wedding day. That told me more than words how important he was in his life.
Just like he wanted me to play a part, that’s what he wanted Anthony to do, too.
My heart ached for him, for the man I thought I knew, for the friend I’d found in him over the year we’d spent together. I stepped forward, wanting to comfort him, but the instinct died as soon as he leveled his cold, hard eyes on me again.
He shook his head, a disgusted look on his face. “After all I did for you, all I could have done for you… you ungrateful bi—”
The curse didn’t even leave his mouth before Noah got his chance to return the favor from Anthony’s sucker punch earlier. His fist landed hard against Anthony’s eye, busting it open as he flew backward, the crowd gasping in horror again.
“Sorry, your warnings are up,” Noah said, shaking out his hand. “Now, if you won’t leave, then we will.” He turned to me, then, offering his arm out for me with a smirk. “I’ve got your getaway car parked out front. What’dya say, Ruby Grace? Want to give this town something to talk about?”
My heart swelled in my chest, and I stepped forward, threading my arm through his as I leaned up and pressed my lips to his.
“Bonnie and Clyde,” I whispered.
“Except a way better ending,” he replied, and then he kissed me again — this time to the tune of four-hundred clapping hands and a frenzy of cheers.
Noah broke the kiss long enough to bend down and scoop me up into his arms, which earned us another loud cheer as I laughed, head back, eyes cast up to the church ceiling. I looked back at the congregation as Noah walked us toward the doors — at my parents, who both had tears in their eyes; my sister, who smiled at me reassuringly, though I knew she was hurt in her own way by what had happened that day; my best friend, who threw her fists into the air in victory; my town, who wore expressions ranging from excitement and scandal to confusion and anger.
And when I found Betty, I smiled, waving and blowing her a kiss.
Thank you, I mouthed.
She just winked, waving me off as the church doors swung open and Noah carried me out into the Tennessee heat.
I didn’t know what came next.
I didn’t know how my father’s debt would be paid, or how Anthony would react once the dust had settled, or where Noah and I would go from here. I didn’t know if my mother would ever forgive me, or if I would ever forgive her. I didn’t know what the future held, but there were two things I knew for sure.
Everything would be okay as long as I had Noah.
And that day was a day that the town of Stratford, Tennessee, would never forget.
Noah
Staring up at the stars my father had made in the tin roof of our treehouse with the weight of Ruby Grace’s head on my chest, I decided there wasn’t a single moment in my life that anything had felt more perfect than it did right now.
I ran my fingers through her long, silky hair, still wavy from the braids I’d unfolded slowly before I slipped her out of her wedding dress. That dress now hung from a limb outside the tree house, and her bare chest rested against my rib cage, her arms wrapped around my middle, legs tangled with mine under the flannel blanket that covered us both where we lay.
The crickets sang a song outside the house, the sound mixing with the smooth, steady breaths Ruby Grace and I exchanged. She drew lazy circles on my chest with her manicured nails, and I could feel the curl of her smile against my chest as I let her hair fall from my fingertips before reaching back down for her scalp to start the trail all over again.
It was a dream.
It had to be.
It didn’t seem real — the church, the wedding — or rather, the not wedding. I wondered if I’d imagined Ruby Grace running toward me in her dress, if I’d dreamed her into my arms now.
But the soreness of my jaw told me that sucker punch from her former fiancé was real. The dozens of missed calls from my family and half the town on my now-dead cell phone told me it had all really happened. Ruby Grace’s hair in my hands, her breasts against my