Meeting Mr. Wright

by Cassie Cross

  “Do you want to get out of here?” I ask.

  “Yes,” he says softly, resting his hand on the small of my back as he leads me over to where Gabby and Ben are standing so that we can say goodnight. I hug the two of them and tell Gabby I’ll see her first thing in the morning, ignoring the smug look on her face when Nate twines his fingers with mine as we turn and make our way across the yard.

  He rubs slow circles on the back of my hand as I follow him into his room, where he turns on the lights and gently shuts the door behind us. He presses a soft, lingering kiss to my lips as I reach up and loosen his tie, slipping it from around his neck and letting it fall into a puddle on the floor. We both work on undoing the buttons on his shirt and once that’s off, I fumble with the zipper on his pants. Once’s he’s finally naked, he makes quick work of my dress, sliding it off of my shoulders until it falls at my feet. Nate unclasps my bra and I pull down my panties, and then he skims one hand across my breast and down to my hip as he walks me backwards to the bed.

  Nate sits in the center of the mattress and I make myself comfortable between his crossed legs, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Each beat of my frenzied heart pushes me closer to him, and every last nerve in my body is pulsing with want for him. He must feel the same about me if the hardness against my thigh is any indication, but we take our time and just kiss each other. Just hold each other. Just be.

  We spend most of the night wrapped around each other. Sometimes we doze, sometimes we touch. Sometimes my back is pressed against Nate’s chest and his lips are warm on my neck and he presses his palm against my thigh, opening me up to him, and I sigh as he slips inside of me like it’s where he’s always belonged. There’s nothing frenzied about it; it’s slow and purposeful, like neither one of us are chasing any kind of pleasure other than the kind that comes from just being together. We spend all night learning each other’s bodies, both by taste and by touch.

  Very early in the morning, when we’re both quiet and still, I don’t waste time thinking about the inevitable destruction of my already broken heart. I’m just happy to hold Nate and be held by him, for however long it lasts.

  GABBY STARES out of the French doors in the Wrights’ living room, watching the crowd of friends and family taking their seats in the backyard. She’s so beautiful with her perfectly styled hair and lovely dress that it’s actually difficult for me to look at her. She’s as radiant as the sun; as blindingly bright and warm. I walk over to her, holding her bouquet in my right hand and mine in my left.

  “Last chance for us to make a clean getaway,” I say, shifting the flowers in my hands so that I can smooth out her veil. “I’ll knock out Jasmine and Shelby, and we’ll get at least a fifteen minute head start.”

  “You wish you could knock me out, Kirkpatrick,” Jasmine teases, the hint of a challenge behind her eyes.

  “All I want is to be down at that altar.” Gabby looks at me with a gleam in her eyes, and I can see how sure she is about what it is that she’s about to do. “I want to be his wife.”

  I want to be that sure about something for the rest of my life.

  There’s a floor length mirror to the side of the door, and I take a look at my reflection. I look as pretty as I feel in this pale pink chiffon dress with my hair falling across my shoulders in sculpted curls because it just didn’t want to behave for the hairdresser this morning. The dress falls to just below my knees, and I like the way the shimmering strappy heels I’m wearing make my legs look.

  “Are you about done primping for your boyfriend out there?” Shelby asks, arching her brow as she shoots me a disapproving glance. “Gab’s getting married in five minutes, and you’ve seen her with Ben. This one’s gonna stick, so you won’t get another chance to see her in a wedding dress.”

  I stick my tongue out at her and she smiles. I try not to be too obvious about the way I stand on my tiptoes and look out the window to find Nate. My stomach does a cute little flip when I see him, looking so handsome in his light gray suit.

  “Are you ladies ready? It’s time,” Amy’s friend Diane says as she pulls open the doors.

  The murmur of the crowd quiets as a trio of violins start playing. Shelby squares her shoulders and steps out onto the patio. Jasmine takes her place in the doorway, ready to go next. I hand Gabby her bouquet, and she wraps her fingers around mine, giving them a gentle squeeze. There are tears brimming in her eyes—the happiest kind—as she gives me a knowing smile.

