Two months later...

Cara kept her fingers on the keys even while Ellie twisted her hair up into some sort of torture device called an up-do.

“Can you stop working for all of five minutes for me to finish?” Ellie sighed. “Tamara, take the keyboard from her, will you?”

“Come on. Give it here.” Tamara grasped the keyboard.

“No!” Cara wailed the word. “I need to finish this.”

“Cara, it is your wedding day. Stop it.” Ellie Smacked Cara’s hand and Tamara took that moment to whisk the keyboard away.

Wedding. Day.

Oh, God. It really was.

She blinked around Nate’s apartment. Her mother was fussing over flowers. Tamara and her friends were finishing the underskirt Cara had tried to put together last minute.

It was a dream. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

“Having second thoughts?” Ellie asked quietly.

“I’m having is-this-real thoughts.” Cara swallowed.

“Hey, you asked him to marry you.”

“I just thought...these things take time...”

“Clearly, you didn’t realize how badly Nate wanted his hooks in you. There.” Ellie presented Cara with a mirror.

“Wow...” Cara stared at herself.

Ellie had tried out a few hairstyles, but Cara could never make up her mind about what she liked best. The end result Ellie had settled on for her was...amazing.

“I went with the light saber clips here and here, and in the back the veil will attach here.” Ellie kept talking and Cara nodded.

“Ladies, we have twenty minutes, if we’re going to hit the mark,” Cara’s mother announced.

“Oh, shit.” Ellie turned and beckoned to the other girls. “We gotta go now.”

It took a team of four people to get Cara into the poofy dress. She’d made most of it herself, and what she hadn’t been able to do, the other girls had helped with. It wasn’t traditional by any stretch of the imagination, more like straight out of Padmé Amidala’s wardrobe. Cara had come up with the concept on her own, after a day of Star Wars marathons.

“The dice!” Cara patted her pocket. She’d insisted on them for exactly this reason. “They were here a minute ago.”

“Nope.” Ellie reached into her pocket. “I got you these. Something borrowed and blue.”

“Thanks, Ellie. You’re the best.” Cara gave Ellie a squeeze.

“You’re going to be late,” her mother scolded.

“Okay, I’ll go first with the flowers,” Tamara said. “Rashae will help you up the stairs, Ellie and your mom have the train. We’re ready? Let’s go!”

They proceeded single file up the narrow staircase to the roof of the building. Nate had finally shown her the owner’s gem of a retreat, after she’d moved in proper like. A container garden lined the edges of the roof and strings of lights wound over the top, held up by a wooden pergola. The cardboard cutout of the Millennium Flacon shielded her from view of the rest of their guests. The sun was just beginning to dip, bathing the sky in brilliant saffron and orange tones.

Cara took a deep breath, her wedding party slipping away to their seats until she was alone. She gripped the flowers someone had handed her in one hand and the dice in the other. A part of her wished her father were here, but he’d chosen to leave them, just as she’d chosen Nate. This was her future. Where she wanted to be.

This was it.

She was getting married, and she didn’t regret a single thing.

The low, thrumming of drums began.

She swallowed her laugh and took a step forward, out of the shadow of the Falcon and into view as the Star Wars theme song blast through the loudspeakers.

Half the attendees had opted to dress in robes or armor. It was a Star Wars wedding after all, because who could expect them to do anything else?

Cara and Nate locked eyes and she froze.

This was right.

It was perfect.

And as crazy as it might be, she was glad they weren’t waiting.

She blew out a breath and walked forward to her future.

Ellie slid into her seat next to Bryan.

“She got it?” Bryan whispered.

“Yes. Did Nate?”

Bryan jerked his head in a nod.

They both sat up a little straighter.

“Will the couple now please roll for initiative?” Somehow the officiate, dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi, got that line out without laughing.

Ellie grasped Bryan’s hand and held her breath.

First Cara, then Nate gasped.

“Natural twenties,” Obi-Wan announced.

Ellie slumped back in her chair.

Thank goodness.

She’d rolled the weighted dice enough she had a good feeling they’d land on a decently high number, but she still had nightmares of one or the other rolling a one or something crazy. And that couldn’t happen. Nate and Cara’s wedding had to be perfect.

Ellie let go of Bryan’s hand and finally allowed herself to enjoy the spectacle of her best friend’s wedding. She’d never had people in her life like Nate, Cara and the others, and Ellie meant to do everything in her power to keep them, and that meant getting a handle on her life.

“What are you doing later?” Bryan whispered.

“Going home. Alone.” Top of Ellie’s list, no more friends with benefits.

Nate waved goodbye to the last of their guests and turned to climb the stairs. Since Cara had scored a good job off the bat, they’d opted to wait a while for a honeymoon. Which was fine with him. They had time.

He let himself into the apartment and stopped.

“Wow...”

“I know. I know!” Cara scurried around, still wearing a silvery gray tutu. “Stuff is everywhere.”

Nate hadn’t seen the inside of his apartment since yesterday, when the girls descended to tackle the last-minute dress stuff. Judging by the netting, ribbons and stuff everywhere, they’d also constructed several portable buildings. Or something. With that group, who knew?

He caught Cara around the waist as she tried to dart past and whisked her off her feet.

“Nate!” She squirmed, but he wasn’t letting her go.

“Worry about it later.” He carried her to the sofa and sank down, cradling her against him.

“We got the Falcon inside. Mom and Dad were able to pull down the decorations. Your Dad wants to do lunch tomorrow—”

“Cara.” Nate tugged on her hair.

“What?”

“Relax. Everything’s fine.”

“Is it? Is it done?”

“It is.”

“Thank God. Nate, I never want to do that again.” Cara buried her face against his chest. Wedding planning, moving and working had taken its toll on her, but the benefit was that she had been too busy to worry if they were doing the right thing.

“Well, don’t ask me to marry you again and we won’t have to.”

“Not funny.” Cara chuckled and snuggled closer. “What about those rolls? I’ve never seen dice roll that many twenties. It was weird, right?”

“Mm.”

“What?” She peered up at him. “You know something.”

“I’m pretty sure those dice are weighted.”

“No.” Cara gasped and sat up. “But that means...”

“It means our friends care a lot about us and wanted to make everything perfect.” Nate tugged her back to his chest, close to his heart where she belonged, before she could decide cheating dice nullified their vows.

“I didn’t think of that. Who did it?”

“My guess?”

“Yeah?”

“Ellie.”

“Oh. Huh. I could see that.” Cara threaded her fingers together with his. “I saw her and Bryan talking.”

“Yeah, he still thinks he has a chance with her.”

“And you don’t?”

“Ellie’s...Ellie.” Nate shook his head.

“I don’t know.” Cara hummed a moment. “I think...opposites attract.”

Nate chuckled. There was a truth. He stood and Cara clung to his shoulders.

“I’m done talking about our friends, Cara-bear Vaughn.”

“I like the sound of that name.” She twined her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I got you a surprise.”

“Oh? Is it a naughty one that’ll make you blush?”

“Yes.”

Nate grinned. Fantasies had nothing on his reality. A lifetime with Cara, was just the start.

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