Page 114 of Never Not Friends

“I don’t know. I just…” Her shoulders bounce. “I just can’t believe you’re saying that. I thought you’d be freaking out this week and that I’d have to drag you to the altar.” Her innocent laughter tells me she’s more teasing than trying to cause an argument.

“No, I feel good. I’m excited, even.” As excited as someone like me can be. But it’s a start.

“Really?” There’s a heavy dose of skepticism written across her face. She knows me well.

“I know it’s taken me a long time to get here.” I lace my fingers through hers. “I’m sorry for dragging my feet. It wasn’t ever about you.” How do I explain to her that my heart never fully felt ready? Until now. Until I decided last night that I was done questioning everything. “I just…I⁠—”

“It’s okay.” She stops me. “I think I’ve actually been a little too hard on you about the whole commitment thing.”

My head immediately shakes. “No, I should’ve been⁠—”

“Vinny, I get it. I felt the same way. Last week, in fact.”

I stop mid-thought. “You what?”

“Yeah, I had my own little freak-out.” A puff of laughter drifts over her lips. “Marriage is a big deal. And I don’t want either of us to make a mistake, you know?”

Her words circle through my brain, dredging up all the uncertainty I’ve wrestled with the past few days—everything I had decided to let go of and move past. In a few sentences, Juliet has shined a giant spotlight on it again. And she doesn’t stop there.

“I got in my head about our differences. How you’re more reserved and quiet than I am, and how I keep trying to get you to be more outgoing or force you out onto a dance floor when you don’t want to be there at all.” She glances down, almost like she can’t meet my eyes for this next part. “I just wondered if we got back together and stayed together because it was easy, not necessarily because we belong together.”

There it is.

The question I’ve been desperately trying not to think about or ask.

But this time, it’s coming from the woman I’m trying desperately to choose.

“But I was just being an idiot.” She smiles as if her whole confession means nothing. “And luckily, Emma talked me off the ledge.”

My entire body goes still. “Emma?”

“I know. Of course it was Emma, right?” Juliet laughs softly. “Carly and Camila were there too, but Emma was the one who really put my fears to rest.”

I pull my hand away from hers, sitting back into my chair. “What did she say?”

Juliet’s smile grows. “She basically told me that I’d be crazy not to marry you.”

Something sharp presses against my ribs. “Like…what exactly did she say, though?”

“I don’t know. A lot.” She purses her lips, thinking it over. “She reminded me how kind and thoughtful you are. That you’re everything a woman could ever want in a husband.”

I stare at her, unable to breathe or speak or feel anything.

“Oh.” She snaps her fingers. “She also said, ‘Vinny’s the dream.’”

The world seems to go silent around me.

Waiters.

Utensils on glass plates.

The hum of conversations.

All of it disappears with Emma’s words.

Vinny’s the dream.

Emma said that.