Page 102 of How to Ruin Your Ex's Wedding
Then to the restless onlookers, she says, “Hunter and I have decided not to marry.” Gasps ring out through the room.
She holds her hands up in an attempt to silence them and continues to parrot what I say. “I apologize for the inconvenience and the confusion. In an effort to make it up to you, I’ve decided to marry this guy over here. If anyone wants to stick around for that, services will commence in just a second . . . wait, what?”
She spins to face me. “Pax, what the hell? You can’t just highjack my wedding.”
“Why not?” I ask.
“Because.” Her neck strains with the angle of her head as her eyes bug.
“I think it’s the perfect solution,” I say. “Everything is already here. I mean, the monograms are all wrong, of course, and I doubt I will like any of the gifts that Simplecock picked out, but I know for certain the cake is good. Wait, he did pick the good cake, right? The one with the—”
“Pax. Stop! Just stop.”
“What, babe?” I put my hands on either side of her waist, wanting them to be somewhere on her.
Liza approaches from the side, seeming to have finally gotten herself back together. “Tabatha, would you like me to send people in to the reception?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say, answering for her, at the same time Tabatha says, “No!”
“Why not?” I ask at the same time Liza says, “Okay.”
A decent chunk of the crowd is still waiting in their seats. They’re either wondering what is really going to happen next and if a wedding will indeed take place, or, my guess, if Tabby is going to open the bar.
“Either way, you should open the bar,” I tell Tabby.
She waves a hand at Liza. “Fine, open the bar.” Liza leaves to do her bidding.
News that the bar is opening races through the crowd and within minutes, the room is empty with the exception of me and Tabby on the stage, Gregor and Maisey still in their second-row seats, and Crystal and Angela standing in the back.
I take her face in my hands. “Tabatha, I want to be with you. Day and night, from here on out. I want to marry you, grow old with you, kiss you until I can’t breathe, fight with you, make love to you, all of it. I’m serious about that.”
She reaches her hands up and covers mine with hers. “I know you do. And I want that too. I think. But I can’t just flip and do that today. An hour ago, I was supposed to be standing up here with another man.”
“I never would have let that happen,” I tell her.
She laughs.
It wasn’t supposed to be funny.
“You said you think you want that too. What do you mean?” I ask.
“I need time to think. I can’t just rush from one situation into another.”
“I’m not a situation,” I argue.
“I know, I didn’t mean it in a bad way—”
“What other way would there be?” I ask.
“Please, can we not fight?”
“Tabs, I told you I love you. I want to marry you. We kissed.” I turn and point to the hallway. “Right out there, just a few minutes ago. And it was amazing. I know from that kiss that you want the same things. You can’t tell me otherwise.”
“I know. And that kiss was great. I need to know that I’m not doing this with you just because it’s not happening with Hunter. Does that make sense?”
“No!” I’m upset. I’m trying not to be, but I am. Earlier, all I’d thought about was making sure she didn’t marry Pimplecock today. But then, as soon as I realized that she and I could just marry here and now, it became all about that for me. A two-fold mission that I’m now desperate to accomplish.
“What are you saying?” I ask. “Do you not want to get married at all?”
