"I'm sure you're very good. In fact, everything I've heard about you and your company indicates you are. I just think simple is better."
"It's all a matter of taste and individuality, isn't it?" Pam reached for the basket of dinner rolls. "More bread?"
"And I don't want simple. I want fun."
"We've got it." Mac sent Sherry a quick grin. "But simple can be better, depending on that taste and individuality. Even simple takes an eye for detail. We did a small, simple wedding today. Late morning ceremony. The bride's sister was her only attendant. She carried a small, hand-tied bouquet and wore flowers in her hair instead of a veil. We had a champagne brunch after and a jazz trio for dancing. It was lovely. She looked radiant. And I'd estimate Vows put about a hundred and fifty hours in, to make sure it was perfect for her. I'm pretty sure she'll remember every moment of it."
WHEN THE EVENING WAS DONE, AND THEY WENT TO CARTER'S, he waited until they were inside and hugged her. "Thanks. I imagine it's nerve-wracking to meet a horde like that-and to get the third degree."
"Let me just say: Whew. Do you think I passed the audition?"
"Definitely."
She bent down to pet the cat who came to greet them. "You have a very nice family. I figured you would. You love each other. It shows."
"We do. Should I apologize for Diane? She likes to pull off the silver lining to find the clouds inside."
"No. I get her, because I often do the same. I just internalize it more. I liked them, even her. They're all so normal. It gives me family envy."
"You can share mine. And I wish I could say that without putting that look in your eyes."
"So do I. It's my fatal flaw, not yours."
"That's bullshit."
Her jaw dropped. He rarely swore. "It's-"
"You don't have any fatal flaw. What you have is an ingrained habit of looking at marriage, for yourself, from one angle only. And from that angle all you see is failure."
"That may be true, it's probably true. But I've shifted that angle more for you, with you, than I have with anyone. I don't know if I'm capable of more."
"I'm not going to push you, but I won't lie and say I haven't thought about it. That I haven't thought about making a life with you. It's difficult to look inside myself and know, without a single reservation, that's what I want. And to look at you, and know it's not what you think you can have."
"I don't want to hurt you. I don't know if you can understand I'm more afraid of that than being hurt myself."
"I don't need your protection." He reached out, tapped the dangle of diamonds she wore. "You thought when I gave you these there might be an engagement ring in that box. You looked stricken."
"Carter-"
"What would you have said, I wonder, if there had been? I'm not asking. We'll call it a rhetorical question. I'll make you a promise right here and now, which may put your mind at ease. There won't be a ring or a question until you ask for them."
"You're too good for me."
"I'm forced to repeat myself. That's bullshit."
"It's not. And I actually think quite a bit of myself. What I should be, Carter, is on my knees asking you if you'd have me. And I can't get it out. It's stuck. It's stuck right here." She pressed her fist to her chest. "And every time it starts to loosen, just a little, something slams it back down. You're so much better than I deserve."
"Don't do that to me." He took her by the shoulders. "Don't put me somewhere I don't want to be."
"I don't know what I'd have said if there'd been a ring in that box. And that scares me. I don't know, and I can't see if whatever I'd have said would've been the right thing or the wrong thing for both of us. I have to see. I know the angle's wrong. More, the lens is defective, and I know it."
She stepped back from him. "I want to change it, and that's a first."
"That's a start. I'll settle for that, for now."
"You shouldn't settle for anything. That's my point."
"Don't tell me what to do, or who to love. You're the one. You're going to be the one tomorrow, and fifty years from tomorrow."
"I've never been the one. Not for anybody."
He closed the distance between them. "You'll get used to it." He tipped her face up to his, kissed her.
"Why? Why am I the one?"
"Because my life opened up, and it flooded with color when you walked back into it."
She wrapped her arms tight around him, pressed her face to his shoulder as emotion swamped her. "If you asked, I couldn't say no."
"That's not good enough, for either of us. When I ask, you need to want to say yes."