Jet and the band switched to “Everybody Needs Love,” the Drive-By Truckers version, which was Shaw’s favorite, and she and Dale appeared at the back of the elegantly decorated room. I heard a couple of gasps, saw some jaws drop, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Rule physically jolt.
“Damn.”
The word was barely a breath of sound, and before either Rome or I could react, Rule was walking down the aisle in the direction of his future bride and his dad, who had stopped at his approach. Rome and I exchanged a knowing look and just shrugged when the girls looked at us questioningly.
Rule grabbed Shaw’s face in both of his hands and kissed her like he was supposed to do at the end of the ceremony. Dale stepped out of the way and Margot, the Archer matriarch, called her son’s name in frustration. It was totally a Rule thing to do. He was impulsive, a little wild, but there was nothing in the world that would keep him from that girl, so of course he was the one who walked her down the aisle and to their spot in front of Brite. I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot, and the one time I caught sight of Saint, I was happy to see she was smiling as well. That kind of love was hard not to appreciate.
Brite was grinning as well, his smile barely visible through his long, gray beard. Looking like a jolly, friendly Hell’s Angel, Brite proceeded to marry my best friend to the girl of his dreams. It was awesome, touching, everything it was supposed to be, and so were their vows.
Shaw vowed to love Rule just as he was, to never ask him to be anything other than the man he was. She promised to wait out his bad temper and the hissy fits that he was prone to and to never question what color his hair was for the week. She vowed to love him like she had since the first time she had seen him, and vowed that he would always be her one and only. She told him that he was everything she had ever wanted. It was all true and it made me happy to hear her promise that for an eternity to my very difficult and complicated friend.
Rule was choked up, so it took him a minute to recite his vows, but when he did I knew the impact of his heartfelt words stunned all of us. He wasn’t a dude that was good with emotion on the best day, even though Shaw had helped him with that, but today he was putting his heart out there for everyone to see.
He told her that he never thought anyone would be able to fill the void in his life that Remy had left when he died, but somehow she had gotten inside of him and there was no more room for anything else. She just filled his heart and his life so full there were no more empty spots and he knew that ultimately Remy would be thrilled for them. That, of course, had everyone misty-eyed and clearing their throats.
He promised to always take care of her, to make everyone treat her with the love and kindness she deserved. He told her he would love her even when she was a doctor and making three times the money he did, and vowed to do his best to give her anything and everything she ever wanted and needed from this point on. He whispered so that only those of us standing up at the front could hear, “You are everything to me, Casper.”
A collective sigh went up from the group when Shaw smiled up at him through the tears running down her face and said simply, “All I want and need is you.”
Brite called it good enough, they exchanged rings, we all cheered and offered hugs and high fives, and just like that, Rule and Shaw were man and wife.
We had all gathered in the back of the clock tower, took forty-five minutes for fussing, congratulations, and photos, when Phil slid up next to me and muttered in my ear, “You better work some magic or your date is going to bolt. She’s a sweet little thing, but she’s as skittish as a newborn filly.”
I swore and maneuvered my way through the crowd, waved Rowdy off when he tried to stop me, and eventually had to ride the elevator twenty stories down to the lobby in order to find her. She had her cell phone in her hand and seemed like she was having an argument with herself.
“Saint?”
She jolted and looked up at me. There was no way to describe the look on her face other than guilty. Like I had just caught her in the midst of doing something wrong.
She held her phone out like it was a shield between us.
“I’m just going to call a cab to take me back to my car. You go back to your friends.” Her voice was high and breathy. I frowned because I didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.
“If you want to go home, I’ll take you back to your car.” I hooked a finger in the knot of the tie at my throat and pulled it loose. I would give anything to read this girl’s mind.
“No, no … you stay. It’s fine. It was really lovely. Thank you for inviting me.”
I was done arguing with her. She already had her coat on, so I just grabbed her wrist, the one she was holding out in front of her, and dragged her to the front door. Her high-heeled shoes clicked frantically as she scrambled to keep up with me.
“Come on.”
She huffed out a protest and tried to pull free, but I didn’t let her. I just marched her unwillingly to where the Charger was parked on the street. I was annoyed and I was frustrated, but more than that, I was confused why she had agreed to come with me if she didn’t want to be here in the first place.
We didn’t talk the entire way back to the apartment. She was breathing low and shallow, twisting her hands together, and staring straight out the window. When we got to the Victorian, we simultaneously climbed out of the car and I slammed the door shut harder than I needed to. I stared at her over the roof of the vehicle and she opened her mouth like she was going to say something, so I held up my hand to stop her. I couldn’t figure out why one of us always seemed to be warding the other off.
“Just … have a good night, Saint.”
I jogged up the sidewalk to the front of the building and didn’t look back to see if she even got into her little car or not. That was pretty rude of me and I never did stuff like that, but this chick was messing with my head and I wasn’t sure how to navigate that along with everything else in my life right now. I had the key in the door and was pushing it open when I felt small hands at my back. Before I could turn around and look to see what was going on, I was shoved forward into my apartment and the door was slammed shut behind me. I spun around to face Saint and she gazed up at me like a wild Valkyrie. Her red hair was curly and wild all around her face, her steely eyes were open wide, and her chest was rising and falling in an erratic rhythm. A pretty awesome sight really, but I was still pissed off at her.