A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 74: No Matter What

TW: mentions of assault/trauma 


The weather was picture perfect, so we decided to have dinner outside on the deck before the heat rolled in at the end of the week and the backyard was fully set up for the wedding.

Though 'deck' might have been generous, it was just a flat square of strips of wood in the middle of the yard with an old scratched up white patio table my mom found on someone's lawn to give away, along with five mismatched chairs. There had been a sixth, but after an unfortunate incident with some of her friends and a little too much sangria, the sixth chair had been dutifully put to rest.

"You're getting married on the anniversary of the day you met?" Blade asked incredulously as they dutifully trooped outside with all the plates, cutlery, cups, and other necessary items to set the table for dinner. I got to sit at the table since everyone insisted I stay put and rest my leg, and for once, I was happy to sit and be served.

Particularly as Blade was the one doing the serving.

My mom handed him things from the patio door and told him where to put it and since Peter was busy at the grill, it left Blade to do the rest; when Mom said she was going to make him work this week she had meant it, and I loved her even more for it.

I thought having Blade here all week it was going to be terrible and uncomfortable, but with my mom and Peter around, it wasn't as bad as I had originally expected it to be. Was it still awkward? Of course. But having them there has a buffer helped.

Mom handed him a pitcher lemonade, standing at the threshold of the patio door, the glass already sweating with condensation from the warm weather. "Not quite. That would be on the Monday after, but we cant exactly get married on a week day and expect anyone to come. But it's close enough and this means we can spend the day on our honeymoon, which is a pretty good fallback."

"No kidding," he said, filling a glass with lemonade to hand to me, then handed one to my mom, since Peter already had a beer. "So how did you two meet? I don't think I've ever heard the story."

"Please don't," was all Peter said, with a tone of defeat that said he knew it was futile to even try.

"WELL funny you should ask!" My mom said, with a tone of pure glee that said she enjoyed telling said story way too much.

She waved Blade down to sit at the now fully set table and he snagged a chair that was under the shade of the umbrella, right next to me.

My mom cleared her throat, readying herself for the tale; all she needed now was a microphone. "Four years ago, on a day much like this one, I had decided to take my lunch break outside and enjoy one of the last beautiful days of summer. So I sat on a park bench, enjoying the weather and the sun and ate my lunch in peace. All was right in the world. Birds were singing, people were biking and walking around, the sky was crystal blue, everything was thriving--"

Peter sighed, eyes rolling upward to the same crystal blue sky as he braced for the rest of the story, though his mouth was quirked up in a fond smile. I knew he didn't really mind much, but still found the whole thing to be mildly embarrassing. I always thought it was a pretty memorable way to meet someone and an adorable, if hilarious, story too.

Especially when compared to how I met Blade, which had been more a horror film than the cute romcom type meet cute Mom had.

"And Peter was also out, taking Andrew here for a walk," she said, giving Andrew an affectionate pat from where he was already sitting by her, staring at the table and ready for scraps. "But, you see, it had rained that morning. And sure, the sky was blue and clear at the time, but it was still quite a mess. And someone was a little excited about the weather changing or maybe a squirrel or a bird or something so...as I was getting up from the bench to head back to work, who comes barreling down the path, splashing mud and puddles of water, scaring me out of my wits and knocking me over? Therefore completely ruining my outfit and drenching me?"