—
“Meg, you all done?”
Meghna blinked, looking at the man standing in front of her. The man she’d thought she’d known so well. She blinked again. It was like there were two of them. Seth as he was now, and a holographic image flickering on top of him. The perfect Seth she’d created in her head.The one who listened to her. And supported her writing. The person she had thought she was supposed to end up with.
And what hurt the most was that she hadn’t entirely made that version of Seth up. At one point, Seth really had been her friend. Whenever she’d been tempted to give up on her play, to give up on writing once and for all, he’d encouraged her. Whenever she’d doubted herself, he’d told her how much he believed in her, how talented she was, how one day she’d succeed. At one point, he’d really cared for her. Maybe not in the way she’d wanted, maybe not in the way she’d cared for him, but there had once been something real between them.
Sure, he’d been blunt. And he’d always had a bit of an ego, what she’d once thought was confidence but now recognized as pride. But that Seth never would have claimed someone else’s words as his own. Never would have claimedherwords as his own. Somewhere along the way, he’d changed. Maybe it had happened when he’d gotten a taste of stardom. Or when he’d felt the pressure to keep producing hits, to keep staying on top. Either way, she didn’t know who he was anymore.
Loss swept through her as the image of the old Seth flickered once more, then went out entirely. Leaving the real him behind.
“All done getting ready, I mean,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m done.” She smoothed her hands down the front of her tux. “The rest of the girls are still in there, though.”
He invited her into the room designated for the groomsmen, and the next hour passed quickly. A fast catered lunch. Posing for photographs. A quick pep talk from Eric to calm Seth’s nerves. A thankful round of hugs that Seth gave all of them afterward.
Meghna flinched the second his arms came around her, but tried to hide it. She smiled and joked with everyone while keeping one eye on her phone. Time was almost up.
She slipped out of the room, heading downstairs, relieved to see Julie was already there. At least she hadn’t changed her mind about meeting.
Julie waved, the lace of her dress rustling as she moved. From the firm lift of her chin and the color of her cheeks, she appeared to be in better spirits than earlier.
“I talked to my manager,” Julie said. “And my lawyer. To figure out what we can do.”
Meghna nodded. In between groomsmen activities, she’d been able to squeeze in some research of her own too. “What did they say?”
“That I have options. Thatwehave options.” Julie blew out a breath. “They both said I don’t have to go through with the wedding if I don’t want to, but they made it clear we’d take a pretty big hit if I walked away. ‘Runaway bride’ may make headlines, but they both assured me that it’s not the kind of publicity I want.” She sighed. “But I don’t know if I can get married to Seth right now, either. I’m not even sure I want tobemarried to him anymore.”
Meghna could understand that. If she was in Julie’s shoes, she certainly wouldn’t want to go through with this wedding, but she also knew how tough this industry could be. How difficult it was to break through and how quickly you could lose it all. Julie had worked so hard on her music and was finally starting to taste success. Meghna could understand why she wasn’t ready to let that all slip away.
“Whatever you decide,” she told Julie. “Whatever you need, I’ll support you.”
“Thanks,” Julie replied, her forehead creasing with worry. “It’s just…The idea of being married to Seth, the idea of being stuck with himforever…”
“It doesn’t have to be forever,” Meghna said, an idea sparking. “It could be temporary. You could wait it out for a while, then end things.”
“I guess.”
“And if he doesn’t meet the terms you want, the terms youdemand,you could go public with everything. Tell everyone the truth.”
Julie tilted her head. “That…That’s a really good idea.”
The two of them discussed the remaining details, pooling together the information they’d gathered and coordinating a plan.
“So, when should we do this?” Meghna asked a moment later.
“How about now?”
Meghna’s eyebrows jumped. She’d hoped they could confront Seth before the wedding, but hadn’t imagined that Julie would agree. “I’m fine with that, but…Are you sure?”
Julie nodded, already tapping away at her phone. “Absolutely. The sooner we get this over with, the better. I don’t think I could stand up there and exchange vows in front of everyone without getting this out first.”
A ping sounded a few seconds later, and Julie looked up with a tight smile. “He’s on his way.”
The sound of heavy footsteps reached them first, then Seth appeared, walking so quickly that his blond hair flapped around him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking only at Julie. “Did something happen?”
