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“You’re getting married?” he asks.
I look down at the ring on my left hand. “Yeah. Hunter just proposed.”
“Son of a bitch,” he mutters.
“Coop? Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he clips. “I guess congratulations are in order.” His tone sounds anything but congratulatory.
“Gee, thanks,” I say sarcastically.
“What am I supposed to say, Reese? Huh?”
“Nothing, Cooper. You’re not supposed to say anything.”
“Look, I need to go. Tell Mom I’ll call her later. I have interviews and press and all kinds of other shit I need to get to. I just wanted— It doesn’t matter. Just tell Mom I’ll call her,” he says, and the line goes dead.
Tears burn my eyes, and I try to fight against them. Why can’t he just be happy for me? Support me? I’ve always been there for him. No matter what the choice, I’ve supported him with my whole heart. I don’t understand. He’s mad that I’m engaged? He doesn’t want me, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either. That’s not how life works. I’ve moved on to a man who is good to me. Is it too much to ask that he be happy for me?
Sitting on the couch, I bury my face in my hands. The ring on my left hand feels foreign. This is supposed to be a fun night. A night of celebrations, his and mine. Why is he acting like I just kicked his puppy?
“Reese?” I look up to find Ann standing next to me. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” I choke out and hold her phone out to her.
She takes a seat next to me. “You want to try that again?”
“He’s mad. Cooper. He’s mad at me.”
“Why?”
“Because I agreed to marry Hunter. He doesn’t want me, yet he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either.” I slap my hand over my mouth, regretting my word vomit as soon as it spews from my mouth. “I’m sorry. Please forget I said that.”
“Come here.” She pulls me into a hug. “I don’t know what’s going on, and it’s not my place. What I do know is that you’ve always been special to my son.”
“He’s my best friend,” I say through tears.
“I know, sweet girl. He’s just having a hard time adjusting to missing all the important things in your life, and you his. You two have always been attached at the hip.”
“I don’t think that’s it. He was upset. I just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to lose him in my life, but I feel him slipping further and further away.” I can’t tell her that it started the night I offered myself to him and he refused me. I keep that to myself. It’s been a downhill spiral with us ever since. We’ve both been distant, but I never would have imagined he would act this way at my news. He’s always said he wanted me to find someone who was good to me. Hunter is that man.
“Come on. Your fiancé is waiting, and your dad wants to make a toast.” She hands me the box of tissues to dry my face. Once I’m all cleaned up, we make our way downstairs. Hunter is at my side immediately.
“You all right?” he asks softly.
“Yeah, just a lot of emotions, us and Coop winning. It just kind of all came at me at once.”
“We don’t have to rush,” he tells me. “Take all the time you need. I just needed to know that you’ll always be mine.”
“No.” I shake my head. “There’s no point in waiting. We’re in this together, right? Are you having second thoughts?” I ask Hunter when I should be asking myself. I don’t know why I have the sudden urge to get married. It wasn’t even on my radar until he asked me. Now, I guess it’s just the next step. It’s the next part of moving on with my life. I want to feel settled. It’s been too long since I’ve felt that.
“Never.”
“Good. Then I say a small ceremony, maybe here in my hometown?”
“Whatever you want.”
“What about your parents?”
“They love you as much as I do. As long as it’s what we want, they’ll support us.”
I pull my phone out of my back pocket and scroll through the calendar. “How’s the end of March?”
“Reese, that’s next month.”
“Too soon?”
“No. Not for me, but are you sure? You have a huge wedding or small, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re the one standing next to me.”
“Let me make some calls. There are a few venues here in town. I’ll see which one can get us in and we’ll go from there. How’s that?”
“Perfect. Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”
“Come over here, you two. We have some celebrating to do,” my dad calls out.
We make our way to the circle of people I’ve grown up with and raise our glasses. Dad makes a sappy toast about his baby girl growing up and getting married, and that he couldn’t think of a better man to ask for my hand. I once thought he would be saying those words with Cooper standing next to me. Just goes to show you how life changes when you don’t expect it to. What you wish for isn’t always the way things turn out.