  “You look beautiful,” I tell her, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “You’re going to be so happy, Gab. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

  “So do you,” she whispers. “I love you, Callie.”

  I nod, smiling. “I love you too. Good luck, sweetie.”

  Gabby lets go of my hand just as Diane touches my shoulder, letting me know that it’s my turn to go. I step out onto the green, green grass of the pristine lawn, and I look everywhere but at Nate, because I’m afraid that I’ll walk too fast if I see his face. Instead I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and walking down the aisle between the rows of pristine white chairs that hold all of Ben and Gabby’s loved ones. Amy gives me a smile through watery eyes as I walk past her, and I take the three steps up onto the altar.

  The music changes to a soft, swelling march as Gabby steps out of the house. I watch her through my own tears as she walks down the aisle, Ben looking so in love that it seems like he’s having a difficult time not running across the yard and taking her in his arms. And the cynic in me—bastard that it is—makes itself known. I can’t help but think about all the couples who have done this before them, who have walked down aisles and stood on altars where they promised to love each other forever. Couples who—years later—wind up fighting over kitchen tables and antique lamps in the comfort of the offices of their five-hundred-dollar-per-hour divorce lawyers. Did they all start off looking like Gabby and Ben?

  I think about Amy and Jack, holding hands in the front row, who somehow managed to beat the odds. Is it predetermined when couples walk down the aisle which ones will make it and which ones won’t? Or does everyone start out with the same shot, and the choices they make throughout the years either bring them together or push them apart? My head spins at the thought of it all. Getting married, hell…even giving your heart to someone is like jumping off a cliff. How can people make this kind of commitment not knowing what will happen when they land?

  People like my mom and dad just couldn’t make it work. But there are also people like Amy and Jack. And people like Gabby and Ben, so in love with each other that it both inspires and scares me.

  And then there’s Nate. Standing across the aisle from me, his eyes locked with mine, smiling at me like the whole world has fallen away.

  When he looks at me like that, I wish it would.

  I reach out and take Gabby’s bouquet.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”

  DINNER STARTS just as the sun goes down, and the twinkle lights draped from the poles of the canopy combined with the soft candlelight from the tapered arrangements on the tables cast an ethereal glow across the tent. There’s a dance floor on the far side of it with a deejay booth in the corner, but he’s playing soft music now, mainly drowned out by the buzz of conversation and silverware clinking on china. Dinner is a delicious one: filet with a side of roasted asparagus and mushroom risotto. We’re drinking delicious wine, and the company is wonderful. Ben and Gabby just got married, and they’re so disgustingly cute. I should be happy—I mean, I am happy—but I shouldn’t be so caught up in my own thoughts.

  I feel like a bundle of nerves and insecurity, and absolutely nothing is helping. Thankfully, I don’t think that my distraction is that obvious, or if it is, other people are too wrapped up in the party to notice, which is good. Nate is sitting to my left, cutting steak and asparagus into tiny pieces for Madeline. She’s sitting on his lap, giggling. Jessa’s sitting a few tables away with h
er husband, who just arrived this morning. They seem to have fallen on the Wright side of things as far as functional relationships go: they’ve been married for five years, and they’re looking at each other like it’s their wedding day. Even Ethan and Emily are leaning close to each other, holding hands and sharing smiles.

  I seem to be the dysfunctional one in this group. Oddly, it doesn’t depress me, it just makes me want to isolate myself so I don’t accidentally taint any of these lovely people around me. Especially the one right next to me, who’s being so adorably wonderful with his niece that I’m having a difficult time wiping the smile off of my face.

  “Are you gonna save a dance for me later?” Nate asks as he spears a piece of meat with his fork.

  “Why do I gots ta save it?” Madeline looks up at him with her big, blue, inquisitive eyes.

  Nate grins and lets out a small, airy laugh. “It’s an expression, Mad. When you want to dance with a pretty girl and you know that lots of other boys are going to ask her too, you want to make sure that she knows you want to be one of those boys. So you ask her to save a dance for you.”

