Page 57 of Wish For Me

“Who’s next?” Santana asks and I switch seats with Lyric so she can get her make-up done. I walk over to where Alex is perched on the couch, her foot resting on a pillow, and plop down next to her.

“I can’t believe I’m going to be in this ugly boot for your wedding.”

I rub her leg. “If anyone can make an ugly walking boot look good it’s you.”

She snorts. “Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, feel free to tell the photographer to only shoot me from the waist up.”

I shrug. “It doesn’t really matter if the boot ends up in the pictures.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “You know, you’re being awfully cool about this,” she says. “I would have thought you’d be more upset about the whole sprained ankle thing.”

“You’re definitely more chill than I would have thought,” Rose agrees, coming over to sit on my other side. “You haven’t texted the guys in the tent all day.”

My uncles and most of my cousins are still over there getting everything set up but I honestly haven’t given it much thought.

“I assumed you’d be micromanaging them,” Alex says.

I shrug, that grin stretching my face again. “I’m sure it will all look okay. Honestly, I don’t even care.”

“What?” Presley asks, her hands on her hips. “You’ve been bossing everyone around for months. And now you don’t care?”

“I haven’t been bossing you around,” I say primly. “I’ve been exhibiting strong leadership skills.”

My cousins laugh, Rose raising her own glass of champagne to tap mine.

“Seriously,” I continue. “Everything has been going so well, you know? Even with the huge venue change, it all feels so smooth and worry-free.”

There’s a weird moment where no one else in the room seems to meet my eye. I’m about to ask what that’s all about, when my mom comes over to the couch, holding her phone. “Dad just texted me. He said the reception tent is ready if you want to go look at it.” She checks the time on her phone. “We should go now so you can get your dress on for pictures.”

I hold out my hands and she pulls me up from the couch. “Just the two of us?” I ask her softly, and she smiles.

“Sure, baby.”

Since we’re both still in dressing gowns, we grab a few of the fuzzy throws we’re providing for guests for the outdoor ceremony and wrap up in them, pulling on comfy Ugg boots before we slip out of the farm house. I stop on the porch—even from here, the tent looks amazing, all lit up against the green and white background of the trees and snow.

“Oh, wow. We maybe should have done this before I put my makeup on.”

Mom slips her arm through mine. “We’re totally going to cry about something sooner or later,” she points out. “Might as well be now.”

Most of the snow from before Christmas melted earlier in the week, though we got a fresh dusting last night. Everything looks pretty and sparkling without there being too much mess to trudge through. The ceremony site is set up closer to the lodge but I’ve already seen that, so we head over to the tent.

It’s unbelievable. Truly. We managed to find a clear-sided tent so we still have views of the mountains surrounding us. At night, the sky will be visible overhead. We couldn’t get many of our flowers shipped here on short notice, so we went with a lot of greenery instead, which looks perfect against the snowy backdrop. There are flashes of shimmery gold in the candles, the charger plates, and the lanterns hanging around the edges of the space. We’d considered switching the color palette to silver to go along with the new winter theme, but you have to have some gold for New Year’s Eve, right? I’m so glad we stuck with it, because it all looks so perfect together I can’t breathe for a moment.

My mom’s arm slips around my waist. “We did good, didn’t we?” I ask, leaning my head against her shoulder.

“Your dad and I sure did,” she says, kissing the top of my head. “We did so good with you and your sisters.”

“Mom. Just because crying is inevitable doesn’t mean we should be encouraging it like this.”

She laughs and kisses me again. “I don’t care. I’m so proud to be your mom I feel like my heart is going to explode.”

I give a watery laugh. “I’m not sure if that’s sweet or gross.”

“I love you, Everly,” she says fiercely, hugging me tighter. “So, so much.”

“I love you, too, Momma.”

We spend a few minutes in the tent, just the two of us together, pouring over all the details of the decor and the place settings. “Vega will be happy to find out the Dumonts left.”