Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Holy shit,” Connor says. “That’s where everybody was today?”
“Ken called and asked me and Val to be their witnesses,” Bex admits. “It was beautiful.”
I’ve got to say, as an olive branch, that was the perfect one for Bex. She’s been vocal for years about wanting those two to finally tie the knot.
“Win, come up here and sing a song for us to dance to. Dealer’s choice.”
I look toward the open doorway, my eyes seeking out the one person I’ve been thinking about all night. Where is Michael?
“We all deserve to be happy, Win. Our problem—yours and mine—is getting out of our own way so it can happen.”
Ken took his own advice today. I think about how long those two have been in love with each other. About the fifty years Shawn and Ellen spent together, supporting each other and raising children who wouldn’t accept anything less than everything. That kind of love is real and the proof is all around me.
Hearing the gossip about how they came together is different than witnessing their devotion for myself. All of them had obstacles. Pasts and scandals and prejudices to overcome. But they were still together. All still happy and still so in love it makes me ache with something I’ve never experienced before. Hope.
I’m scared, but I know what I need to do.
I have to tell Michael how I feel about him and see what happens next. Get out of my own way and trust what my heart is telling me.
Shit. Am I really going to do this now? Declare myself after a single weekend? In front of my friends and all those Finns?
Where the hell is he so I can do this before I lose my nerve?
“Nineteen thirteen,” I blurt.
“Uh-oh,” Val mutters, sending a panicked glance to Bex.
“What is he mumbling?” she asks.
“That’s the year. The first time the federal government officially recognized marriage in the Revenue Act,” I explain shakily.
“Okay, man. That isn’t even a funny anecdote. You’re just throwing out test questions now. Take a breath and tell us why you’re nervous,” Connor says soothingly. “You don’t have to sing again if you don’t want to.”
“I’m fine now. I needed to get that out.”
Walking over to Ken, I take the microphone with a wordless look. I still don’t see Michael. Did he go back to the kitchens? Did he leave while everyone was celebrating Ken and Brady’s marriage news? Had I missed my chance?
He can’t have gone that far. For some reason, I’m reminded of that moment in the snowstorm when I thought I was alone and decided to sing, praying someone would hear me.
I need him to hear me now.
I take a breath and start to sing without musical accompaniment while every member of the Finn family, and most of the lodge employees, stare at me.
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
Bless the keyboardist for knowing his classics and following my lead. I’m not sure why I pick this song. There are so many to choose from. Musical numbers, movie soundtracks, every love song ever written at my fingertips, and it’s this simple song—a slower, slightly more modern rendition than the original Frankie Valli’s—that pops out of my mental jukebox, saying the words I need Michael to hear.
You’d be like heaven to touch
I want to hold you so much
I lost it and walked away from him earlier because I was afraid. I still am, but I couldn’t let it stop me from admitting something so beautifully, obnoxiously obvious.
I’m in love with Michael Demir.
He’s standing a few feet away from the stage, staring up at me as though mesmerized. We’re almost in the exact position we were in the first time we saw each other, and relief washes over me. He’s still here.
It’s been like this between us from the beginning. And that cord between us keeps drawing us together. Making it impossible to look away or deny what’s between us. A few days or a few years, something in me knows it won’t make any difference.
I don’t want to be with him because I don’t want to be alone and anyone will do. I’m not my mother, the same way he keeps insisting he’s not his father. We’re Win and Michael, and wherever we go from here can be entirely up to us.
The rest of the band catches up as I step off the stage and walk towards him.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I’m alive
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
When I get to the “I love you baby’s,” he gently pulls me into his arms. I sing the rest of the song as he sways us back and forth among all the dancers who’ve poured onto the floor around us. Then I turn off the mic and let it drop between us as the band keeps playing.