Page 92 of My Best French Wedding

“All weddings have lab techs in dwarf hats doing a group dance number?”

She lifted a shoulder, totally blasé. “Maybe they should. Why don’t you suggest that to Fiona and Robbie?”

Walter was aware she was trying to provoke him into veering off course. He also knew Hildy liked to protect herself by hiding behind a show of attitude, because she didn’t like to feel vulnerable—which meant he had to go there first.

“Happiness. That’s what we found in that cafeteria.” He pausedbefore going on, letting her wonder whose happiness he was talking about. “Honestly? I thought it might be sad. Here were these two people who didn’t get their dream wedding, and now they had to party in a cafeteria, and their whole future was uncertain—but it wasn’t like that at all. They wereincandescent.”

“Or you were blinded by all the sparkly fabric.”

Walter ignored her grumbling. He knew Hildy didn’t believe that. “They were overjoyed they’d found each other. They had the most important thing, and nothing else mattered.”

“Found each other twice,” she corrected, “which made it even more…” Hildy broke off, realizing she was arguing the wrong side.

“Magical.” He held eye contact until she looked away. “It was a total rush, covering that wedding.”

“You did hit the soda fountain pretty hard.”

“It wasn’t the Mountain Dew, Hildy. It wasyou.” He thought of what he’d told his mother on the phone that night:I don’t know how to describe her, because I’ve never met anyone like Hildy before. Ten years on, he had yet to encounter another person who went straight to his bloodstream like a double whiskey and Coke.

She was silent long enough that he thought maybe he was getting through to her, until she spoke again. “And what happened after that, Walter?”

“You had a craving for pie.”

30Walter

TEN YEARS AGO

TAMPA, Fla.—“Turns out you’re kind of wild,” Walter said as they walked back to the dorm after the wedding.

She wrapped a curl around her finger. “What was your first clue?”

“Maybe when you had the gift shop wrap that box of candy to make it look like a wedding present.”

“It got us in the door, didn’t it?”

“I’m sure you would have talked your way in without the props. Like when that old lady asked who you were and you said, ‘Do you know Cousin Jimmy?’ Just like that.” He snapped his fingers, still in awe of her nerve.

Hildy shrugged like it was no big deal. “That was slick, wasn’t it?”

“Maybe you should join the CIA.”

“Nope. It’s the news biz or nothing for me.”

“You’re pretty awesome at it.”

“No regrets about your choice of partner, partner?”

“Definitely not.”

She bit her lip, and Walter remembered he was alone with a cute girl. He’d done his best to keep that awareness tucked away at the back of his mind while they were working, but it was harderto ignore now that it was just the two of them, without the background noise of a packed cafeteria.

“That was a fun wedding.” Hildy bumped him with her elbow, and Walter was almost sure she’d done it on purpose, though it could have been because the sidewalk narrowed around a garbage can.

“I wouldn’t know.”

She stopped walking to stare at him. “That was your first?”

“Yeah.” He hoped she wouldn’t ask what other major life experiences he was lacking, because the list would get embarrassing very quickly.