The tears she’d been struggling to hold back raced down her cheeks. Luna wasn’t an ugly crier. She wasn’t an ugly anything. In this case, it just referred to the fact that she wasn’t sobbing. She looked normal, but the tears fell anyway.
“You’re not holding me back and I’m not leaving you.” And I needed her to believe this. I’d deal with my brother later. “Come here.” I pulled her to the closest chair and had her sit. Then I fell to my knees in between her legs so we were eye to eye.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked again? “If it was a non-starter why wouldn’t you mention it?”
“Luna,” I began. “I didn’t give the offer a second thought. I got the call and didn’t even need to think about it. I said no on that call, so there wasn’t really a need to mention it.” I quickly licked my lips. This was the time for me to be completely honest. “Did you honestly think for a second that I’d go to France without you? The two years we were apart were the worst. I wouldn’t do anything to endanger our relationship again.”
She threw her hands in the air as she spoke. “Then I am holding you back. I can’t go to France, Harrison.”
“I know that. Which is why I don’t want to go.”
“But it sounded like a great opportunity.”
I nodded. “It was. But you’re a better one and I just bought the winery. I’m not even sure who recommended me for that chance but they clearly don’t know what I have going for me here. I don’t want any of this to change. Without you, Luna, none of that matters. All I want to do is marry you. What do I need to do to make you understand that? I’ve been the best boyfriend I know how to be since you came back.”
Finally, she reached out for me. Her small hand slid onto the sides of my face while her thumbs stroked my jaw. “You are the best boyfriend ever. Seriously. Why you put up with me these few last months, I’ll never know.”
“There’s nothing to put up with. I love you, Luna. There’s nothing more to that.”
She took another breath like she wanted to calm herself and I took the chance to dry her cheeks. My girl had been through a lot in this past year and maybe getting married had been the straw that broke the camel’s back in the way of stress. Good stress was still stress and she’d had a lot of changes. I wouldn’t go back and do anything differently other than maybe pay more attention to what had been going on inside her head since she’s been back in my life.
I’d do better than that from here on out.
“I’m just insecure, I guess.” She shrugged as if what she’d just said wasn’t a big deal. “I don’t know. I’m alone and sometimes I’m scared it’s all going to happen again.”
“Marry me tomorrow and you’ll never be alone again. Hell don’t marry me tomorrow and you’ll never be alone again. I’m not going anywhere.” I kissed her lips softly. “But if you marry me, I’ll be legally bound to stick around.”
She gave me that great Luna laugh. The one she couldn’t have faked even if she’d wanted to. It seemed like forever before she finally pushed her lips against mine.
“I love you, Harrison.”
“I love you.” I ran a hand down her hair. “You have no clue how fucking much.”
With that settled and her hopefully feeling a little more secure, she stood so we could go back downstairs to our guests. But before I opened the door, she yanked on my arm.
“Just to be clear, I only said that to Jess about postponing the wedding because if you want to study in France, I want that for you. I just don’t know how that would work.”
“There’s no need to worry about it, baby.” I dropped a quick peck to her soft lips. “I’m not going. I have zero desire to go.” I turned to head out but thought better about it. “When did Killian tell you about it?”
“I never said—”
“He’s the only one I told that would ever utter a word about it to you. That was to prove a point, by the way. I wasn’t whining.”
She giggled again. “I didn’t think you were. He told me the day he came in for a massage.”
I groaned at the reminder. “Fuck. I tried to block out that you had your hands on him.”
She rolled her eyes hard. “I have my hands-on people all day.”
“But not my brother.”
“Aww.” She patted my shoulder with sympathy. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like when I massage you.”
“Fucking better not have been. Come on.”
Luna and I returned to our guests downstairs and when my mom sent me a questioning look, I waved her off. There was no need for anyone else to know what had happened in that room. Luna joined the rest of them, but I went right for my brother and gave him a nudge.
“Let’s go.”
“Go where?” he asked.
“Move.” I turned my back on him and assumed he’d follow.
“Harrison.” Luna’s sweet voice cautioned me like she was trying to keep me from having it out with my brother. I just kept walking until we were in the den and I’d shut the door. This had to be done. He and I had to have a word or lots of them because if he thought I was going to put up with him fucking with my wife’s confidence, he had another thing coming.
I’d never hit my brother, at least not since we were rowdy kids, but this was the one thing making me want to.
“What were you thinking?” I asked him.
“Depends on what you’re talking about.” Killian might’ve been older than me, but there were so many times that I felt like the older brother.
“You told Luna about France?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’m surprised it took her this long to tell you about it.”
“Why would you do that?” I raged. “Why do you want to fuck up the best thing in my life?”
“If she’s the best, you have a pretty lame life.”
“Fuck you,” I spat. “I love her and you’re just lucky you didn’t fuck this up for us.”
“She should know what you’re giving up and that’s why I told her.”
“That’s my decision, not yours. Would you like me to intervene if you ever fall for someone? Make it as hard as possible?”
