Page 92 of Forever

James nodded. “Of course, man.”

“No,” Rob said. “I’m thebestman.”

“Rob, you can stand right next to Mason,” I said.

Rob smiled. “Deal. That still makes me the best friend. Since Mason is your brother. And you were always going to ask me to be your number two, right? Even without whatever the hell is going on with Tanner being scared of cameras?”

I actually didn’t know. And I was happy I didn’t have to make that choice. Tanner and Nigel had made it easy on me. And I wondered if that’s what they were doing. Because they really were good friends. I smiled at Tanner.

He shrugged like it was no big deal.

But it was. And I appreciated it. I’d appreciate it even more if he didn’t cut up all my wedding photos though.

Chapter 22

Thursday

Brooklyn

I laughed and lifted my plate off the table. “Justin, you’re getting glitter in the food.”

“You’re getting glitter in the food,” he said back sarcastically as he slammed a book full of color swatches closed and glitter went everywhere. “Well, maybe if we didn’t have to do literally all the planning in one night, you wouldn’t have glitter in your hors d’oeuvres.”

This probably wasn’t the best time to ask him to be a bridesmaid. Or a bridesman? I wasn’t exactly sure what it was called. But it definitely wasn’t a good time to ask.Maybe at the end of the night.I blew some of the glitter off my plate and ate another one of the little pastry puffs that tasted like cheesesteaks. “Well this cheesesteak pastry thing has my vote.”

“Agreed,” Mason said as he grabbed another from the tray.

I smiled at him. It was really sweet of Mason and Kennedy to come with us. And Mrs. Alcaraz and Mrs. Caldwell. The two of them were talking to one of the seamstresses. They seemed to think my old dress would still work. I hoped that was true.

I couldn’t believe that in just a few weeksI’dbe Mrs. Caldwell. Everything was happening so fast, it felt surreal. Like I was in some kind of dream instead of reality. Because my reality was being curled up on a couch at the lake house in Miller’s arms. I felt tears pulling in my eyes. No, my reality was that Miller was gone. There was no safehaven lake house. I needed my mind to stop playing tricks on me.

I took a deep breath and put my hand on my stomach. It was easier to hold on to the present when I knew I was needed here. Right now. In this moment. I looked around Justin’s studio. It was really easy to be present in here. There were seamstresses altering dresses, people in suits running around with clipboards for some reason, place settings on display, and other couples discussing cake options. It was colorful and chaotic and just so very Justin.

I turned to Matt. “Which is your favorite appetizer?” I asked.

“Whatever you choose sounds good to me.”

He kept saying that to any suggestion I had. But at this rate I was going to choose everything. “But which appetizer is your favorite?”

He leaned closer to me so no one could hear him. “Baby, there’s only one thing I’m interested in eating on our wedding day.”

“Right. The cake.” But I was going to have a lot of opinions about that too…

His lips fell to my ear. “Not the cake, Brooklyn.You.”

Jesus.I crossed my legs under the table.

“Good, you chose one. I’ll choose the rest,” Justin said and snapped his fingers. The waiter started clearing away the appetizers. I quickly grabbed one more cheesesteak pastry before the plate was snatched off the table.

Justin was definitely in his frantic mode. Whenever we weren’t quick enough, he just said he’d figure it out. But actually…I was okay with that. I trusted him. And he still had all our original wedding plans. I wasn’t sure what had made him keep them all those years ago. But I was so glad he did.

“When are you going to ask him about being in the wedding party?” Matt whispered.

“It doesn’t really seem like a good time right now.”

“I don’t think he’s going to calm down until after the wedding.”

I bit the inside of my lip. Matt was probably right. I just needed to ask. “Hey, Justin?” I said as the waiters started to bring out dozens of different cakes.

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