  Madeline’s cute little mouth forms a tiny ‘o,’ and I can tell that she doesn’t quite understand, but she goes along with it anyway. “‘Kay.”

  Nate laughs as Madeline steals the steak from from the end of the fork, popping it in her mouth with a high-pitched hum.

  “You’re going to save a dance for me later, aren’t you?” He gives me a sexy wink that makes my heart ache as much as it makes it flutter.

  I nod, not trusting myself to say anything.

  Nate’s eyebrows scrunch together; he must notice that I’ve got something on my mind. As soon as he opens his mouth to say something else, Amy stands and clinks her spoon against her wine glass. When the room is quiet, she picks up a microphone and walks over to our table, coming to a stop right in front of Ben and Gabby.

  “Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate my son and my new daughter,” Amy says with a smile. I notice that she didn’t call Gabby her daughter-in-law, and yet again I feel this surge of affection for this wonderful woman who has welcomed my best friend into her family in every possible way. “My Ben has always been very private. He keeps everything he cares about very closely guarded; he doesn’t like to share it with the world. When he was a boy, he was full of big ideas, and he was so smart, but he never wanted to show his father and me anything he was working on before it was finished. He wanted to be sure it was exactly the way he wanted it to be before he showed either one of us.”

  I look over at Ben; his fingers are entwined with Gabby’s, and he’s looking down at them with a shy smile on his face. Gabby’s eye’s are trained on Amy.

  “When he went off to college in Texas, all he could talk about was the Rangers and the heat and how much he hated his Chem professor. Then one day, he mentioned Gabby. He told Jack how she’d shared her English Lit book with him when he’d forgotten his back at the dorm and didn’t have time to go back and get it.” Everyone laughs; Ben’s forgetfulness is well-known to those who love him. Amy turns and looks at Gabby, then reaches out and takes her hand. “He started talking about her more and more, and finally one day he brought her home to meet us. I knew then, the first time I saw him smile at her, that we’d wind up here someday. My serious boy who loves so deeply and cares so much had finally found a partner who could make him laugh. Gabby is…she’s everything I’ve ever wanted for him. She’s exactly the kind of woman I wanted him to marry, and I think his father taught him everything he needs to know about being a loving husband to her.” A tear slips down Amy’s cheek as she looks over at Jack, and I have to swipe away the tears that are falling down mine.

  Nate gently bumps my shoulders with his. He leans in close and whispers, “Wait for it.”

  “I’m so happy that we’re all here to celebrate Ben finding his soulmate, and Gabby marrying her Mr. Wright.”

  Amy puts the mic down and hugs the two of them as the room erupts in applause.

  Even though Nate told me about his mother’s love for “Mister Wright with a ‘W’-slash-Mister right with an ‘R’ comparisons,” in a teasing way, I thought he’d playfully roll his eyes when she said it. Instead, he looks over at me with an unreadable expression on his face, and the intensity of it is too much for me to bear.

  “ARE YOU just going to stare at him all night looking miserable?” Xavier asks as he leads me across the small dance floor.

  “I don’t look miserable,” I tell him, not even bothering to deny the fact that I’m staring at Nate. He’s a few couples away, holding Madeline’s hands as she balances on the top of his feet, trying to learn a simple box step. I grin watching the two of them, but I know it’s a melancholy sort of thing because there’s this inexplicable sadness pulling at my heart that I can’t quite seem to shake this evening.

  “You look miserable, and that’s not acceptable.” Xavier flashes this sly grin before he dramatically dips me, and I can’t help the high-pitched squeal that comes out of my mouth. I laugh as he lifts me up, and lightly smack his shoulder once I’m back on two feet again.

  “That’s better,” he says, pulling me closer. I rest my head in the crook of his neck, glad to be close to someone with no expectations for a little while. We sway together for a minute or two longer, until the song ends. Another one starts up, and soon Xavier is pulling away.

  “May I?” Nate asks.

