Page 119 of When Stars Collide
Violet checked her watch. “Well, I say if he doesn’t get here pretty soon, we should get started. His part is pretty much a no-brainer, anyway, and—”
“Dad!” Jackson took off running down the path toward a slowly sauntering Peter.
“Perfect timing. Too bad he couldn’t have made his grand entrance fifteen minutes ago,” Violet grumbled.
I watched as Peter lifted Jackson up into his arms and carried him on his shoulders, grimacing in pain the entire time.
“Dad, you smell weird.” Jackson plugged his nose as Peter’s face burned a bright shade of red.
“How ya feeling, Monroe?” Salvatore laughed. Peter discreetly flipped him off behind Jackson’s back.
By the time Peter reached Amanda, she was seething, only keeping herself together long enough to send Jackson off to stand next to our group before pulling Peter aside.
“Someone’s getting a stern talking to,” Kirsten observed.
“Now that everyone’s here,” the woman standing with Candy and Tom announced, “we should get started. It’s my understanding at least one of the groomsmen is under a bit of a time crunch.”
“No worries,” Salvatore assured her, “I’m in no rush to get back to the hospital.”
“Okay, well,I’mon a time crunch, then, so let’s get this show on the road.”
I eyed Elle, questioningly. “She’s the officiant,” she answered me.
“She seems like barrels of fun.”
Our individual groups broke up, following the officiant back up the path, with Amanda leading the charge in a huff. I peered over my shoulder to see Peter, straggling along by himself, and against my better judgment, I hung back to wait for him. The odor that Jackson smelled wafted from him as soon as he came within a couple feet of me. Although he’d tried to conceal it with cologne, the distinct odor of alcohol still managed to break through.
“You’re not usually a beer person,” I said, falling in step next to him.
He shrugged. “It’s cheap, and after a few of them, you really can’t taste a difference.” He glanced over at Phineas, who was furiously typing an email on his phone, completely oblivious to the world around him. “Book emergency? Is the plot thickening a little too much?” Peter chuckled, pleased with himself.
“Don’t change the subject.” I sighed. “I thought you were going to bed last night? At least, that was the excuse you gave when you left the table.”
“I was. I tried. I failed.”
“Clearly. And your first instinct was to go to the bar?”
“No. My first instinct was to go to your room. But we both know that wouldn’t have gone over well.” He glanced over at me as though trying to gauge my reaction. “And so, I went with my second choice. At least that option helped me forget about all the reasons why I couldn’t fall asleep, if only for a couple hours. It’s kicking my ass now, though.”
“You could have come to me.”
Peter shook his head. “No, I couldn’t. Every problem, every heartache that drove me to that bar last night was self-inflicted. I wasn’t about to drag you down the rabbit hole with me. I’ll deal with my demons and move on like you.” We walked in silence, but I could sense there was more he wanted to say. “He really cares about you, that much I can tell. As much as a relief as it is to see that, it’s also … excruciating. But I’ll get over it. It’s just something I need to do on my own.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets as he picked up his pace and walked away from me. It was typical Peter not to involve others in his problems, but I wasn’t prepared for how badly it hurt to have him shut me out.
“Okay, people,” the officiant addressed us. “You’re going to line up in the order you’re going to be walking down the aisle, starting with myself, and then Candy, followed by Mark—”
“Actually,” Elle interceded, “I was thinking I’d like Mark to walk me down the aisle with Tom.”
“Really?” The stunned elation Mark was feeling was quite evident as he tried and failed to maintain a poker face.
“Of course. You’re my dad, and a dad should walk his daughter down the aisle.”
“Would you like me to walk with Candy, then?” Tom asked, his voice shaking, not from emotion, but from his advanced Parkinson’s disease. The fact he could even walk down the aisle at all was a miracle in and of itself.
“Absolutely not, Tom. You’ll walk on one side of me, and Mark will walk on the other.”
“Okay, so it’s settled. Candy, you’ll walk alone,” the officiant said, jotting down something in her notebook.
