Page 174 of Undone

The only one this excited to see me for half of my life.

And now?

We’re surrounded by a loud family we found together.

Chapter 67

THREE MONTHS AGO

Holden

When Toren pulled me from my bed at ten in the morning and made me dress in my game-day suit, he was very strict in saying I was not his best man.

It was only after Lily smiled and tucked the paintbrush she hadn’t seemed to realize she was still holding on to in my suit coat pocket, quietly whispering, “You’re a really pretty maid of honor,” I realized why my smiling best friend was so adamant.

It didn’t matter. I’d happily be both.

Lily and Toren are intense to watch, they always have been.

I can almost imagine them younger, as the children they were. Lily, with her frilly clothes and red hair in lopsided buns she probably had to do herself. Toren, in his too big hand-me-downs that he’d probably also grown out of too quickly.

The same way Lily seems to give Toren peace, Toren gives her confidence. I see it bloom within her the second he’s around. He’s never dismissive, always focused entirely on her as she speaks.

They’re so in love with each other, it almost hurts to watch them. Like staring at the sun.

“Where exactly are we going?” I ask from the back seat of Lily’s shiny G-Wagon.

Lily turns around and shrugs. “Toren won’t tell me either.”

“It’s a surprise. We’re almost there.”

It’s a lie. It takes twenty more minutes to make it even into the city, then another twenty to search for a parking spot nearby, until Toren finally decides to valet the fancy car.

I see the signs already, but there’s no one walking toward the museum alongside us.

Lily nearly sprints ahead of us the second she sees the sign, and Toren squeezes my shoulder.

“Thanks for doing this,” he says, before slipping on his sunglasses. He’s wearing a double-breasted brown linen suit, black curls slicked, rings on his hands and in his ears. With his tattoos vining up, peeking out of the white collar of his shirt beneath the suit coat, dark skin gleaming in the shimmering sunlight, he looks like an expensive male model.

“Is it open yet?”

He grins and starts on after Lily. “I rented the place out.”

My eyes bug and Toren lets out an open laugh—so much lighter and freer than I’ve ever seen him. Like some gigantic weight has been lifted off him, and even if it’s temporary, he’s beautiful like this.

“It’s not real Van Gogh displays. It wasn’t that expensive. C’mon. Let’s go.”

The entire experience is mostly light and visual effects across the space, depictions of Van Gogh’s work on screens and across the floors. Music is soft in the background, but I recognize it, so I’m sure it’s something Toren got for them as well.

And so, with Starry Night as their backdrop, I watch Lily and Toren quietly exchange vows, standing just far enough away not to really hear them, taking a million photos on my phone. Clear excitement thrums through both of them enough that they’re practically shaking each other’s hands.

They’ve both been on the sidelines for too long in their lives, spent years just watching life pass, waiting for it to inevitably end.

I think, as a kid, Lily brought Toren off the sidelines and into her world. But somewhere along that road, she lost whatever spark she’d used to help him. And now, it’s Toren who has slowly pulled her from that darkened sideline and back into the sunlight.

Or into the starlight.

There’s not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where Toren Kane and Lily LaBlanc aren’t tied together. True soulmates who would find each other, no matter what.