Page 171 of Forever

“See you all soon.” He took a turn kissing the back of each of the bridesmaid’s hands. Only skipping Justin.

They all blushed and giggled.

Nigel really was such a ladies’ man.

He did the same with Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Alcaraz, and Scarlett and Sophie. The two little girls were both in frilly yellow dresses. They made the most adorable flower girls.

“Au revoir,” Nigel said. Then he ran through the door that connected our houses and quickly closed it behind him.

Justin looped his arm back through mine and then started snapping instructions at everyone.

“Do you need me to grab anything?” I asked as he guided me out of the house.

“You don’t need to lift a finger. I’m handling it all. I just got a text saying everything is ready at the venue. And the men are en route.”

A chauffeur opened the limo door for us.

“Thank you,” I said.

He nodded and smiled at me as Justin and I climbed in. Justin’s phone buzzed again. He started texting furiously.

As everyone else climbed into the limo, I noticed that there was a little envelope sticking out the top of my bouquet. I pulled it out and opened it. I thought it was a thank you note from the florist, but instead there was a polaroid inside. A picture of me and Matt on the field of Empire High 16 years ago. He’d just won a game and he was twirling me around in his arms. My heart felt all warm and fuzzy. He was smiling so big in the picture. I remembered falling in love with that smile. Dreaming of that smile. Promising forever to that smile.

I turned the picture over. Written on the back in Matt’s handwriting was: “It’s always been you, baby. Always and forever.”

I smiled and slid the picture back into the bouquet. It didn’t hurt to have one more old thing for good luck.Always and forever, Matt.

Chapter 38

Friday

Matt

I was standing in front of the bridge in Central Park where I’d asked Brooklyn to be my girlfriend.Our bridge.She’d thought I was about to pull out a ring, but instead I’d given her a hotdog. God, it felt like a lifetime ago. But just thinking about it made me smile. I’d already known I wanted to spend my whole life with her. I just didn’t realize that I’d have to wait 16 years to truly start living.

The bridge was sectioned off behind us so that no one could disrupt the ceremony. Christmas garland and twinkle lights with gold leaves were wrapped around the railings of the bridge and around the arch I was standing in front of. And the aisle leading up to me had a row of white pumpkins. It was all decorated similarly to Tanner’s apartment last night. And I knew he and Nigel had helped more with the arrangements than I even realized.

There were only several rows of seats in front of me. We’d agreed to keep the ceremony small. My parents and Mrs. Alcaraz were in the front row. There were a couple of old friends from Empire High, including Felix and some of my teammates. A dozen friends from Harvard were here as well. And some of the people I worked with. My receptionist, Mary, smiled at me. Hailey and Tyler were there too with Axel perched on Tyler’s knee. But there was one noticeably empty seat in the front row.Mr. Pruitt’s.

Mason leaned forward. “Do you want me to go check on them?”

I shook my head.

“What if she’s getting cold feet?” Rob whispered.

“She’s not,” I said. But she would be thinking about the people who weren’t here. Her mom. Her uncle. Her father. I pressed my lips together.

“I’m getting cold feet,” James said. “And hands.” He rubbed his hands together to warm them.

It was cooler today than the original forecast had predicted. And we’d been standing up here for a good 15 minutes.

“Maybe I should go talk to her,” Tanner said. “I know she was upset about her dad. I feel like this is my fault.”

I leaned forward to see him. “You did everything you could.”

Tanner nodded, but he didn’t look appeased by my words. He was staring at the restaurant doors where Brooklyn was supposed to walk out.

I stared at the door too. I knew it wasn’t just Brooklyn’s mom, uncle, and father that might be upsetting her today. If Brooklyn wasn’t coming out it wasn’t because of them. It was because of Miller. I swallowed hard.

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