The Wedding Contract

Chapter 10





I linger at the dinner long after everyone else is gone. It’s part of evading my mother—The Plan. It sounds more dramatic that way and? since she makes everything dramatic, it suits her. She left with the rest of the guests a while ago. I said I was lingering to check lighting conditions in the chapel and outside. It’s a total lie, but I don’t want to go back to the room yet either. Nick gets under my skin so badly I want to burn him off. Ferro brat.

I wander out of the main building. The grounds of the hotel are sprawling. They take up a good chunk of the island. Since the sun has set, and there are only scattered landscaping lights, it’s pretty dark. I’m not concerned—not the way I would be in the city. Walking through Manhattan’s streets after midnight, alone, loaded with gear is stupid. I currently have over two grand worth of camera stuff on my body. And that’s my new net worth: whatever’s on my body. I don’t know how to tell Amy that I’m going to need to let her go. Oh, God, I’m going to have to let Amy go.

The salty air blows gently across my cheeks, lifting my hair, and I wish time could freeze. I’d live out here if I could. Places like Shelter Island resemble little coastal towns from a hundred years ago, but with modern luxuries.


As I walk along the gravel path toward the chapel, I look for good places to shoot Steve and Sophie. What I really want are pictures of them down by the water, on the rocks, with the sea spray around them. I could take the photo at night and use the moon as a rim light, so that it illuminates their outline ever so slightly. It’d be so romantic, but it’s also certain to trash her dress. I have some brides that like the idea of messing up their gown for a cool picture, but Sophie isn’t one of them.

I press the eyepiece to my face and snap the shot. When I pull the camera away, I can tell how beautiful it would be. It’s the kind of picture that is the memory. Everyone would want it. It’s packed with emotion and has so much vivid detail it’s hard not to feel the spray of the sea on your skin or smell the salty water.

I walk over to the massive boulders along the shore, climb to the top of the slick rock, and sit down. The night breeze is cool and feels good against my flesh. It was so stuffy inside that my shirt is still sticking to my back.

Tipping my head back, I glance up at the stars, wishing that I could fly away. I never grew up. I still hope and dream for things that aren’t within my reach. I don’t want to accept the life my mother tries to shove down my throat over and over again. I want to live by the seat of my pants and build my life my way, on my terms, not hers.

Speak of the devil. In the silence of the night, my phone blares the Imperial Death March. I don’t bother answering. This is a perfect spot and I’m not tarnishing it with the memory of her chiding voice. Aiming my camera at the bay, I rest it against my knee and change the shutter speed. It’s insanely slow now. I line up the shot and press the button. The responding click of the shutter is slow to come, and I’m careful not to move. I have the reputation for having a super steady hand. A shot turns blurry for most people around 1/80th of a second. I can hand hold a camera at 1/10th of a second. The shutter stays open longer, allowing in more light. Though it appears to be pitch black, the sensor will pick up the subtle light lining the top of the waves, edging the soft clouds and emitting from scattered stars. I wish I could get Sophie out here.

The shutter clicks, completing the exposure before he speaks. “Hey SB. What are you doing out here all alone? Don’t you have any sense? You could slip into the water and never be seen again.” Nick climbs up next to me and leans toward me, resting all his weight on one leg.

“SB?”

“Slutty bridesmaid.”

I work my jaw before I speak. “I’m going to kill you. I’ll push you in, I swear I will.”

He grins and holds up his palms in surrender. “No reason to threaten me. If you want me to go, I’ll go.”

“Then go.” My voice is stern. I don’t look at him as he stands. I expect him to walk away, but he doesn’t. Instead, Nick kicks off his shoes and darts past me, diving from the edge of the rock into the water below.

I scream and lean over the side of the rock edge with my camera dangling around my neck. Nick emerges from darkness, sheets of water pouring from his face. Taking his hands, he pushes his hair back and laughs.

I can’t help it, I scream. A lot. “You stupid son of a bitch! You scared me! I thought you—”

Nick laughs. “Since when do you care? I believe your exact words were go jump off a cliff.” He’s treading water below.

“They were not! I said go, not jump, you idiot.” After my heart resumes a normal pace I give him a half-smile and wonder why he did it.

