Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Gloria came over and hugged Oscar for a long time, too emotional to speak. When she finally pulled away, she looked adoringly between the two of us. “I’m so happy. You both bring joy to our lives. And we’re so proud of you.”
Birch set the vase in the center of the collection before yanking various wildflowers from the other vases to fill it. He and Gloria fussed over it until you couldn’t tell it hadn’t always been there.
Various Flower Family siblings wandered over when they saw what was happening. “About time,” Sage said, pounding Oscar on the shoulder.
Jasmine covered her mouth with both hands and made a satisfied humming sound. Rose shot a loving look at Oscar. Heath leaned over to study the design.
“What’s everyone looking at?” a voice I didn’t recognize called from behind us.
Oscar peered over his shoulder at the newcomer. “Oh, I also got you that.”
Gloria squealed. “Basil! Oh my gosh, when did you get here?”
As all of them swarmed their long-lost son and brother, who’d just flown in from Iceland as a surprise, Oscar turned to me and exhaled. “Good idea with the brother distraction. His timing couldn’t have been better. I’ve reached my limit on emotional moments today.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Then you’re in for several surprises later, considering this is our marriage celebration and all of your best man toasts are probably going to come back to bite you in the ass later once the alcohol starts flowing.”
He grinned at me. “At least I’m not on the hook for a best man speech for once.”
Little did I know how wrong he was. Several hours later, once the alcohol had definitely started flowing and the cake had been cut, Oscar Overton stood up to give a speech.
I expected it to be a simple “Thanks for coming” thing, but he shocked the hell out of me.
We sat at the head table with fresh glasses of champagne and remnants of cake in front of us. Tons of our friends and family had already given toasts, and I was almost ready for another spin on the dance floor when Oscar stood up.
He looked out across the full tables, warmly lit with votives and happy faces. “Thank you all for coming to this historic event.”
Everyone laughed.
“As you know, I swore off the whole marriage thing a while ago.” He made a dramatic shudder. “Ew, no. That was definitely not for me. I was way better as a best man than a groom.” Oscar turned and looked down at me with a kind of tenderness that made my stomach flutter. “So I’m going to give a best man speech tonight because we all know I’m pretty much an expert now.”
Several of Oscar’s friends groaned, which made everyone laugh again.
Oscar leaned down and kissed my forehead, murmuring, “I love you,” before standing up again and facing our guests.
“But first, I’m going to show you a video.”
I blinked at him before looking over at the large screen, where my TikTok account popped up. I glanced at Oscar in confusion, wondering which of my couples he’d chosen to feature.
Then, a video I didn’t recognize began to play. I caught Abby’s eye long enough for her to shoot me a wink. “You’re welcome,” she mouthed.
Oscar’s face came on the screen. He was standing in one of my favorite interview spots in Central Park, surrounded by spring flowers.
“The first time I met Hugh was at an ex-boyfriend’s wedding. I, being the insufferable asshole that I’m prone to be, told him very clearly that I was not looking to fall in love. Not because I didn’t believe in love but because love didn’t believe in me. Hugh, being the romantic that he is, was horrified, because Hugh believes in love. Absolutely, without question, Hugh Linzee is a romantic.”
Then the screen went dark for a brief moment before my own face appeared. I sat on a bench beside the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, surrounded by new fallen snow and twinkling lights. I recognized it as a practice video I’d shot the night I interviewed Connor and Wells for my channel—one of the interviews Oscar had generously set up weeks before we’d acknowledged the truth of our feelings for one another, and the first one I’d shot after we’d returned to the city from Vermont together. “Just talk to the camera,” I’d told Connor when he’d seemed a bit hesitant. “Just be honest. Like this…” And then I’d proceeded to tell the seriously imperfect but oh-so-amazing truth about how I’d fallen in love with Oscar Overton.
Abby must have seen the footage when she edited the interview and kept it all this time.
In the video, I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees, and spoke to the camera. Little puffs of clouds escaped my lips with each word. “Oscar was very clear up front that he didn’t intend to fall in love. I actually still have one of his earliest texts, so I can quote exactly what he said.” I cleared my throat and dropped my voice, taking on a slightly posh accent as I said, “‘You are on a mission to find The One. If you’re with me, you’ll be too busy to keep looking for him.’ I edited that a bit to make it PG, but still, I can’t fault Oscar for what happened. He warned me not to fall in love with him. And to be fair, I tried really hard not to at first.”