The door opens before Sal can respond. His resistance is giving me anxiety, but now I have to do damage control. Mia emerges from the bathroom, smiling in the cheerfully oblivious way of drunken people. I move away from Sal to go to her side. “Hey, having fun?”
“Oh, yeah. Isabella is so cute and sweet. Oh my god. She’s going to be the cutest flower girl ever.”
“Yeah, totally.” Without missing a beat, I add, “Hey, listen. You know Vince is coming to pick you up, right?”
She nods with gusto. “Yep. Sal called him for me.”
“Okay. But if Mateo asks, can you say you called Vince? Don’t tell him Sal was involved in that decision; just tell him you called Vince to pick you up since you obviously can’t drive home.”
“Sure. It was a good idea. I knew I couldn’t drive home, but I didn’t really think about it. Sal is so nice and smart. I’m glad you’re going to have a nice, smart husband.”
I crack a smile as we head down the corridor toward the dining room. “Yes, I’m very pleased with his many virtues.”
—
For the very first time, I use my own key to unlock the front door of my very own home, right in the heart of suburbia.
Since Sal and I are leaving for our honeymoon directly following the wedding, we’ve been slowly moving in all week. I was pretty easy to move, except for the fact that I have way too many items of clothing for our new his-and-hers closets. Sal has assured me he will build me a bigger closet, but I’m fine with what we have. I don’t really need all those dresses now that I won’t be at family dinner every night, so I left some behind.
Tonight we will spend our first night together in our new home.
Sighing with contentment, I peel off the thin white sweater I wore to the rehearsal dinner and hang it on the coat rack in the corner. I love having my own coat rack in my own entryway.
“Can you believe it? In 24 hours, you and I will officially be husband and wife.”
Sal smiles, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. His lips brush my neck and I shiver with pleasure. I turn in his arms so I can wrap my arms around his neck and snuggle into his embrace.
“I should’ve married you the minute I saw you,” he states. “Think of how many wasted days you’ve been a Morelli when you could’ve been a Castellanos instead.”
I grin, giving him a quick peck on the mouth. “You know changing my last name isn’t going to rewire me, right?”
“I like your faulty wiring just the way it is.”
“Now that’s true love,” I tell him, winking.
“You Morellis are a special breed; love means a different thing to you nutjobs.”
“Whatever, you love us.”
“I love you,” he specifies. “The rest, I could take ‘em or leave ‘em.”
“You’re totally hooked.”
He leans in to kiss my neck.
“You chugged the Kool-Aid,” I continue.
His warm breath travels toward my ear.
“You love our issues so much you renewed your subscription.”
He nips at my earlobe.
“You—”
His big hand comes up to cover my mouth so I can’t talk.
I attempt a muffled “hey!” but then he moves his hand and replaces it with his mouth. He can shut me up with kisses anytime he likes.
After a minute, he pulls back, his gray eyes dancing with amusement as he regards me questioningly. “You done now?”
I let my hand drift down to catch his, walking backward toward the stairs. “Nope, you better take me upstairs and shut me up some more.”
“As long as you know your place, woman.”
I poke him in the stomach for that one, then before he can retaliate I hightail it up the stairs.
—
Waking up on the morning of your own wedding is both thrilling and terrifying.
At least, it is for me. I still have no idea if Sal’s mom is coming, but it seems like she’s not. He’s sleeping at night now, so I think he’s managed to get over it, but it’s still heartbreaking. I would be crushed if even Mateo refused to come to my wedding, so I can only imagine Sal’s own mom refusing to show up for him.
It’s still going to be a wonderful day, though. I’m not marrying the man of my dreams—I’m marrying someone better.
There’s a lot to do, even for our small, intimate wedding. Just getting myself ready is a whole thing. I start the day getting mani-pedis with my bridal party and Meg. I don’t know how Meg shoe-horned herself in, but one minute it was just the bridal party, and the next minute Meg and Mia were both there. Since her fiancé is paying the bill, I can’t really say much about it.
Even now that she’s sobered up, Mia doesn’t like Maddie. She tries to get Meg on the anti-Maddie team, but Meg doesn’t have enough sense to shoo away attractive women, apparently, so she chats her up instead.