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“Look,” he said, distracting me from that thought and tightening his arms around the base of my spine. He nodded toward the ocean and the sun was low and setting on the horizon. “My mom even arranged a magnificent sunset to cap off our beautiful day,” he said playfully.
The sun glowed silver against the dusky watercolor shades of blue, purple, and orange as it went down, its reflection casting a wide golden V-shape on the ocean beneath it. The music lyrics and the sunset felt completely synchronized to how contented I felt. I kissed my husband for his thoughtful gestures of love and thanked him again for my perfect wedding day.
The timing of our dance couldn’t have been better arranged, because as we shuffled around cheek to cheek with our bodies flush together, the sun sank in the sky and darkness fell moments after Sawyer struck the last chords of the song. The girls rushed onto the dance floor and hugged us, which had been instigated by Brynn. When Sawyer saw this he expertly diverted them by playing “Girls Like You” by ‘Maroon 5’. The body swerves they made in recognition of the tune were funny when they all left us alone and started to dance.
Leaving James to talk with his father, I made my way over to my family, as I hadn’t had any opportunity to talk with them since the ceremony.
“Whew, getting married is hard work,” I told them, as I plopped myself down at their large round table on the chair nearest to Erin. “Thank you for coming, it means the world to me. No Ryder?” I asked, noting I hadn’t seen him around and wondered if he’d had to work.
“He’s on a shoot somewhere,” she replied, disheartened. The clipped tone in her voice told me there was more to it than that.
“Oh, is he out of town?”
“No, he’s in the city somewhere, but …” she shrugged. “We’re not exclusive.” My heart squeezed, instantly hurt for her, because I’d seen the way she’d looked at him—the way he’d looked at her too, for that matter—and I felt disappointed for her.
“Not exclusive, but you both appeared quite smitten when we were up in Vermont.”
Erin glanced nervously toward Marnie, Franco, and my dad, and I realized I had made her feel uncomfortable discussing her love life in front of them.
“I get it, it’s new. James and I are the last ones to talk about getting serious in those first few months.” I chuckled, playing down what she’d said like it was no big deal in front of everyone, but I knew from the look in her eyes that to her it was.
I caught Billie’s eye and she immediately came over, sensing something was wrong. One glance in Erin’s direction and her perceptive nature told her she needed some privacy. “Lester, as my husband is too busy singing to dance with me and I can’t dance with the bride, you’ll have to do me the honor,” she said, taking his beer glass away from him, setting it down, and pulling my dad to his feet. “You too, soldiers,” she prompted to my sister and her husband. Marnie looked at me and I gave her a pleading smile.
“Right, Mr. Two Left Feet, my toes have just about recovered from our wedding dance, so let’s see if you’ve gained any new moves,” my sister teased.
“If you’d wanted a dancer, you should have married John Travolta or that Patrick guy from that lame dance movie with the tiny chick with the watermelon,” he complained. Billie’s jaw dropped, and she scoffed, clearly shocked that there was anyone left on the planet who wouldn’t have known the movie’s name was Dirty Dancing.
“Stop moaning and break out the moves, lardy boy,” she teased again. Franco stood and snickered because there wasn’t an ounce of fat on her musclebound husband.
“What? I had plenty of moves last night and I didn’t complain once when you moaned,” he informed her.
“All right, TMI, people,” Billie scolded and nodded sideways in my father’s direction.
Taking the hint, they all crossed over the sand to the dancefloor and left Erin and me on our own.
“So want to tell me what’s up?” I probed.
“It’s your wedding day,” Erin replied and shook her head.
“And you’re hurt. You think I’m going to leave the conversation there?”
She shrugged. “He was coming to the wedding up until a couple of days ago. He was supposed to be picking me up, hence why I hadn’t needed a seat in the limo that was arranged from James’ parent’s place.”
“And he cut out because he got work?”
“I guess …” She shrugged helplessly, and I saw she was close to tears. Reaching out I placed my hand over hers in support and she pulled it away. Her reaction stung.
“Don’t or I’ll cry. I appreciate you wanting to comfort me, but I’m not crying here, not on your wedding day.”
I sighed and swallowed roughly. My heart ached because hers hurt. “Listen, I know we’re still new … our … what we are, but I’m here for you. I want to support you—”
“I know, Mom, and you’re not overstepping. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me; I’m a part of you. Nothing you can say would offend me.” My chest tightened at how forgiving she was.
“What does you’re not exclusive mean?” I kept my tone even when in truth, I had wanted to find playboy Ryder and rip his voice box from his throat for using a lame term such as that toward her. She deserved better.
“Can we do this tomorrow … or better still when you get back from your honeymoon?” she pleaded, her dull eyes searching for me to agree.
I had wanted to tell her no, that I needed to know then and there, but it was her life and her issue. I never wanted to make the same mistakes my mother had with me so I respected her wish and went at her pace.
