I felt my eyebrows come together and my stomach threaten to drop out. He what?

“But there was a problem. All her life, Pearl was treated wrong by men. They didn’t appreciate what they had with her, and they screwed it up. All my life, I’ve been screwing up relationships. One way or another, I find a way. So once I realized how much I cared about her, I saw the truth. I wasn’t different than the men before. I was one of the jerks who kept breaking her heart. So what did it matter if I was crazy about her? Telling her my feelings was only going to end in heartbreak. I was certain I’d screw it up, and I knew Pearl deserved better than that. So I did what I thought was the right thing.”

All I could do was stare with my mouth open. Did he really mean all of this? It brought me back to the dream I’d had after my drunken night at the rehearsal dinner. Hadn’t I dreamed he said something like that to me? Or maybe it wasn’t a dream at all. Maybe that was just a fuzzy memory of something he thought I wouldn’t remember?

“I hid my feelings from her. I thought I was being noble. Honorable. It was self-sacrifice for the greater good, or something stupid like that. But I never stopped to think that it wasn’t my choice.” He lowered his eyes from the crowd and looked into mine, microphone still up to his lips. “Trusting someone with your heart is a scary thing. It’s dangerous. It can lead to heart break. But I never gave you the chance to decide if you wanted to trust me with yours.”

“Dean,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”

“I’m crazy about you, Pearl. I’ve been a complete mess ever since I went back to Manhattan without you. It feels like life lost all of its color. Like I’m just going through the motions. All I do is think about the time we had together and how much I miss it. How much I miss you. So I’m here to tell you that I’ve never been as happy as I was when we were together. I love you, Pearl. And I wanted you to know that, even if you don’t feel the same way. Because you deserve to make your own choice, and I was an idiot for taking that choice away from you. Oh, I also realized I’m not like those assholes who came before. I’ll never make you regret it if you trust me.”

He got down on one knee and held up a little necklace. It was in the shape of a frog. “Sorry,” he said. “This was all kind of a last-minute realization, and the frog was the only necklace I could find at the airport.”

I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt a hot tear roll down my cheek. “Okay,” I said, laughing and crying at the same time.