whole time. I promise.”
“Is Mr. Hale really coming?”
“He’s really coming.”
Ava pulled back and looked at me. Ten years old, with her serious brown eyes.
“Good,” she said. “I like him.”
Then she got into Max’s black SUV with June, who was already wearing her flower girl dress, again, and waving at me through the window with both hands.
Edward picked me up at three o’clock the next afternoon.
I opened the door, and I didn’t recognize him for a second.
I’d only ever seen Edward in flannel shirts and work pants with sawdust on the knees. Today, he was wearing a dark charcoal suit. White shirt. Deep blue tie. He’d gotten a haircut. He’d shaved. He was holding a small bouquet of pink peonies wrapped in brown paper.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” I said.
We stood there.
“You look—” we both said at the same time.
We
