Page 100 of The Wedding Situation Romance

“That bad?” she grimaces.

I take in a deep breath and let it out shakily. “Basically, I won’t have a plus-one to your renewal,” I say and her eyebrows curve upward sadly.

“Alright, tell me everything,” she says.

And I do. I tell her about the whole conversation, what he thinks I did, what I really did and didn’t do and everything in between. By the end of it I am practically sobbing. And she pulls me back into her.

“Oh wow,” she says. “That is a lot. I’m so sorry,”

“I know,” I nod. “It was terrible, Allegra. As he was questioning me it was like I was one of his court cases. I couldn’t get in a word edgewise. No wonder witnesses hate him so much.”

Allegra pulls back. “Surely you don’t hate him,” she says, offering me her napkin since mine is saturated.

“No,” I sniff angrily. “I don’t. And I hate that I don’t.”

“I feel…” she says on a deep breath. “That this is mostly just a big misunderstanding.”

I snort. “Well. Obviously. I mean, I would never use someone for money. Especially someone I…”

“Was falling in love with?” she asks sweetly and my lips tip into a full, quivering pout.

“Oh, Allegra. What was I thinking?” I ask. “I mean there were so many red flags. He’s August Remington for fuck’s sake.”

“You were thinking that you always see the good in people. That you have chemistry with this man despite how crazy he drives you. And that under all that hard outer layering, he’s actually a lovely man who might be good for you. Honestly, reg flags, as much as they do exist, aren’t always what people think. Misunderstandings are a different thing entirely.”

“Well he’s misunderstanding everything,” I tell her. “I would never use him with clients as collateral just to prove a point or make a jab at his professional life. I’m passionate about people working out their problems but not to that extent.” I stop to blow my nose which if I had to guess, based on my Irish complexion is probably as bright as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’s right now. Then I settle my hands in my lap and give into the depression washing over me. “I just don’t see how after everything we’ve been through in the past couple of weeks that he could think I was trying to screw him over. How he could think that I am capable of faking all of that.”

“You know,” Allegra says, switching from her friend voice to her therapist voice. Normally, I’m not a huge fan of that but right now, I actually don’t mind it. “I don’t totally buy that August…Reid…thinks you did all of that.”

“Seriously? Allegra, you didn’t see his face. You didn’t hear his tone. It was like…interrogation. It was awful.”

“Angry and accusatory and unwavering?” she asks.

“Yes. Completely,” I say, wringing the napkin in my hands.

“That’s what I mean. That sounds to me like he is struggling with something deeper. Like maybe he believed those things in the beginning as his brain connected the dots. But it’s not so much the possibility of betrayal that had him raging and irrational, but insecurity about how that possibility made him feel.”

“What do you mean?” I ask through a stuffy nose.

“I think that when he realized that losing you and getting his heart broken would shatter him, it scared him. Whether he fully believes that you betrayed him or not, the idea that he could be broken if those thingsweretrue meant that his guard was down. And it freaked him out. And with a man like him, those reactive feelings are going to come out in anger most likely.”

“Oh he was angry…” I agree. “But that’s not the other thing. I talked to my dad about it. So he knows that I was involved with one of his workplace rivals.”

“Oh boy…” she cringes. “How did that go?”

“How do you think it went?” I ask. “And ice the cake with the fact I had to admit to my dad that the man I have been going out with is nearly twice my age…”

Allegra snorts at that then bites the smile back again. “Sorry. But it is kind of funny.”

My lip quivers again and she wraps me into her arms again. “Oh honey. I know it seems like the end of the world. But I really believe it’s not. Love doesn’t always win, but it can.”

“Of course you think that,” I say, pulling back again. “You’re about to renew your vows to the love of your life. Your relationship is perfect.”

She snorts again but makes no attempt to hide it. “Is that what you think? Girl, Dustin and I have our problems. Like the fact that when we get into arguments, he says I’m not allowed to use my therapist tone. Like I can just turn it off. Or the fact that he wakes up half as much as I do when Kimbree is fussing. Or the fact that I accidentally threw away a box of his hockey jerseys last summer. I swear that almost ended us.”

“So he has less sports memorabilia and you guys are sleep deprived,” I wave my hand. “Are those real problems? Problems that can end a relationship?”

“No. But they’re daily problems. And daily problems set the tone for the entire relationship. You’re right. It’s not about who wakes up more or how many games Dustin has to go get those jerseys back, which in my opinion is a win for him. It’s about how we handle the imperfection on a day-to-day basis.”