Page 112 of My Best French Wedding

When she stepped into his space, he was tempted to forgetabout dancing and pull her closer, but he suspected this conversation would go better if they were in motion. The physical side of their relationship had always been less thorny than the talking part, which was borderline ironic for two people who made their living from words.

Walter spun her in the direction of the forest, humming under his breath. It took Hildy a few bars to recognize the tune.

“I guess it is a Whole New World for those two.” She looked over her shoulder at the distant forms of Fiona and Robbie, waltzing toward the castle. “I didn’t realize you were such a sap.”

“I’m feeling optimistic.”

Hildy squinted up at him, as if she sensed a hidden meaning. “About marriage? Or your career?”

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, dodging the question.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” She winked at him, and Walter sent up a silent wish that Hildy would hold on to that playful energy a little longer.

“It’s about what you said—that we’ve done too much damage to each other. I disagree.”

“Of course you do,” she huffed, as if that proved her point.

“You didn’t make my life worse, Hildy.”

“That’s empirically incorrect.”

His hand flexed against her lower back, drawing her closer. “What do you think my life would have looked like if I hadn’t met you?”

“You would have won the fellowship! Just for starters.”

Walter shook his head. “How? If you weren’t my partner, I would never have done a wedding story. And I definitely wouldn’t have had the confidence to start my own group. Without you, I would have been the fourth name on a mediocre article about a traffic stop or a zoning violation. Maybe I would have come away thinking I wasn’t cut out for journalism. I could be an accountant right now.”

She frowned like he’d been holding out on her. “Are you good at math?”

“It’s a hypothetical, Hildy. I’m trying to say that I wouldn’t be who I am or have a job that lets me travel the world and eat cake for a living if I’d never met you. So you can tell yourself it was all a mistake, but the way I see it is that you made me feel like I could do anything. When I thought you didn’t give a shit, it hurt, yes. It also fired me up. Competing with you, trying to get your attention? That pushed me more than anything. And every time our paths crossed, that was a day I felt fully alive. Everything else was filler.”

He watched expressions play over her face like clouds racing across the sky on a windy day: surprise chased by doubt, a flicker of fear, and what might have been a trace of hope.

“I don’t think anger is the real reason we’ve been circling each other all these years,” he said, pressing his advantage. “Do you want to know my theory?”

“You may as well tell me.” She tried to sound pouty, but Walter wasn’t fooled. He could feel the tension in her body.

“Because we both know we haven’t gotten the full story.” They had reached the edge of the woods, the trees offering the illusion of privacy. Walter stopped moving but didn’t let go.

“All this time, we’ve been chasing the truth,” he said.

“Which is what?”

“I don’t know exactly. I need your help to figure that out. But I can tell you right now that you didn’t ruin my life. And I definitely wouldn’t have been better off without you.” Just the thought of a life without Hildy made him shudder.

“What are you saying?” she asked in a small voice.

“I want to try something different—if you’re game.”

“Like what?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Right now?”

“It’s a wedding. People always kiss at weddings.”

“If you’re the bride and groom.”