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But she wasn’t smiling forme.
“You’re here!” she exclaimed, her voice just a little breathless.
And then I watched as this gorgeous woman I had every intention of hitting on, launched herself into another man’s arms.
Shock reverberated to my core as he hugged her back and kissed her. Really kissed her. Like he would devour her before all of my sister’s wedding guests.
It felt like a sucker punch to the gut.
“Oh, this is Oliver, by the way,” she beamed, when they finally managed to slightly detach from each other. “Elle’s older brother.”
I could have added a lot more to that introduction, but I didn’t.
Amanda was right. It had been a long time and even if I was extremely attracted to her right now, we both led very different lives. She loved her home here, and I ran a very successful practice in London.
In fact, I shouldn’t have been surprised that she had a boyfriend. She was an exceptional human being.
“Hi, I’m Dan,” the boyfriend introduced himself.
I took the hand he offered and shook it. “Oliver.” And then I said the dumbest thing, “Your pulse doesn’t feel right.”
Amanda and her boyfriend blinked at me.
“I said,” I clarified. “His pulse doesn’t feel right. It’s beating erratically.”
They looked at each other like I had gone nuts—which was probably also true—before he laughed uneasily. “Maybe because I rushed over because I was so excited to see Amanda.”
Amanda smiled at him and I turned away because I didn’t like seeing her look at him like he hung the moon and the stars in her sky.
Luckily, Julian interrupted what was going to be a very awkward conversation. His gaze flickered between me and Amanda a couple of times before he turned to me.
“Hey, man, it’s time for your speech.”
I had almost forgotten that I was supposed to give a speech for the bride, being her older brother and all. I nodded and moved to take out the speech I had prepared on a slip of paper.
Except that it wasn’t in my pocket.
“Crap, I lost the speech,” I cursed. “I must have dropped it somewhere.”
Julian looked horrified for a moment. “I don’t know. Elle would kill you if you didn’t do it. Maybe you should just wing it.”
I grimaced. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
He shook his head somberly at me.
I took a deep breath and prayed to God I would get out of this whole mess alive as I walked towards the microphone, cursing my bad luck.
“Twenty-eight years ago,” I began, trying my best to remember the speech I had written. “My sister, Elle, was born. I was three years old then, and when they brought her home, I remembered thinking I had never seen a more horrible creature in my whole life.”
The crowd burst into laughter, and Elle glared at me from where she sat. Mom looked like she could hurl a geode at me anytime soon.
“Over the next couple of weeks, she peed, she pooped, and she made the most godawful sounds you could imagine,” I continued. “I was convinced that Elle was not a baby—she was a monster—and when she grew up, she did everything she could to prove I was correct.”
I glanced at my sister and saw her mouth, “I’m going to kill you.”
I raised my glass at her and blabbered on, “You see, from the time she was born, my little sister set out to do her utmost to ruin my life in every way, and she got away with it every single time becauseI loved her. I loved her so much that I was willing to risk my sanity coming back to see her get married becausethat, my good people, was something I never thought I’d live to see.” I turned to her and saw the oddest mixture of reactions on her face. Like she couldn’t decide between homicide and hugging me. “Sis, I wish you all the best in this world, and to Gavin—good luck, man. You’re going to need it.”
It wasn’t the best speech I had ever made, but it was by far, the mosthonestone.
