Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,114

He climbed out of the water and put his hand out for me. "Give me your hand. I promise I won't let go."

I put my hand in his. I was finally ready to live again.

Epilogue

Rob

My phone buzzed in my pocket. The conversation died around me when I saw Daphne's name flash across the screen. Finally. I thought she'd be here by now. I walked over toward the windows to get farther away from the party as I answered my phone. "Hey, gorgeous. Where are you?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes. My taxi got stuck in traffic."

I'd just spent a whole week alone with her. Getting to know every inch of her body. All her nervous ticks. Especially the way her voice hitched when she wasn't being completely honest during all our truth or dare nights. "Traffic, huh?"

She laughed. "Fine, you caught me. I delayed leaving my apartment for the longest time. Are you sure it's okay that I'm coming? It's their rehearsal dinner. That’s a hugely important event in their lives. And I wasn't really invited..."

"Daphne, James specifically told me I could invite you. You’re my plus one." Now. And for forever.

"But what about Penny? I don't want to impose on..."

"She's going to be thrilled to meet you." I glanced at Penny and James talking to the caterers. Penny was going to love Daphne. "What kind of best man would I be if I invited someone to the rehearsal dinner that wasn't wanted?"

"A pretty bad one," she said with a laugh. "Speaking of which...did you finally finish your list?"

I had a pretty long to-do list regarding the wedding. Nothing that James and Penny necessarily requested for me to do. But as the best man...things that I needed to do. "Checked off everything and then double-checked it."

"Hmm...so all the tuxes have arrived?"

"Check."

"What about the rings? Have you lost them yet?"

I laughed. "Of course not."

"And no one's going to crash the wedding?"

I thought about Isabella, James' ex-wife. And all she'd done to try to ruin this wedding already. But the security team was well aware of her. She wouldn't be getting anywhere near this wedding. "It's all taken care of."

"Well that's good. I went to a wedding once where the priest said, 'Speak now or forever hold your peace,' and someone actually spoke. I thought stuff like that only happened in movies. The bride ended up running off with the guy. It was a complete mess."

Oh. Fuck. "Daphne, I have to go."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just gotta make a quick call. See you in a few minutes." I hung up before she could respond. Because there was one thing that hadn't made it onto my list. At least...one person. A certain person that James had recently gotten into a fistfight with. And there was no telling what kind of shit he might be planning. I pressed on Tyler's name in my cell. It rang a few times before he picked up.

"Hey, Rob."

"Tyler."

The awkward silence stretched between us. I knew I was the one that called and should be talking. But I was hoping he'd just confess to whatever dumb thing he was about to do.

"Don't you have a rehearsal dinner to get to?" Tyler asked. "Best man duties and all that?"

I looked out the window at the wedding venue in the distance. Part of me expected to see him setting fire to the big tree outside the restaurant. "That's why I'm calling. Best man duties, just like you said."

"Okay..."

"I heard you went to see Penny." I couldn’t believe I almost didn't check in with him. My list of silly best man duties had gotten in the way of what mattered. And I knew that Tyler loved Penny. He'd been in love with her for years. And he was about to lose her for good. Desperate times called for desperate wedding destroying measures.

"Yup," Tyler said.

"Care to share what you two lovebirds were talking about?"

"Lovebirds? Really? Look, Rob, as riveting as this conversation is...I'm in the middle of dinner."

"Then let me cut to the chase. Did you or did you not try to break Penny and James up this morning? You know…the day before they're supposed to walk down the aisle?"

He didn't respond.

"What the fuck, Tyler?"

"The fact that your brother punched me in the face kinda hinted at the fact that they were already broken up. And since everyone blamed me anyway...yeah I went to go see her. I needed to see if she was okay."

"No, you went to try to convince her

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