Dennis bent over to help her pick it up off the ground, his pants giving a painful stretch. “Well, that was hilarious. I guess you are next to get married.” He paled, suddenly realizing the pain his words probably caused.
Elly shrugged. “Don’t feel bad. I don’t think it counts if you make it yourself.” She looked down at the toss bouquet, now strewn over the dance floor.
But she hadn’t made it. This was Snarky Teenager’s work.
Elly wasn’t sure what she was feeling as a popular, jazzy song burst out of the speakers. Then everything went dark in the theater. Elly grabbed Dennis’s shoulder, feeling the momentary intake of breath from the crowd as they wondered what was happening. Had the power gone out? Then the music crescendoed and suddenly, a huge line of swirling stage lights rose up and out from the orchestra pit. Thousands of tiny twinkling lights lit up the ceiling and the walls, and bounced off the mirrored floor. In a moment worthy of the theater that housed them, the entire wedding was now dancing under, in, and on the stars.
“Wow. Wow, wow, wow,” breathed Elly, her tiredness forgotten. She thought she had seen it all, every sort of wedding, but she hadn’t seen this. This was … magic.
Dennis let out a huge laugh. “This is ridiculous! Let’s go!”
Deciding to leave her insecurities about dancing behind, Elly kicked off her terrible shoes and grinned at him. Dennis pulled Elly out into a big twirl in the middle of the dance floor. They raised their hands above their heads, shoulder to shoulder with famous celebrities, and took it all in, feeling the beauty of the night pulse all around them. Elly’s dress twirled around her as she spun, totally losing herself in the moment. As if there hadn’t been enough miracles for one day, chubby Dennis Trager was somehow a totally magnificent dancer, and Elly let him swing her under the stars for at least an hour, happier than she had any right to be as she leaned her head against her brother’s strong shoulder.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was the next day. The cicadas were out early, Elly noted as she made her way to “their” park, as a purple evening sky above her practically burst with life. Dusk was settling in, and all around her, the lavender light and bursts of blue flowers and green grass begged to be painted. It was a bit cloudy, enough that she’d had the foresight to wear a long-sleeved shirt. The wind gusted around her and she was suddenly glad that something—even a shirt—was wrapping her up in its arms. Tonight was going to be painful. A knot in her stomach tightened with each step, and a permanent lump had formed at the back of her throat. Tonight, she would finally say goodbye to Keith, the man she considered to be the love of her life, though that fact was unspoken. This would be like when Aaron left her, only worse. With Aaron, she had seen the outcome, and that she was better off without him and his graceless heart. With Keith, it would be the opposite. She would never know what could have been. He would take his place in her life as a bright star that had dimmed too soon, leaving her in the dark and cold. She believed that Keith had loved her—maybe even still did, though perhaps she was just comforting herself at this point—but that he didn’t love her enough to tell her the truth. As long as he had secrets—whatever he was keeping from her at his home—they could never be together. At least, Elly thought, as she huffed up the final hill toward their secret park, at least she had come to love herself enough that she knew she didn’t deserve that. She deserved a lot of things right now—a water bottle, a trophy for wedding flowers of the year, maybe a piece of cake—and truth from the man she loved was one of them.
Her heart gave a painful clutch. Doing the right thing didn’t make it hurt any less.