“You … want me … to give you away?”
“Only if you’re comfortable.” She paled slightly, and I noticed a tremble in her hands. “You know what, never mind. Forget I asked.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m just surprised. Yes, of course I’ll give you away. I’m honored.” I was, but I was also sick at the thought of giving Nate’s wife away to someone new. It felt wrong. But I couldn’t say any of that.
“Are you sure?” Becca asked.
“Positive. Just let me know what I should wear, and when I should be there.”
“Oh, this means so much to me.” Her eyes filled. “Thank you. I just couldn’t imagine it being anyone else but you.”
“Like I said, it will be my honor.”
She peered at me for a moment. “How are you? Something’s different about you.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Tell me the truth,” Becca said.
I opened my mouth to tell her about Delphine but the words wouldn’t come. I wasn’t sure why, other than I felt like a big fat hypocrite.
“I’m moving forward,” I said, purposely keeping it vague.
“You know I’m here if you ever need to talk.”
“I do know and thank you.”
She stood. “I should run. I have a dress fitting in an hour.”
I came around the desk to give her a hug. “I’ll see you in two weeks.”
She hugged me back. “Thank you, Dorian. I mean it.”
I walked her out to the front. Soon, she was on her way. To her wedding dress fitting. A dress she would wear to marry someone who wasn’t my best friend.
I returned to the desk to help Annie ring up customers, telling myself it would all be fine. It wasn’t like it was my life anyway. Becca deserved to be happy, and I wasn’t going to stand in her way.
Why, then, did I feel so bad?
The restof the morning was uneventful, other than a busload of septuagenarians and octogenarians from a retirement community all coming in to the store at the same time. They mostly browsed, but several bought books. Annie convinced two of the women to try Seraphina’s new series and even told them to come to the book signing if they could.
One woman remembered my mother and asked after her. I had to break it to her that she’d passed away.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” she said. “But wouldn’t she be proud to see you carrying on the family tradition.”
After they headed out, bound for the ice cream shop, Annie and I let out sighs of relief.
“I never saw so many old people all at the same time before,” Annie said. “They were a handful.”
I chuckled at her old-fashioned description. “An hour with the elderly and you’re starting to sound like one.”
“I’m an old lady inside,” Annie said. “Just ask my mom.”
Since there was a lull in customers, we started straightening the display tables. Our elderly couples had made a mess of things.
“Becca seems nice,” Annie said.
“Without fail.”
