Jennie
2 years later - Present Day
Gripping a bouquet of peach and cream garden roses, I peeked around the hotel's archway. Friends and family quietly filtered onto a perfectly manicured lawn, murmuring as they took their seats for the ceremony.
The sun began to set over the Pacific Ocean, fiery orange dipping into cool blue. This morning's cloud cover had given way to an unblemished sky. With everything happening around us, it should've been easy to avoid looking at Lisa, but that always had been, and always would be, impossible for me. My gaze lifted above the crowd and down the petal-scattered aisle. Lisa stood under the sheer curtains of a gazebo on the edge of a cliff, her back to me as she spoke to the best man. The first time I saw Lisa on that construction site, she'd been larger than life. Today, she was so much more. She commanded attention without trying. Her shoulders stretched a bespoke suit, and her hands sat loosely in her pockets as if it were any other day.
She turned her head, giving me the pleasure of her profile. Strong jaw, full mouth, thick, black, recently trimmed hair. Even with the scar on her lip and the new, slight curve of her nose, she looked refined, the sum of all my dreams come to life.
Henry spoke to Lisa with the air of a father figure, his hand on Lisa's shoulder. Lisa just listened and rubbed her sinfully smooth jaw as she stared at the ground. Henry paused, as if waiting for an answer or acknowledgement, and her smile faded. She looked to the back of the decorated lawn, through the arches hiding the bridal party. She looked at me. Maybe Lisa wasn't as calm as I thought. Maybe she was having second thoughts.
I, on the other hand, had only one thought.
Mine.