Camille, wearing pearls and white, stared into the eyes
of her soon-to-be mate and read her vows off of the piece of pink
stationary. “Oliver. My one true love. I promise to keep every
fortune cookie wrapper, every pinky swear, and every kiss very close
to me. I cannot imagine my life without you. You've been a part of me
for as long as I can remember. And although we fight, I love you to
the moon and stars and back. Now put that ring on my finger, finally,
after 26 years of being the best of friends.”
The officiant took their hands and announced that
Oliver, the lanky school teacher with whom my sister fell in love,
could kiss the bride. “Mr. and Mrs. Oliver and Camille Ryan,
everybody!” Mr. Ryan, Oliver's uncle, exclaimed.
Oliver carefully slipped his thin arm around my
sister's slight waist as they made their way back up the aisle. I
clapped with the rest of the 70 people in the garden, but I was
kicking myself on the inside. Of course I was happy to see my baby
sister married to the man I knew would make her happy, but I was a
little disappointed that I, her 32 year old brother, wasn't married
first.
I quickly made my way to the reception hall inside and
prepared myself for the countless cocktails I would be consuming over
the next few hours.
“Callum! My, how grown up you look!” Great Aunt
Amelia screamed from across the room.
“Hello, Aunt Amelia,” I said quieter and hugged her
tight. She is batty and likes her tequila, but I love her. We don't
see her too often because she lives all the way over in Malibu.
“How've you been, honey?” she asked while eying me
up and down through her fifties style rims. “How's that restaurant
doing? You out of business yet?” she laughed too loud.
“It's doing great, actually. We've expanded to the
greater Eastern Shore metropolitan area, in fact.” This was a lie.
My little restaurant, “CG's Comfort Food,” had three locations in
my town and in the city nearby. Aunt Amelia didn't need to know that,
though. She just wants a challenge. May as well exaggerate. And it's
not like I'm broke, I'm doing well considering my small business
practice.
“CALLUM GRANT!” my buddy Vince yelled when he
slapped me on the back. “How're things, dude?”
“Vince!” I grinned for the first time that night.
“How long has it been, man?”
“Years. Since USC graduation, I think.”
“Wow... dude, we gotta catch up. Lemme get another
drink first,” I knew Vince well enough to know that he'd already
downed at least two beers at the bar. It wasn't too hard to get him
wasted, so I went with him to keep an eye on him.
I got myself a beer and ordered a non-alcoholic beer
for Vince when he wasn't looking. We turned with our backs to the
bartender and drank a toast to my little sister. The bride and groom
hadn't shown up yet, which I'm sure my mother was incredibly pleased
about.
I began surveying the area. My sister and her new
husband wanted a small wedding, just the family and a few friends,
which was why Vince had attended. Most every girl there was a cousin
of some kind. Except one.
I saw her across the room sitting at a table by the
stage where the band was setting up. She had long dark brown, almost
black, hair and either blue or blue-green eyes (I couldn't tell from
all the way across the room). She was wearing a black dress that
reached just above her knees with see-through cut outs on the sides.
She had little black sandals on and carried a small light blue purse.
All I could think was “Look over here. Over here,
dammit. Right at me.”
After ten minutes of her just standing there, not
looking over at me, I gave up. I put down my beer and left Vince
there. I couldn't wait any longer. I had to know her.
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