Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Once they finished that song, the choir started singing Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors,” and everyone turned back to the door in anticipation. A moment later, JoJo stepped outside, looking as ethereal as an angel and carrying a bouquet of dark red roses tied with streaming red ribbons.
She was positively beaming as she tilted her face up to the rain. Then she stepped out of her high heels and hiked up her skirt to her knees, revealing a rainbow of tulle petticoats underneath. When she jumped off the two steps, landing barefoot in a puddle with a big splash, everyone cheered and applauded.
Then she didn’t walk down the aisle. She danced, and skipped, and twirled, while the most amazing thing happened. All the wedding guests and Yolanda began singing along with the choir, serenading the beautiful bride and paying tribute to the very long road she’d traveled to get here.
Yolanda held out her arms, and JoJo ran the last few steps and grabbed her in an embrace. As they kissed passionately, I glanced at Lucky. He had tears in his eyes. I tilted his chin toward me and kissed him gently. When he smiled at me, my heart felt so full.
The ceremony was just as beautiful as the moments leading up to it. Yolanda and JoJo pledged to love each other forever and exchanged vows they’d written themselves. When Muriel pronounced them married, they kissed again while everyone applauded, and then the couple ran hand-in-hand back down the aisle and into the house. The choir followed, singing a gorgeous version of “Higher Love.”
While most of the guests went back inside, Owen started squirming, so we went in the opposite direction. I put him down near the glowing rainbow arch, and he began splashing in the puddles and shrieking with delight, like he’d just invented the best game ever.
I took over holding the umbrella while Lucky wrapped his arms around me and said, “I’m so glad I got to experience this with you.”
“Me, too.”
“You know, you were wrong about something earlier, though.”
“Oh yeah? What was I wrong about?”
“You told Eliot’s friend I wasn’t your boyfriend. Clearly, you were mistaken.”
I grinned at him and asked, “Is that a fact?”
“Yup.”
“Okay. Good to know.” Music started playing inside the house, and I said, “Dance with me.”
“I’d love to.”
I folded up the umbrella and set it aside, and we wrapped our arms around each other and began swaying to the music. “I wanted to ask you to come with me,” he said, after a while. “To Miami, I mean. But I would never make you choose between me and your family, because that’s not fair. The more time I spend here, in this house and with these people, the more I realize it’s where you and your son belong. But I’m fully committed to making a long distance relationship work, so please tell me you want that, too.”
“I want you any way I can have you. If that means doing the long distance thing, then I’ll take it.”
“I’ll fly in every weekend. I already told my dad I refuse to work seven days a week, just because he does. That means we can still have our Saturday nights, and then I’ll fly back on Sundays,” he said.
“That sounds exhausting.”
He shook his head and smiled at me, as the rain soaked his hair and ran down his handsome face. “I’ll be fine.”
“I can’t believe you’d do that for me.”
“I’d do anything for you, mi amor.”
He spun me under our joined hands and pulled me close. We kept dancing in the rain while Owen splashed and frolicked and acted like this was the best day ever. In fact, maybe it was.
The wedding reception turned into a fun, upbeat house party that went on long into the night. Owen conked out around his usual time, and Lucky and I went on celebrating with our friends until about one a.m., when I finally had to admit I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
I found him one of my oversize t-shirts and some loose-fitting gym shorts to sleep in, and we curled up together in bed. The rain was still coming down outside, and as he held me in his arms I whispered, “This is the coziest I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
I couldn’t see him because my head was on his chest, but when he said, “Same,” I could hear the smile in his voice.
He drifted off soon after, but it turned out I was too wound up to fall asleep right away. Instead, I thought back over this remarkable day, when my friends got married and everything changed between Lucky and me.
It went beyond calling him my boyfriend. It even went beyond committing to a long-distance relationship. This thing between us just felt different, somehow—deeper and stronger.
I’d been so afraid of getting attached to him, not when I found out he was leaving, but when I started to realize just how much he meant to me. Gradually though, I’d managed to let go of that fear. And now, there was no denying the fact that I was falling totally in love with him.