“No.”
The way he was staring at me made my heart race. I swore it was beating so loudly that he could hear it. “Then when were you thinking?”
He smiled up at me. “I asked you first, baby. When do you want to get married?”
“Well, I heard the fall is a great time for a wedding.” At least, that’s what Justin had said. And I trusted him.
“It’s fall right now,” Matt said.
“Is it?” I laughed as he tickled my side. “Stop it!”
Somehow I wound up beneath him, his body pressed against mine.
“The fall is pretty busy with school and football practice,” he said.
True. Justin acted like my fairy godmother, but I wasn’t sure he actually had magical powers. A fall wedding would have to wait for a long time. “Which is why you do want to wait till after college?”
He shook his head. “I was thinking more of a winter wedding.”
“The winter after we graduate from college?”
He laughed. “No. This winter. We could do it during Christmas break. And if we do it at the start of break, then we’ll even have time for a honeymoon.” He smiled down at me.
I couldn’t help but smile back. “This winter? Is that really what you want?”
“No, I want to marry you in Vegas tomorrow.” He leaned down and kissed the side of my neck. “But I can wait till the winter if that’s what you want.” His kisses slowly trailed down my neck. “I like the idea of you in a white dress saying I do.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.” He lightly nipped at my earlobe.
“Okay. Let’s do it this winter.” A fall wedding may have been Justin’s dream, but it wasn’t mine. I didn’t care what season I married Matt. I just wanted to marry him. And now I was already picturing snow in our wedding pictures.
He kissed me slowly. “I’ll make sure you have the wedding of your dreams. But the only thing I really care about is having you.”
Something about the way he said it reminded me of James’ fears about Rachel just wanting to be with him for his money. And I needed Matt to know that he didn’t need to ever doubt me. “Matt?” I grabbed both sides of his face so he’d be looking down at me. “I love you. For you. I know you can give me the wedding of my dreams and everything I could possibly ask for, but I don’t want you to ever think that’s why I want you.”
He let his forehead drop to mine. “I know. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t need it. I’m going to give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”
***
As far as I was concerned, we were never leaving this bed.
Matt had breakfast sent up and I’d been lazily brainstorming ideas for our wedding in the journal I was supposed to be using to track my panic attacks.
“How many bridesmaids do you want?” he asked.
“Well, Kennedy of course. What about you? How many groomsmen?”
“I’ll just ask Mason.”
I stared at him. He couldn’t just ask Mason. James and Rob were his best friends too. He needed to make up with them before our wedding or he’d always regret it.
“Actually, there’s a girl that’s always nice to me in my English class,” I said. There wasn’t. “Maybe I’ll ask her too. And I could always ask Justin. I think he’d say yes. So I actually want three. Who will your other two be? It would look silly if it wasn’t even.”
“I can ask Brett and Jason.”
“Who are Brett and Jason?”
“A couple of my football friends. They danced with me on the homecoming float when I was serenading you.”
I laughed. “Really? Brett and Jason? There aren’t two other people you want to ask? Two more important people in your life?”
“Nah. Can’t think of anyone.”
Come on. “Actually, I want two more, I think. So you’ll need to choose two more too.”
“I’ll ask Jeff and Mike too then.”
What? Who even are these people? I set the notebook down. “Two more.”
“Brooklyn…”
“You have to make up with the Hunters, Matt. They’re your best friends. Not Brett and whoever.”
“Brett, Jason, Jeff, and Mike didn’t kiss you though. And they don’t think I’m a liar.”
“You can’t have a wedding without your best friends by your side.”
“The last time I checked, the only person I really need there is my girl.”
Darn him and his stupid charming smile. “You’re really not going to try to make things right with them?”
“I’ve apologized to James a dozen times, Brooklyn. For something that I didn’t even do. I tried to make things right. I don’t know what else I could have done. You’re making it seem like I don’t care, but this is on them. I didn’t cut them out of my life. They cut me and Mason out.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But after all those things you confessed to me about James’ problems…aren’t you ever worried about him?”
“Of course I’m worried about him. But what can I do if he won’t even talk to me?”
That was a fair point.
“It’s really sweet that you care about this, Brooklyn. But I’m done caring. I just want to know you have my back. That you believe I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Well, technically he did do something wrong. He should have told James what happened right away. But I got why Matt kept it a secret. He was trying to protect James, not hurt him. Matt was a good person. And I needed to stop worrying about the Hunters and start focusing on the man right in front of me. Marriage meant sticking up for each other.
As soon as I had a minute, I’d text Rob and tell him the prank was off. I wouldn’t talk to Rob or James again until they made things right with the Caldwells. It wasn’t really my fault that they weren’t friends anymore. I was done meddling. I just wanted to be happy with Matt.
And I didn’t need revenge against Isabella anymore. I didn’t need to worry about fitting in. Because I already found my place. Right here.
I snuggled into Matt’s side. “I do believe you. And I’ll always have your back. Now that you mention it, I think I do just want one bridesmaid. So maybe just Mason for you then?”