A shockwave rolls through me.

Then it hits me. I felt her there. Looked for her in the crowd. Thought I saw her. After the wedding, I saw a woman leave. Was that Sadie?

“She was there, man. Don’t know what that means but she was.”

“He’s right,” Sadie says from behind us. She looks a little worse off than yesterday but still beautiful. The cut on her lip is no longer bleeding but it’s swollen. Her eye has turned a dark shade of purple. I know if I pull up the sleeves of the hoodie she’s wearing — my hoodie — I’ll see marks from where they bound her wrists. I’m so grateful the events of yesterday turned out the way they did. It could have been so much worse. I stand from my place on the stairs and move to kiss her lightly on the lips. I need to be close to her. Wrap my arms around her. Touch her and know she’s safe. Here with me.

“How you feeling?” Justin asks her.

“Ehh.” She doesn’t try to hide the fact that she’s in pain. Emotionally and physically. For that, I’m grateful. I don’t want her to feel like she ever needs to hide things from me.

“I’ll leave you two alone. Nice to see you again, Sadie. You still owe me that dance.”

“Justin, right?”

“See? I knew I’d left an impression,” he teases and squeezes her shoulder gently as he walks past.

We sit together on the porch swing and she tucks in close when I wrap an arm around her and kiss her on top of the head.

“I had to see.”

“See what, baby?”

“You get married. I had to see it so I could move on.”

It physically hurts to hear her say the words but I understand what she means. If she’d have gotten married over the last twelve years, I think I’d have had to witness it, too. Because I’m a glutton for punishment.

“And did it work?”

“What do you think?”

I smile and kiss her again then shift, lifting her chin so I can look in her eyes. Life is too short to keep worrying about timing. “I love you. Never stopped.”

“I love you. Should have told you years ago.” Hearing the words that I longed to hear from her so long ago tugs at my chest. It was so worth the wait to hear her say she loves me.

“We’re here now and I’m not letting you go.”

“I’m ready for that.”

“About time,” I tease and kiss her lips lightly. The hiss of pain tells me I need to back off.

“I don’t understand why they did that.”

“Henry looked into it. Said he’d come by later with your mom and fill us in. Nell needs to see you. As weird as this sounds, I think Henry’s good for her.”

She hums and wrinkles her nose. “Are you serious?”

I chuckle. “I am. I never thought I’d see the day where I said Henry isn’t the creep we thought he was. I think he’s just that way. One of those guys who marches to a different beat or something. He’s strange, no doubt, but if he hadn’t been there yesterday, we wouldn’t have found you.”

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