“To make you loosen up,” he answers as if he were a mind reader. “Come in.”

“Psh, no. I don’t think so.” I look away and shake my head.

“Ah,” he nods. “Too prude. I get it.”

“How am I too prude if you nicknamed me SB?”

Shrugging, he disappears beneath the water. After a second, he comes up again and laughs. “It’s warm, SB. Come on. You’ll have fun.”

I hesitate. Part of me wants to jump in—it’s the same crazy part that thinks Neverland is real and believes fairies really do exist. They must, somewhere. But I hear my mother’s voice and know that I should get back to Sophie. She wanted to talk to me. “Sorry, Ferro. You’ll have to be crazy all by yourself.” I smirk at him and unhook my camera from my neck. I’ve just set it down and am fishing for the lens cap in my dress pocket, when I feel his fingers wrap around my ankle.

“Don’t you dare.” I try to dig my heel in, but it’s too late. Nick already tugged. I fall, feet first, and plunge into icy cold water. When I come up gasping, he’s next to me. I screech and punch his shoulder. “You a*shole! You said it was warm!”

Nick’s laughing, watching me like I’m a mermaid about to disappear. “If I had told you it was freezing you would never have come in.”

“I didn’t come in! You pulled me in!”

“Same difference.” He shrugs, and takes my hands, pulling me away from the rock. “Can you swim?”

“I’d be dead if I couldn’t.” The hem of my dress keeps floating up and I’m wearing a G-string. It’s cute and black and matches my bra, but I don’t want him to see it. The further out we swim, the closer we get to the patch of moonlight. “Nick, wait.”

“We’re almost there. I want to show you something.”

I humor him and follow, half treading water and half pulling my dress down as it floats up to my boobs. Nick notices, but averts his eyes, which surprises me. Tugging my wrist, he pulls me to the center of the reflection of the moon on the water. “Look at the shore.”

When I turn back, I gasp. It’s the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. Although I’ve been here many times as a child, Sophie and I never came out here at night. We weren’t allowed to wander from the shore. As I move my arms back and forth over the top of the water, I gaze at the hotel and the rocks bathed in the palest moonlight you’ve ever seen. It looks like a painting. The way the soft light glitters off the water makes me think of old fairy tales and happier times.

My teeth chatter louder the longer we’re there. Nick waits a moment and then adds, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get Sophie and Steven out here.”

“Yeah, but she won’t come. She doesn’t want to ruin her dress.”

“And here you are, in a beautiful dress and up to your neck in water.”

I glance at him for a second and tuck my damp hair behind my ear. “We’re not the same. I like this kind of thing and the memory that it makes is priceless. She doesn’t really get it, you know? There are some things that only come once in a lifetime, some places that are so pristine they seem like magic.” I smile wistfully. Shelter Island was my Neverland. This place was where I was a girl with no worries, where I slipped away from reality to be myself for a while.

Nick nods, as if he understands, but I doubt it. I shiver again and when he turns, our eyes lock. My stomach flips when he looks at me like that. The pull to his mouth is so hard, it’s as if we’re connected. Our bodies move closer as his lashes lower. His beautiful blue eyes fixate on my lips, drifting closer and closer, he tips his head to the side for a kiss.

One kiss. It won’t hurt anything. It means nothing.

His warm breath washes over my face and it aches to not close the gap between us. I want this, but I won’t do it. I can’t. He’s the enemy. I’d be a traitor to myself if I let him in. There can never be anything between us, ever. That’s just the way it is.


Just before our lips touch, I tuck my head and the kiss misses. Nick presses his lips together and inhales hard, while I fish something out of my pocket. It’s been there, in my pocket, since the first time I came to Shelter Island. I grab the little piece of metal attached to a necklace, take his hand, press it into his palm, and close his fingers around it. “This is the only kiss you’re getting from me.”

It’s symbolic to me. I’ve worn that thing forever, but I need to stop dreaming. It’s time for things to change. As I start to swim back to the rock, he looks down into his hand and sees an old thimble.

This island was my Neverland and everything about it offered freedom—at least, every visit until now. Now, it’s time to grow up, Sky. It’s time to make my own magic.

In order to survive, Nick and I can’t be friends. I have to make sure he’s not at that rehearsal tomorrow.