I sit down on the bottom step next to Grandma, knees bouncing, gnawing on my thumbnail. She’s in so much pain she doesn’t even notice my presence. “How much longer?”
“They’re one minute away, honey,” the dispatcher soothes.
That minute feels like a lifetime.
Chapter 31
Brandon
“Eviewassupposedtomarry this kid named Adam,” I begin after several minutes of psyching myself up for a conversation I thought I was ready to have.
Laughable, really.
Gladys waits patiently.
“They were born a few days apart. Their parents own Smart Living Home Care together.”
She lifts a brow. “So that means they were destined to get married?”
I laugh. “According to their friends and family, you’d think so.”
She waits.
“Adam was your classic Goody Two-shoes, but Evie was a little more rebellious.” I smile. “Adam’s mom didn’t like her. Claimed she was always getting Adam into trouble.” I pause introspectively. “And I guess, as a parent, I get it. But Evie wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was just misguided. Lost.Sad.” I look down at my hands cradled in my lap, studying the lines in my palms. “But she wasn’t always like that. She used to be pure sunshine. The life of every party.”
I take a deep breath. “Anyway, they got engaged young. Too young, if you ask me. Everyone saw it coming, though; they’d been sweethearts for as long as everyone could remember. So it completely blindsided me when Evie confessed to me that she didn’t want to marry him—and on her wedding day, no less.”
Evie was just twenty-two, but she looked . . . well, I’d never seen her look so mature. So beautiful. I assumed she’d choose a big, poofygown—something with a lot of bells and whistles. In hindsight, I should have known better. Evie isn’t over-the-top. Her tastes are subtle, simple—but never boring. She wore a silk, halter top gown that hugged her every curve, and it had a skirt that pooled around her like water. She looked incredible, and that was the first time I trulysawher. Somewhere along the line, she had transformed from a spirited, mouthy girl into a demure, sophisticated young woman.
And I was . . . captivated.
But she was pacing like a caged lion, roaring at any minor inconvenience or annoyance . . . such as Jamie joking about whether she was ready for the honeymoon. Her face leached of color, and that’s when I knew.
“Then what?” Gladys prompts.
“Then . . .” I swallow uneasily. “We talked about it a little. Then—”
My heart races in the incriminating silence.
“And then I . . . I don’t know.” I shrug, trying to downplay what happened. “I flirted with her a little.” I close my eyes, seeing it all unfold in my mind, reliving the guilt I felt and still feel, flirting with another man’s bride. Adam’s bride, no less.
Gladys remains silent, and I take another deep breath. “Then she asked me if I thought she should go through with it.” I hang my head and grip my hair tightly. “And I said . . . no. That I didn’t think she should marry Adam.” My throat feels like sandpaper. “I’m not sure if the suggestion was for her benefit or mine.”
Gladys gently touches my shoulder, sensing my distress. “Honey . . .”
I shake my head. “Don’t.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
I lift my head to look at her.
“You’re being very hard on yourself,” she says quietly.
“For flirting with another man’s bride on their wedding day? For telling her not to marry him?” I scoff. “What’s worse is that Adam is still in love with her, and here I am—” I gnash my teeth and hang my head again, unable to complete the thought.
“Here you are . . . ?”
“Still trying to take what isn’t mine.”
