Page 41 of The Sounds of Her
Jenna’s dress is perfect, and her cheeks are flushed, her eyes pinned to Adam. Lou kisses her cheek and steps back, leaving Sandy to walk her the rest of the way to Adam. That does it, his face crumples and a couple of tears spill over. I lost that bet. He did well to hold it in so long.
While Sandy whispers something to her daughter, he brushes his cheeks, then takes Jenna’s hand from Sandy. Her mom is crying too as she steps away to take the first seat in the front row.
Adam steps right up to Jenna, one hand on her cheek, and she stares up at him. They’re silently speaking to one another, communicating in that way only soulmates can.
Everyone turns to face the officiant who gets the ceremony underway. Adam is clinging to Jenna’s hand. I doubt he’ll let her go for the rest of the day.
I peek at the women behind Jenna. Keira and Elsa are sniffling, Megan has a soft smile on her face and Brooke is struggling to keep her composure. I’m pretty sure she’s willing herself not to cry, no mean feat.
She catches my eye and I wink at her, which brings a soft smile to her lips, before she turns back to watch the ceremony. They say the vows they wrote each other, then Jake steps up with the rings. Adam unties them and ruffles his hair. Jenna bends to kiss his cheek, and he turns to the crowd and punches the air. Everyone laughs.
“Watch it buddy, she’s taken,” Adam says.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jake waves him off, then hurries to his mom, who gives him a hug, whispering how awesome he did.
They exchange rings, the officiant pronounces them husband and wife and Adam cups her cheeks before leaning in to kiss her. It’s not obscene, but it isn’t chaste either. Everyone stands and cheers and I clap, grinning as Adam hugs her tight into him.
No one mentions the bet about when he’d cry.
On the way down the aisle, I hold out my elbow for Brooke and we follow behind the happy couple.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her.
Her head tilts up as she links her arm around my elbow. “Not too bad yourself, Harris.”
I don’t release her until we reach the area where the meal and party, that I’m sure is going to go on into the night, is being held. They’ve created a wooden deck right on the beach, big enough to hold the tables, a bar and a decent sized dancefloor. We all take a glass of champagne and head to our seats.
After the delicious meal, the speeches and toasts come next. Everyone turns to me as I get up. I hold up my glass and a piece of paper. I’ve not written the speech down because I’m happier being off the cuff. For this first part, I need the prop.
Adam wanted to hear it before the wedding, but I refused, telling him to trust me.
“So, first off, I need no introduction,” I smirk at the rumble of laughter. “Let me talk to you guys about Adam. You all know we’ve been best friends since we were five years old, and I have a lot of stories I could tell you right now.” I glance down at the paper. “He’s one of a kind, truly special, talented, good looking,” I lift my head, seeing the bemused faces and glance at Adam. “Dude, I’m struggling to read your handwriting.”
Everyone laughs, Adam smirks, shaking his head as Jenna leans into his shoulder, hiding her face as she chuckles. I fold up the paper and put it on the table.
“Okay, now for the real speech. Thanks to everyone for coming, I know being dragged to this hideous island, having to spend time with all these assholes, is an enormous chore,” I pause for more laughter. “In all seriousness, each one of you means something very special to Ad and Jen and they wouldn’t want to do this without you.
“A huge thank you to the bridesmaids, who I’m sure you will all agree look stunning.” I raise my glass to the three women, who are all smiling. My eyes linger on Brooke, but I clear my throat and look away.
“To Carl, for escorting his beautiful daughter. And to Nick and Jordan, the latter especially for not doing anything ridiculous or embarrassing. I’m sure that will come later. And to the guy who stole the show, the one we’re going to talk about for years to come. Jake Mathews everyone!” I hold up my glass and everyone claps and cheers.
Jake jumps up from his chair and does a victory wave. That kid is gonna be a handful for Keira when he gets older.
“Grooms the world over always say that the best man’s speech is the worst ten minutes of their lives. I’m sure Jenna could argue she has experienced that more than once.” I wiggle my brows. Adam mutters something that sounds a lot like, ‘fuck off.’
“The trouble with Ad, if I were to tell you all the dubious things he got up to over the years, I’d incriminate myself, and his mom is here. I don’t want her to know how badly her son led me astray. He also threatened to beat me up if I told any jokes that made him look bad, Beth. So, you need to have a word.”
His mom laughs. Beth has been like a mother to me over the years, so I can get away with this shit.
“It hasn’t all been crazy. We started a band together, we met two other awesome guys who came onboard and all we ever wanted was to reach for the stars. You never doubted us, not once. As much as everyone says I’m the heart of BreakNeck,” I give a bashful smile that has them laughing again. “Without your driving force, talent and, fuck okay, good looks, I believe we wouldn’t be as amazing as we are. You’ve always steered the band right, you’ve always been there for your friends, no matter what.
“And speaking of friends, I want to take a moment to mention a friend who can’t be here today. Chris Townsend. A lot of you don’t know Chris was a part of the band way back when. He was one of Ad’s closest friends, so if everyone could raise a glass in his honour.”
I pause and everyone lifts their glass, then chance a peek at Adam, and see genuine gratitude, no irritation or sadness. He didn’t know I was going to bring up Chris, but despite losing touch, he meant a lot to Adam, and he never forgave himself for not having him stay in the band when we made it big. He was devastated when Chris died in a car accident.
“The four of us have always been a team, a tight-knit group no one could penetrate. Until Jenna punched her way into his life, literally. She appeared with a right hook Joey would be proud of.”
“I taught her everything she knows!” Joey yells out.