Page 75 of The Other Plan

‘Wasn’t easy’ was an understatement. I’d had to spend a huge part of my day helping the wedding party prepare... which meant a huge part of my day with Carter. I’d even had to pin his freaking boutonniere on. It had been torture feeling his pecs beneath my fingertips, knowing I’d never touch them again. Never touch him again, period. Hell, after he left, I’d probably never see him again.

No, today with Carter was anything but easy. His big, sad puppy dog eyes tracked me everywhere I went. It had almost killed me having to tell him, “No, I’m busy” when he’d asked if we could talk.

But today, it wasn’t an excuse. Today, I really was busy. Planning a wedding was hard work, and on the day of the wedding, I needed to be completely undistracted and on game. At any given moment, there were a thousand little fires igniting that I needed to douse. A thousand little fires that I couldn’t let any of the guests or the Bronsons see. To the outside world, everything had to look flawless. Perfect.

And I’d done it today. I’d put out every single fire with ease.

Well, every fire but the one still burning for Carter that I didn’t think would ever go out.

“He’s watching you again,” Cameron whispered.

I didn’t need to look up to know who he meant.

“Doesn’t matter.” I took a sip of my champagne.

“He looks really sad.”

“Still doesn’t matter,” I lied.

“Like, it looks like someone ran over his dog, peed in his cheerios, shot his best friend, then ran over his dog again, then made him eat the peed-in cereal while they ran over his dog one more time for good measure. I mean super sad.”

My heart clenched at the thought of those puppy dog eyes staring at me, but I lifted my chin and forced my eyes not to drift in his direction.

“I’m finishing this champagne, and then I’m heading home. I’m assuming you can handle the rest of the night without me?”

Cameron grumbled. “Yeah. Of course I can. But I don’t think you should go without talking to him.”

“What’s the point?” I argued. “All it’s going to do is make me sadder. Hurt more.”

Cameron pinched his eyebrows together and tipped his head. “Really, though? Is it really possible for you to hurt more? Because from the look on your face, girl, you’re in a special kind of heartbreak hell.”

“Exactly!” I blew out a puff of air. “I am in a special kind of heartbreak hell. So, this is why I’m avoiding going over there to make it worse.”

“Jenna.” He took my glass of champagne and set it down on the linen-covered cocktail table beside us. When he took my hands in his, he stiffened his lip in a sympathetic smile. “I want you to be honest with me now.”

“Okay?” I said, unsure where this was going.

“Do you love him?”

I peeked over at Carter, and butterflies took flight inside my stomach. “I don’t know. I mean, it sure feels like I love him, but we haven’t known each other long enough for it to be authentic. It’s impossible to fall in love with someone that fast and stay together for real. Isn’t it?”

Cameron tipped his head, narrowing his eyes. “Is it though? Because if you really believe that, then you’re saying that Louie and I aren’t going to make it. Do you not remember the night we met?”

I smiled at the memory of Cameron racing over, gushing that he’d just met the man of his dreams... something he’d never done before after meeting many, many men. And he’d been right. They truly were totally and completely in love within days, and my superpower told me that they had that special sauce to make it to happily ever after. They truly were meant to be. “Yeah. I remember.”

“I knew. Louie knew. We just knew. It was instant, and it was love. Real love. And don’t you go trying to tell me it’s not. Your superpower even confirmed it.”

A new sliver of hope cracked open my heart a little wider. “Of course you and Louie are going to make it. You two are...”

“Made for each other? Soul mates? Destined for happiness? In love? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And so are you and Carter.”

Could I believe him? “I don’t know, Cameron. It’s just so fast. And with Carter living so far away, it really puts so much pressure on things. It’s not like we can just date and see what happens. It’s plane rides and juggling companies and distance, and if we survive all that, then it’s one of us giving up our life and moving. It’s a lot. And it’s especially a lot since we really haven’t had enough time to know if we’re right for each other. What if we struggle like that, and it doesn’t work out in the end?”

He rolled his eyes. “You can love someone without spending years figuring it out. And who says how much time is needed to know you’ve found the right person? Is there some magic number I don’t know about? A lot of our wedding couples date for a decade and divorce a year after their wedding. I’d think ten years is plenty of time to know for sure, and yet... the big ‘D’ got them too. And I don’t mean Dallas. Time means jack shit.”

“True.” I shrugged, thinking back on how many couples dated for years, lived together, knew everything about each other, and yet they still blew up and failed soon after the vows. Or even worse, they simply grew apart over time and then gave up.

He met my gaze, and I saw the truth in his words. “More time doesn’t guarantee a happy ending. And less time doesn’t mean it won’t work. Don’t tell me we haven’t planned weddings for at least a dozen couples who knew instantly and were at ‘I love you’ in a matter of days. Hell, we married that one couple that had been together less than a month. Remember that? We did that little intimate wedding on the beach with their family. And your superpower said they were gonna make it. And we just got the baby notice email six months ago. They are still going strong five years later. It happens, and you know it.”