Page 394 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

She glances back at me.

"Jamie?"

"Sorry."

Her smile grows. "You forgot how buttons work?"

"I forgot how words work."

Color warms her cheeks.

"So..."

"So?"

"Are you going to help your wife?"

My wife. I don't think those two words will ever stop affecting me.

I step behind her, my fingers find the first tiny pearl button at the top of her dress.

Deliberately. Carefully. Unhurriedly.

One by one...I begin setting her free from the longest, happiest day of our lives.

The first pearl button slips free beneath my fingers.

Then the second.

Then the third.

I work slowly, partly because they're impossibly small...

...and partly because I don't want to rush a single moment of today.

Annette stands perfectly still in front of me, one hand gathering the thick waves of her hair over her shoulder.

"I had no idea there were this many buttons," I murmur.

She smiles without turning around.

"I did."

"You still bought the dress."

"It was the dress."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"I would've bought it too."

A soft laugh escapes her. "Even knowing you'd be the one undoing all these?"

"I would've considered them an investment."

She laughs again, shaking her head. "You are unbelievably smooth for a hockey player."