blew out a breath and laughed. “Tough act to follow.”
“Except the whole sex thing,” I said quietly.
She laughed and nodded. “Except for that.” She took a deep breath and looked up at me, and I could swear this was real for her too. “Robert, when we were kids, you were the one thing that I looked forward to. You were my best friend and my savior. You were the one I waited for every night, to pull me out of the hell I was in. And when everything fell apart, as much as I tried, I could never hate you. I wanted to, but there was always a part of me that hoped our story wasn’t over. And then you were there one day, just as I remembered you, only slightly more refined. You stepped back into my life and made me remember all the reasons I fell in love with you. Only this time, we’re older and wiser. I know what I want now, and it’s you. It’ll always be you.”
God, I hoped she meant that. The rest of the ceremony was a fog as I kept replaying her words in my head. I slid the ring on her finger, wishing it was one I was giving her and not another fake ring. When the minister pronounced us man and wife, I pulled her in and kissed her like it was our wedding day.
“I meant every word,” I whispered in her ear. “Every damn word.”
I stepped back and looked into her tear-filled eyes and smiled. It may not really be our wedding day, but I would never forget the way she looked right now. But she was wrong about one thing, I wasn’t the one saving her. She saved me from a meaningless existence. Without her, I would still be miserable and alone. I prayed that I would never have to feel that way again.
I glanced down and almost started laughing when I noticed a tissue peeking out the top of her dress. She glanced down with wide eyes and pulled it up, discreetly, like she had hidden it there in case she needed a tissue. She dabbed at her eyes and laughed.
“Nice save.”
“Thank God I hadn’t put pads in there. How would I have explained that to everyone?”
When we finally turned to the crowd, I smiled, squeezing her hand tight in mine. We took our first steps as fake husband and wife, shaking hands of everyone that came to celebrate Kat and Eric’s wedding. It was weird, but no one gave us up.
“Anna!” Rebecca smiled, stepping slightly into the aisle to give her a hug. “You should have told me your dress didn’t fit. I would have found a designer for you.”
“Oh,” Anna laughed. “I actually had a different dress, but it had spots all over when I opened the dress bag this morning. This is my soon to be sister-in-law’s dress. She lent it to me since I didn’t have anything at the last minute.”
Rebecca quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. She just smiled and nodded. I held Anna’s hand tighter, hoping that Rebecca just went along with all this. We just had to make it through the rest of the day.
When we reached the porch steps, Anna was practically sweating despite the cold. “Do you think we pulled it off?”
“I think so, but I have no idea how long she’s planning to stay.”
“I need to change out of this dress. The tissues are starting to come out.”
I wrapped her up in my arms, smiling down at her. “Thank you for doing this.”
“You know I would do anything for you.”
My face grew serious as I stared at her. “But I wanted this day to mean something. I wanted it to be real.”
“Robert-“
“Someday, Anna, this will be real. I’ll get down on one knee and ask you to marry me. And when we say our vows, it’ll be forever.”
She cupped my cheek in her hand, blinking back the tears from her eyes, then kissed me and turned to go inside to change. I hoped she felt the same way, because I wouldn’t wait too much longer to make her mine officially.
Anna
Everyone was finally gone. My feet were killing me and my face hurt from all the smiling. I was super aware the whole time of where Rebecca was. She talked with all the town’s people, and Robert and I kept exchanging looks, wondering if someone was going to give us up. It was exhausting. Robert even put