Page 10 of Dear Wedding Planner
5
MILES
We spend all of dinner catching each other up on what we’ve been up to since high school. I tell her about how I stumbled into my passion for photography when I signed up from the wrong elective class sophomore year.
“I couldn’t believe it when I found out you were a big-time photographer,” Veronica says over her plate of shrimp scampi.
“Did Mackenzie tell you?” I reach over and stab a piece of shrimp off her plate.
She takes her fork pokes the top of my hand gently with a laugh. “Your sister didn’t say anything.”
“Does that mean you have been checking up on me on social media?” I sit forward in my seat in interest. Her answering silence confirms my suspicion. “You have, haven’t you?”
“Whatever.” She shrugs. “We all do it. I just wanted to know what you were doing since I last saw you.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better. I could only check up on you when I saw that your status was single. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing you with another guy.”
“Really?” She leans across the table and smiles teasingly at me. “Why is that?”
“Because in my head, there is no one else for you but me. There will be no turning back when I get to call you mine. I’ve loved no one else but you, and I want to be the one man worthy enough of your love for the rest of our lives.”
I wait for her to say something, to say anything.
“Are you for real? Because you can say something like that and not mean it one hundred percent.”
"Veronica, look at me. Do you think for one moment that I don't mean every word I just said?"
She studies me for a long moment. I can see the wheels turning in her mind, and I would give anything to know what she is thinking.
“How is everything going?” The waiter asks, interrupting what could be the most important moment of my life so far.
“The check, please.” Veronica breaks her gaze from me and looks up at our server.
“Any chance you might be interested in some dessert before you finish up?” he asks.
“No, just the check.”
An icy dread passes through me. It was too soon to say what I just did, and now I've scared her away. I had one chance, and I've already blown it.
Neither one of us says anything until after I’ve paid the bill and we’ve walked up the pier to the top of the dock.
“Look about what I said back there—" I start to say, but Veronica cuts me off with a kiss. "What was that for?"
“Because it sounded like you were going to try and take back what you just said to me.”
“I didn’t freak you out?”
She recoils in surprise. “What? No.”
“Well, you didn’t say anything until you asked for the check.”
She smiles and wraps her arms around my neck. My hands instinctively circle her body and pull her close. I can’t not touch her when she is near me.
“I didn’t say anything because the urge to reach across the table and strip off all your clothes was all I could think about. I wanted us to get out of there as soon as possible so that we could go back to my place."
I thrust the valet ticket over to the guy in the vest, standing close enough to hear everything that we've just said. He doesn’t say a word but runs off to get my car. And he can’t get there quick enough for me.
VERONICA