  Xavier steps away quickly, knowing my acceptance is a foregone conclusion. I nod, offering Nate a small smile as he takes my hand in his. As usual, the slightest contact with his skin just burns, sets every nerve in my body on end. I take a deep breath as his hand slips around my waist and settles against the small of my back, pulling me closer until my body practically melts into his. I wind my fingers up along his shoulders until my fingertips brush the hair on the nape of his neck. I can feel his heart stuttering against my chest, can feel the way his breath picks up when I touch him like this.

  I squeeze my eyes as my stomach twists. I can’t imagine allowing myself to keep him.

  I can’t imagine letting him go.

  I wish I could shake this sadness that I’ve been feeling ever since I stepped onto that altar. I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved, and yet here I am, so tangled up in him that I’m having difficulty figuring out how to let go.

  If Nate notices my struggle, he doesn’t mention it directly. If he sees the indecision behind my eyes, he tries to distract me from it.

  “This is a pretty dress,” he says, gently sliding his finger below the strap and dragging it over the curve of my shoulder. Goosebumps bloom all over my skin, and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s pretty pleased with the way he can make my body react to a simple touch. Nate’s stubble scratches my cheek as he bends down to whisper in my ear. “It’ll look good on my bedroom floor.”

  I pull away and laugh, rolling my eyes at how cheesy that line is. “You’re better than this,” I say, teasing him. I close my eyes as he kisses the tip of my nose.

  “Fine,” he replies, smiling, his finger still gliding across my skin as his blue eyes meet mine. “We’ll play a game to see how good I can make you feel while you’re still wearing it.”

  That smile, those words, and his eyes all conspire to make my knees a little weak.

  “We have to stay here until Gabby and Ben leave,” I tell him, not really sure why I’m discouraging him all of a sudden.

  Nate’s fingers curl around mine as he brings me closer, pressing our chests together. “We’ll make the most of the time we have left.”

  The way he’s misreading my sadness makes my heart ache.

  “We’re leaving tomorrow.” My voice is a little strained. I’m not quite sure why I say it; maybe it’s to remind myself of the inevitability of our goodbyes, and maybe it’s to remind him.

  “What happens then?” Nate’s voice is soft, and I’m not even sure that he meant for me to hear the question. I answer it anyway.

 
“I don’t know.”

  We sway in time with the music, and I turn my head, breathing deep. I wish I could find a way to keep his scent with me forever; I want to bottle it up and carry it around in my purse to remind me of happier times whenever life starts bringing me down. I close my eyes and think of his smile, the one that brings that dimple in his cheek out of hiding and makes his eyes as blue as the sky.

  “You could come to Colorado,” he says, skimming his fingertips along the exposed skin on my back. “I could come visit you. We could find a way to make it work.”

  This, this is what I didn’t want to be thinking about tonight. Or…ever, really, if I’m being honest. I could kick myself, because this is the very thing I was worried about happening when I saw him walk out of the screen door on the porch a few days ago. And I’m such an idiot, because how could I not fall for him? How could anything between us be casual? He’s as beautiful inside as he is on the outside, but I just…I can’t. I can’t, and there are no words to explain the fear and the desire that are swirling around in my stomach.

  “Callie?” he whispers.

  “Can we talk about that later?” I ask, trying so hard to sound like I’m not terrified. I think I’ve failed, because when I look up at Nate, his eyes are cloudy, his brows furrowed. It’s a look that’s so out of place on his handsome face that I have to reach up and smooth the crinkle between his eyebrows with the pad of my thumb. Even though his face relaxes, the rest of him is clearly tense.

  He doesn’t ask about visiting again, but his arms loosen their hold on me, and already he’s slipping away.

  Better now than later.

  GABBY, SHELBY, Jasmine and I stand in Ben’s bedroom, helping Gabby finish packing her honeymoon suitcase. I’ve never been in Ben’s room before, but I have to say that it isn’t nearly as nice as Nate’s. The reason for this is primarily because Ben appears to be a slob.