Page 28 of Hello Handsome
“Do you like weddings?” he returned as we turned off the dirt road and onto the gravel drive to Rhett and Maggie’s house.
“It’s… complicated,” I admitted.
“What do you mean?”
I glanced around. There were people approaching ahead of us and behind us, but none close enough to hear. “It was always a reminder of something I couldn’t have.” My voice nearly blended with the soft breeze, but I could tell Gray heard me because he stopped, leaving both of us standing still. A guitar started playing softly near the chairs set up for guests, but he didn’t move. Instead, he turned, facing me and holding my face in his hand.
“Aggie, if you hear one thing tonight, I want you to hear this.”
I looked up, searching his blue eyes. They were more intense than I’d ever seen them.
He brushed his thumb over the curve of my cheekbone. “The man who gets to experience this with you will be the luckiest in the world.”
But what he didn’t say was just as clear.
It won’t be me.
18
GRAY
Aggie nodded slightly,her gaze flicking away from mine. “Thank you,” she choked out, as if her emotions were keeping the words in her throat.
I understood needing time to process, so I held my arm out for her, and she easily looped her hand through the crook of my elbow.
The guitarist started thumbing out a new song, and my mind was thrown back to another wedding, with a different wedding date.
Maya hummed along to the song as she sat beside me. We could hardly see the front of the church where the groom stood, hands linked awkwardly in front of him, along with the pastor who wore an amicable smile.
The wooden pews were hard. Not like those cushy chairs at the Methodist church. And even though it was a beautiful day outside, inside the building was stuffy, like all the stained-glass windows turned the place into a greenhouse.
“I want this song to play at our wedding,” she whispered to me. Her hand was soft on my bicep, just like her breath on my ear.
“Whatever you want, you’ll have,” I promised, my discomfort immediately forgotten as I listened to the notes.
I recognized the song, “Red River Valley.” One of those old country songs that warbled from diner jukeboxes in the middle of the day. I think my mom used to play it on the radio, too, when I was really little. I could almost hear the fuzz.
“Isn’t it sad?” I asked her, remembering the chorus.
“Not to me,” she replied.
I arched a brow in question. “It’s about a woman leaving.” My throat got tight just thinking about the minor possibility of Maya walking out on me before our wedding day.
Her dark brown eyes had a wistful glint to them. “It’s about a man saying he’ll love her no matter where she goes and reminding her that she’ll always have a place at his side.”
My chest swelled at her words, and I put my arm around her. “Don’t even think of leaving.”
Her soft giggle landed on my shoulder just before her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere when I have you here.”
“Gray?” Aggie said. “I think Jack and Deidre are waving us up.”
I blinked, wondering how long Aggie had been vying for my attention and feeling a little guilty. My mind shouldn’t be on my late wife, not with Aggie’s hands wrapped around my arm.
“Right,” I said, voice rough, and then walked down the aisle to the second row, where they’d saved seats for us.
Aggie let go of my arm, just in time for me to see a couple of my boys were already there–Bryce and Knox. Hayes would probably be late or opt to flirt with bridesmaids at the after party and skip the ceremony altogether. Ford couldn’t come since football season was starting up, but Fletcher and his wife arrived shortly after, my granddaughter Maya demanding a seat on my other side.
As I told Maya how pretty she looked in her sundress, I wondered if Aggie pulling away had to do with my boys watching. And maybe I was grateful too, because I hadn’t thought to warn them I’d be bringing a date to the wedding.
