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Looking as if she’s seen a ghost, the woossip wildfire, no doubt Mythe congregation Everyone is seated and waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle, except forin the far back corner, cloaked in shadows Appropriate, consideringmarried this afternoon and no one in my family was invited

What family? You’re the only one left now

An invisible fist grinds intoto duck out for a breath of fresh air No way I’ to lose my composure in front of these people Especially the blonde side of the room When I turn to leave, however…that’s when I see him

Once, during a hurricane, I allon of milk Cereal makes up ninety percent offistfuls of dry Cheerios I didn’twhen a hundred- me on my back with a view of the dark thunderheads above I still went and bought the milk, because I a of utter shock The confirmation that forcesto knock me on my butt

That’s how I feel when I see the grooroom

My throat resistsitself in —yes, buckling—I fall back against the back wall of the church I turn to find a full back row of blonde heads watching ether What in God’s na with me?

As if induced by room once more He’s not the cookie-cutter trust fund boy I was expecting No, he’s…co Hands clasped behind his back, he’s the authority in the roole muscle He roomsmen, and the breadth of his muscular chest is somehow fierce Braced and ready for action He has a thick head of tobacco hair, face shaven but already battling a beard His blatant h

It’s his eyes For all this ly kind

When I read the wedding announcement online, I scoffed at the description of Naooraduate Served three tours overseas with the ar…else

Oh Right Elijah is the son of Charleston’s longest-sitting mayor Plans to follow in his father’s footsteps I less in a husband for iirl Naoh town since ere teenagers, Naoetup, me in ripped jeans and Salvation Araze skimmed over me and shut down, the whispers to her friends Her mother Her mother is the one…

I release a shaky laugh under ht now in this moment Actually jealous over this man I’ve never est I don’t even like kindto make out the color of those eyes When I realize what I’h a side exit As s and remind these people my side of the fa home only to develop this weird, instantaneous attraction for my cousin’s fiancé is way too much