Always the picture of grace under pressure, she looks unflappable as she heads to the mic. Tiny white twinkle lights illuminate her flawless face. She licks her lips before she starts speaking, and I think back to the first time we sang together. She licked her lips then, too, and it drove me mad.
As she toasts her best friends, I remember the first ten beautiful days we spent together. We did everything backwards—fell in love first, and learned about each other after. But, it allowed us to fall in love all over again. Who am I kidding? I never fell out of love with her. Those several weeks when she was working at my office were the worst in my life. She didn’t want me. Worst of all, she wanted someone else. Every single day, my love for her grew stronger, until it exploded in anger and frustration after the Coldplay concert. That whole night was a fucking disaster—by all accounts neither one of us should have spoken to the other after that. But we did. Because we have each other. Deep in our souls, we have each other.
“So, Josh and Mon, Mr. and Mrs. Dixon, my toast to you is that you spend a thousand lifetimes in your perfect love song. To Josh and Monica.” She raises her glass and looks between me and Josh and Monica as we all toast the newlyweds.
Finally, we get to dance. The first song is upbeat, designed to get everyone on the dance floor. Josh, Monica, Ember, and I all dance and laugh together, bumping hips and jumping around like idiots. Happy idiots.
“So, Bo,” Josh says as we hit up the bar, “what do you have planned for Ember’s birthday?”
“When is it?” I ask, taking my beer from the bartender.
He raises his eyebrows. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Uh, no. When is it? I don’t want to screw it up.”
“Tomorrow, you rat’s ass. Her birthday is November fourteenth.”
Shit.
“Thanks for the heads up, Bro.”
“Ha,” he chuckles, “it’s the least I can do.
A few minutes later, a slow song comes on, and Josh and I find our ladies on the dance floor.
“Dance with me?” I ask, extending my hand.
“Always.” She smiles.
Her lavender scent radiates off her skin. I bury my nose in her hair and take a deep breath. “You always smell amazing, you know that?”
“Stop making me blush. I don’t blush,” she teases. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“OK, shoot.”
“The week after the happy couple gets back from their honeymoon, I’m taking two weeks to go visit my parents in San Diego. Would it be crazy of me to ask you to come? I want you to come. I haven’t seen my parents in a few months, but I haven’t really seen you in a few months either, if you think about it. Come with me to San Diego.” She laughs at herself for rambling. I love when she rambles.
“Of course I’ll go with you to San Diego.” It’s a no-brainer. I don’t want to leave this woman for a second. This past week was brutal.
“Really?” Her face lights up. I love when I’m responsible for that.
“Really. It’ll be my birthday present to you.”
Her jaw drops. “How do you know when my birthday is?”
I look over my shoulder to Josh and Mon, who are grinning at us. Ember and I say, “Josh” at the same time and fall into a fit of laughter.
Deep in our souls, we have each other.
*
Ember
“Crap, she’s doing the bouquet toss, come with me.” I take Bo’s hand and lead him out of the reception room, Monica shaking her head sarcastically as I run by her.
“What was that about?” Bo laughs as we run into the cold November air.
“Long story. So, you’re sure you can come to San Diego with me? Or, that you want to?” I rub my hands over my arms for warmth. In a chivalrous moment, Bo takes off his black suit coat and wraps it around my shoulders.
“Of course I want to. I want to get to know your parents.” He hugs me close and I breathe in his scent.
“I want you to know them. And I want them to know you.”
Bo’s voice sounds a little further away. “My parents would have loved you.”
“Yeah?” I untuck my head from beneath his chin and meet his glistening eyes. “What were they like, Bo?”
Bo drapes his hand over the back of my head and nudges it back to his chest before continuing.
“My dad was...stern with me. He loved me a lot, and I loved him. He wanted the best for me and wanted me to be the best at everything. Rae was the one who melted his heart.” A smile overcomes his voice. “I really hope to be like him someday.”
“And your mom?”
Bo takes a deep breath, and for a second I think he won’t say anything. “Man, did my dad love her. Fiercely. She was quiet, but strong. She would come in my room at night in high school, after she knew I should have been asleep, and tell me to put the books down. She would turn off my light and pull the covers over me after I climbed into bed. She smelled like vanilla ...” Bo trails off and looks into the distance.
“I think I would have really loved them, too.” I say into his shoulder.
I don’t know the moment it happened, but here we are, out in the cold holding onto each other, swaying to music decades in the making between us. Music no one else can hear.
Chapter Forty-One