“I’m not worried about that,” he said through clenched teeth. “I don’t think I have a chance with the girl that I want.”
Wait. There was a girl he wanted? This was the first I was hearing about it. Did he want me single because he was? Or because he had this unrequited love bullshit for someone? No. I didn’t think so. I knew Killian pretty well and I thought he was protecting me, at least in his own mind.
“Well…” I took a step forward. “We’re getting married tomorrow and you owe Luna an apology.”
It took him maybe five minutes to sigh and nod his head. “I did think you were giving up this chance for her when she’d given up on you before.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what happened in either case. Just apologize to her so you can have a normal relationship. She’s going to be your sister-in-law, for fuck’s sake.”
“Yeah, OK. I will.” He held his hand up in defeat.
“Oh, and Killian…” I took another step until our toes touched. “Don’t ever go to Luna for a massage again.”
A shitty little grin appeared. “Jealous?”
“Nah. But I might be jealous over the attention you’ll get for all the broken bones if you make her touch you like that again.”
He chuckled and held up his hands. “Yeah, man. OK. If I go back, I’ll ask for someone else.”
“Anyone else. No matter what.”
“Got it.”
He and I walked out as if nothing had happened in that room. The women were all chatting while Dad sat there with an amused look on his face. When Luna caught sight of me, her mouth opened like she was going to ask what had happened. I gave my head an imperceptible shake so she wouldn’t ask right then.
We could talk about all of that later.
20
Luna
My wedding day.
Most b
rides picked a date that they thought would offer the perfect whether due to the season, the day of the week, or whatever. I’d randomly chosen mine on the calendar and it was snowing the big fluffy flakes that made everything look magical. Luckily, it was warm enough that the cold stuff wasn’t sticking to the ground. For this time of year, it was downright beautiful.
Waking up next to Harrison felt different this morning.
“Good morning, Mrs. Flynn,” he whispered against my lips.
I snickered. “Not yet.”
“Close enough.”
“You’re crazy.” It didn’t stop him from kissing me stupid. “It’s going to be weird to not have a stripper name anymore.”
“You know you don’t have to change your name.”
“I know. But I want your name and I think it’ll be nice not to feel like I need to make that joke before someone else does.”
He yanked me in closer to him. “Maybe I’ll call you Luna Love myself.”
I giggled like a teenager for crying out loud. Harrison silenced me with his lips and had my body humming before heading off to the winery. We didn’t have time for what I really wanted this morning. There was too much to do but that bastard still had me wishing we had all day.
The plan had been one that Jess had insisted on. She’d thought it was ridiculous that he and I were even spending the night before our wedding together and that neither of us had had the traditional bachelor/bachelorette party. But when I told her that my bachelorette party would’ve consisted of her and me on the couch eating junk food, which we did all the time, she’d conceded.
Harrison had said that he didn’t need one, didn’t want one, and wasn’t going to have one.
He was meeting Beck and Killian at the winery and getting ready in his office. It was big enough and guys had it easy.
Jessica and I were at my house getting ready for when Jim would pick us up. It was the logical place to get ready, but Harrison didn’t want me driving to the winery in my wedding dress. A limo was ridiculous, given the size of our wedding, so Jim had offered. Shannon was at the winery making sure everything was going according to plan. Beck was there too. As our usher, he’d need to get everyone settled before the thing started.
We weren’t doing a bride’s side and a groom’s side because my side would be almost empty compared to Harrison’s. Mine would be the people from work who were coming and a couple of friends whom I’d known a while but didn’t hang out with that much. Harrison had a family. Like actual family beyond just his parents. He had grandparents on both sides who were just precious and he had cousins. Aunts. Uncles. The whole thing.
But I wasn’t thinking about any of them today. I even had been doing a decent job of keeping sad thoughts about my mom away. It was hard, but I was doing it.
“You could surprise Harrison by not wearing underwear,” Jess suggested as she curled my hair. This was not a fancy wedding and I’d decided I didn’t need any fancy hair salon. She was doing my hair and I was doing my own makeup. She’d already done her hair.
“And when I slip on the ice, I can surprise everyone.”
We cackled. It was going to be a great day.
“You know,” she said, “I’m really happy you didn’t bail on the wedding.”
“I wasn’t bailing,” I told her quickly.
“Yeah, you were. But I’m glad he worked his magic on you and it’s still on. I’m so happy for you both.” She gave my shoulders a squeeze. “You two make it seem like this love thing can work out.”
“It can,” I told her. “Of course it can.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t always seem like it.”
I turned to look at her and our eyes locked. “Is there something we need to talk about?”
“Not specifically.”
“Let me know when there is.”
Jessica wouldn’t discuss anything she didn’t want to. There was no sense in pushing her.
Once our hair and makeup were done, we set out to get dressed. I’d shut the curtains to give us the privacy of getting ready in the living room. We could’ve done it in the bedroom or even separately, but neither of us wanted that. The living room gave us great lighting and space.
