“Oh, look at that.” The amusement in Lola’s voice drew Annabeth’s attention back to the screen. She was at one of the town festivals, manning a kissing booth. She was kissing Ryder. She didn’t remember that. She glanced at Ryder, who was grinning.
By the time the pictures entered the high school years, it was clear that Annabeth was wild about Greg. But Ryder was there, too. At graduation, he was smiling at her. At one of the vacations to the beach, she’d fallen asleep on his shoulder while Greg was fishing. When Cody was born, Ryder was in the hospital. He was cradling Cody, looking at him with such awe and adoration it was hard to believe Cody wasn’t his. It was a good thing Ryder had been living in Las Vegas when she’d gotten pregnant, or people would undoubtedly talk.
There were more. Cody working on his toy car while Ryder worked on the real ones. Ryder taking Cody fishing with his brothers. And Ryder staring at her when she was talking to Grandma Flo. It was from a few years back, and Grandma Flo wasn’t in her wheelchair yet.
The look on his face took her breath away.
“I was quite a looker.” Flo’s announcement made everyone laugh.
So many occasions and events, whether he was standing alongside her or somewhere in the background—Ryder was there.
A blank slide popped up, the words “Congratulations, Annabeth and Ryder! Wishing you a life of love and laughter!” scrolling slowly by.
Her heart was racing by the time the last picture popped up. It was a picture of them dancing.
“I took that one,” John Hardy called out.
Cody hopped up, hugging Ryder, then hugging her. “Love you.”
She hugged him tightly. “I love you, too.”
“Picture!” Lola was up, holding her phone out. “Since there aren’t any wedding pictures, we should take some here.”
“Great idea,” Renata agreed.
Before she knew what was happening, the chairs were cleared away and she and Ryder were standing in front of the fireplace.
They took so many pictures her cheeks hurt from smiling. But she understood how important it was, to have something tangible from this day. When she’d lost Greg and his memory seemed to be slipping away, she’d pulled out the old albums for comfort. She had no right to deprive Teddy or the Boones. As she and Ryder and Cody gathered around Flo’s chair, she was happy, too.
“So happy for you precious dears.” Flo kissed them each on the c
heek. “Now get to work on more grandbabies. Right, Teddy?”
Teddy blushed furiously. “Well, now, Flo, when they’re ready...” he trailed off.
“We’ll get on it.” Ryder smiled.
“I want a brother.” Cody nodded, all wide-eyed excitement.
Annabeth laughed; she couldn’t help it.
Ryder winked at Cody. “We’ll see what we can do.”
“One more, just the happy couple.” Renata waved everyone else aside, waiting for Fisher to wheel Grandma Flo back to Lola.
“You may kiss the bride,” Mack called out from the back of the room.
Ryder faced her, smoothing her hair from her face to give her a quick kiss.
“Ryder Boone, you can do better than that,” Flo chastised, making everyone laugh.
Annabeth giggled, nervous. Partly because of the people watching and partly because of the way he was looking at her. He kissed her softly, sweetly, his hands coming up to cup her face. She covered his hands with hers and the kiss lingered. It was all too easy to get lost in the heat between them. She wanted to give in, to get lost in him...until the whistles and catcalls started up.
Ryder broke away, pressing a kiss to her forehead and sliding his arm around her shoulders. Annabeth could tell he wasn’t thrilled over all the attention, but he was trying. It didn’t help that half the people congratulating them insisted on bringing up Ryder’s history with women. Even Flo got in on the act. She couldn’t stop her growing irritation. But Ryder kept smiling, shaking hands long after she was done.
“You feeling okay?” he asked.
“I’m feeling fine.” She hadn’t meant to snap.