Page 130 of Love Marks
I take a full step back and shoot him my best scolding glare, but he just chuckles and plucks my empty glass out of my hand. “I’ll get you another, but don’t let me carry you home tonight, yeah?”
He’s gone before I can roll my eyes at him, quickly replaced by Ben, Lillian, and Lillian’s boyfriend, Mathieu.
“Quinn! Congratulations. We’re so excited for you, darling,” Lillian says. She’s much tanner than she was, now that she splits her time between St. Barths and the city. After meeting Mathieu on her vacation in France, they’ve been inseparable ever since.
“C’est incroyable, Quinn. Very beautiful.” Mathieu chimes in from beside her.
Ben congratulates me too and I can’t help but glance around at the room with a large smile. I never imagined that so many people would be here to support me.
Wes returns with our drinks and slips his hand around my waist effortlessly. I beam up at him. “Thank you.”
He nudges me lightly. “Go on, enjoy your big night. I’m going to hang with Luna. She’s the only one who likes me anyways.”
“I’ll be right over.” I press a quick kiss to his cheek as he slips out of my arms and crosses to the corner of the room where Luna has her face pressed into her iPad, which is typical for her these days.
After shaking hands with a few more people, I catch my mom’s eyes from across the room. She’s standing with a glass of wine in her hand and a wide smile on her face, Joe by her side. It’s a relief to see her looking so healthy. Better than that. Alive. Her second surgery was a success and she’s been in remission ever since.
I cross the room to meet her. When she sees me coming, she shoves her wine glass into Joe’s hand and throws her arms around my neck.
“Sweetheart! I can’t believe it. This is incredible. You look so beautiful.”
She gestures to my tight red dress and heels. “So do you,” I whisper back to her. “And you, Joe.”
Joe chuckles and raises his glass. “Congratulations, honey. How do you feel?”
I shake my head, dazed. “I’m in awe. I can’t believe everything came together and how many people are here. I honestly was worried that nobody would show.”
My mom rolls her eyes. “You’ve always been much too humble. Good thing Wesley has enough ego for the both of you.”
I can’t help but laugh at that, but my mom takes my hand, her expression suddenly serious. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
My brow furrows in confusion, but before I can ask, suddenly Sheila is standing in front of me.
“Sheila!” I wrap my arms around her, bringing her into a hug, and she returns it. I haven’t seen her in over a year, since Mom and I went to visit her for a weekend. “What are you doing here?”
“You thought I’d miss your big night? Child, don’t be ridiculous.” She slaps my arm, and I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips. She came all this way for me. We catch up for a bit before she tells my mom she wants to go sit down for a bit.
Joe leads her over to one of the booths while my mom clasps my arm and meets my gaze. “Enjoy your night, sweetheart. It’s a big one.”
I duck into the kitchen to find Manny prepping for a busy kitchen. He greets me with a kiss to the cheek and a twirl. Then, we go over everything again; we created the menu together with final approval going to my mom since all of this was inspired by her.
“Alright, now get out of here and enjoy your night. You deserve it, QT.”
I hug Manny again and head back out to the main room, where guests are starting to disperse towards their seats.
I lift my champagne glass and tap a spoon against it, silencing the room. With a wide smile, I look around and find Wesley in the crowd, shooting him a glare that says get the hell up here! He smirks back at me and makes his way through the crowd, joining me at my side and clasping his hand in mine.
“Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us for the Grand Opening of Mel’s. I feel so incredibly blessed to be here. Opening my own restaurant has been a dream of mine, one that I never thought would be possible.”
I take in a deep breath, feeling unsteady on my feet all of a sudden. As if he can sense my unease, Wes squeezes my hand and rubs his thumb on the back of my hand, soft, comforting circles.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without some amazing, incredible people that I want to mention. Lillian and Benjamin Marks, two of our incredible benefactors.”
I pause for applause and smile widely at Ben and Lillian across the room, lifting my glass towards them.
“Our amazing head chef, Manuel Gonzalez, our entire team in the kitchen, and our PR and marketing team behind the scenes.” More applause scatters through the room. “And of course, the man standing by my side, Wesley Marks.”
He grins down at me and squeezes my side, tucking me closer to him.