Jess got dressed first. She’d insisted. Her champagne-colored party dress hugged all of her curves, falling long enough to brush the floor, and if I were a jealous person, I would’ve been jealous of that. But I wasn’t. How she was single right now was beyond me.
For shoes, she’d chosen ones like mine, only dyed to match her dress. For now, she had on slippers.
Then it was my turn. We slipped the strapless dress on and it fit as perfectly as it had at the store. I’d chosen custom-dyed tennis shoes that reminded me of Converses. They’d been white at the bridal shop but had been dyed the same color as my dress. I was going for comfort. We were going to have a small DJ setup in the corner of the room. Tables would be at the one end and there would be room to dance at the other.
The dress alone looked amazing, but I couldn’t wait for Jess to see it with the custom jacket.
“How’s this thing go on?” she asked.
“Backward,” I explained. “Like you usually put your arms in and button up the front, this one buttons in the back.”
“On it.”
I slipped my arms in, then she went around to do up all the buttons. Harrison was going to have a good time with those later.
Now it was the moment of truth. Harrison had brought my mother’s antique full-length mirror down from the bedroom so I could see myself. Actually, he’d done everything he could last night, with some help from me, to get things ready for today. He’d said he didn’t want me moving the heavy fucking thing myself. His words.
“Oh my god,” Jess said. When I turned toward her, she had a hand over her mouth, but by the stretch of her skin, that mouth was hanging open. “That is amazing.”
“They did a great job, right?” I said. Her eyes were shimmering, but I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to cry at all. This was a happy occasion. No tears.
“They did, but that wasn’t what I was referring to. You’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”
I rolled my eyes. “I feel like you’re biased.”
“I totally am, but Harrison isn’t going to know what hit him.”
She moved around as we started the finishing touches. Pieces of my hair were pinned back on the side, giving me a whimsical look with long, loose curls hanging down my back. I went with natural makeup because I wanted to look like me. Overdoing it would’ve meant I was trying to look like someone else.
The knock on my front door told me that it was time to go and thankfully, we were both ready.
Jim walked through the door without either of us having to go to it. He was wearing a dark gray suit and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he had coordinated with Harrison and Killian.
“Your Uber has arrived,” he said before he saw us. When we came into view he stopped dead. “Luna, you look beautiful. My son is one lucky man.”
My skin heated with embarrassment. “Thank you, but I’m the lucky one.”
He shook his head. “Harrison will disagree with you. Are you two ready? Have anything we need to take?”
“Yes,” Jessica volunteered. “I packed these for any touch-ups and in case either of us needs anything random. Better safe than sorry.” She pointed at the two bags I hadn’t even noticed were there. One was a makeup bag and that I had seen her pack. I just didn’t know she’d set it there. She’d also put in some hair things because a girl can never be too prepared. “Don’t worry,” she said to me. “I just feel better having something in case. No trickery.”
“I agree and I trust you.” This wasn’t a day she’d pull any jokes on anyone.
Jim grabbed both of the bags. “Then let’s get moving. My son has already texted me seven times to make sure I wasn’t late.” His eyes locked with mine. “I’m never late and once we’re in the car, I’ll let him know that you’re with me s
o he’ll leave me alone.”
Jess and I giggled. Then she said, “Maybe he’s just excited.”
“Excited doesn’t cover it.”
My stomach turned in excitement. Harrison wasn’t being coy about how much he wanted today to happen with people other than me. But that was the kind of relationship he had with his parents. I loved it and hoped to be even more a part of it than I already was.
Jess and I carefully traversed the walkway to Jim’s car, a black sedan that I could never remember the make of. His interior was leather that felt like butter as she and I slid in the backseat. Thankfully, Harrison had salted the morning so any ice from overnight had melted away. Still, we were very careful.
“I’m a lucky guy to get to deliver you two today.”
“I appreciate it,” I told him. “I wish Harrison would’ve just let me drive myself so you wouldn’t be troubled.”
“He didn’t want you to have to worry about it,” he told me right away. “Not that you couldn’t; it was just another thing he could take off your plate so you focus on yourself this morning. And it’s no trouble at all.”
It was approaching two o’clock, but I didn’t fear being late. After all, they couldn’t start without me.
“You’ve raised a good son,” I told him quietly.
Jim nodded. “My hope for you is that I raised a good husband.”
“Trust me, Mr. Flynn,” Jessica told him. “He’ll be the best. I’ve never seen anyone as devoted to a person as Harrison is to Luna.”
“Good to hear.”
But I quickly said, “OK, both of you have to stop. I’m not crying today.”
They broke out into a laugh that was too contagious for me to ignore.
When we pulled up to the front of the winery, a small white tent had been erected at the front door.
“What’s that?” I asked, leaning closer to the window to get a look.
“Oh, Harrison had them put that up so that you could get situated before entering the winery and still be out of the elements.”
“I swear he thinks of everything,” I muttered.
All of Me: A Holiday Bites Novel Page 13
