Page 75 of Never Let Go

“Your grand gesture,” she said.

I frowned. “That’s not really my style.”

“Maybe that’s exactly why you need to do it.” She took Porter’s hand and stood. “We should get going, but think about it. Let me know, okay? You’ve got two strikes with this woman. One more and you’re out. So if I was you, I’d think carefully before I swing again, Foster. Well, either that, or you could give up completely. Your choice.”

As they left, I realized that giving up wasn’t my style either. Between that and a grand gesture, I didn’t think there was much of a choice at all.

36

SHELBY

Being the maid of honor at a wedding when dealing with fresh heartbreak was a cruel and unusual method of torture. Every single thing I saw—from the staging of the pictures to the flowers—reminded me of where I was.

And that this was probably never going to happen for me.

Trying hard to focus on Ashley and the festivities, I forced a smile and mentally cussed at Foster for ruining a day that was so very special to my friend. Ash looked beautiful, but she was clearly worried about me, constantly glancing my way with concern furrowing her brow and clouding her eyes.

I sighed, picking up the hem of my dress, and I moved across the room to her. The makeup artist had just finished with me and was readying her supplies to start on Ash, but she’d popped into the bathroom, leaving my friend and I alone to have a quick conversation.

“This is your big day,” I said firmly, bringing my hands up to rest on her shoulders as I stood in front of her. She was already sitting on the stool the makeup artist had brought with her, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she looked at me with all that worry in her eyes. “Stop fretting about me. I’m fine. What happened sucked, but it’s over and I’m moving on. Don’t let it tarnish your memories of today, Ash. Please?”

“It won’t tarnish my memories.” She scoffed, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Who even uses that word anyway?”

“I do because it was the perfect word for the point I was trying to convey.” I lifted my eyebrows a little, trying to let her see how serious I was. “This is your wedding day, Ashley Shaw. In less than two hours, you’ll be married to the love of your life and your happily ever after will begin. I love you and I’m not going to be the pouty maid of honor in the pictures. I also won’t allow you to be the worried bride.”

She sighed, her eyes moving slowly from one of mine to the other. “Okay, fine. I’ll stop worrying soon, but there’s something I need to say to you first.”

“Shoot.”

“I know you’re angry at him and I know you’re hurt, but true love can’t be squashed by misunderstandings, Shelby.” When I opened my mouth to protest the true-love assertion, she gave me a look that shut me right up. “Love will always find a way. You just need to open your heart and stop letting your fear of the past get in your way.”

Tears were suddenly pricking at the backs of my eyes. “Thank you. Can we go back to celebrating your love now?”

“Just one more thing.” She shifted slightly into the early afternoon sun streaming in through the window, her red hair glowing like a luminous halo around her head. “You should talk to him. If and when you get the opportunity, take it. Speak to him, ask the questions you want to ask, and at the very least, get some closure.”

I dragged in a shuddering breath, but before I could say anything, she reached for my hands and squeezed them. “You have exceptionally high standards, my Shelby. And so you should because you are an exceptional person, but sometimes, people make mistakes. They do stupid shit and they screw up. Sometimes it’s because pride or fear gets in the way, and sometimes, it’s just because they haven’t thought something all the way through. Either way, we can’t hold it against them forever.”

Tears welled in my eyes. I wanted to argue, to rant about how Foster’s mistakes weren’t mistakes. They had been nothing less than deliberate deception, but the sincere, soft look in her eyes—and the fact that it was her wedding day—stopped me.

“You don’t want to be stuck in the same place you’ve been in since college forever, Shel. Misunderstandings are just that. They’re misunderstandings, which means you may not understand things for the way they really are.”

With the tears threatening to ruin my makeup and my brain and heart at war about whether she was right, I simply nodded. “I’ll think about it, but right now, you need to get married and we need to make sure we get you to the chapel on time.”

She smiled and the makeup artist gently ushered me out of her way, stepping into my place to get started on the already beautiful bride. Needing a distraction, I headed over to the glass dining table that had been pushed up against the wall and I picked up the phone that was playing music through the speakers in the room.

It belonged to one of the bridesmaids, but she’d opened it up when she’d allowed it to be connected to the Bluetooth so we’d all be able to use it to choose songs. The only rule was that we weren’t allowed to constantly switch to a new song while another was still playing, so I added my choice to the queue and then ducked into the bathroom to dab away the tears.

After rolling a piece of toilet paper onto my finger, I pressed gently against the corners of my eyes and inhaled deeply. This was Ashley’s day and I needed to get it together. Standing there by myself in that bathroom, I moved over to the vanity and gripped the edges. Then I moved my gaze up to stare at myself in the reflection of the mirror.

I looked gorgeous, and I had to say so myself because no one else was going to, but it was true. The dress was more incredible now that it’d been finished, the fabric shimmering with every move I made. Ashley’s hairstylist had put gentle spiral curls in my blonde locks and two sparkling barrettes fixed the front of it away from my face.

The makeup artist was a real artist and she’d turned me into a work of art, my face contoured but still natural and my eyes huge with all the products she’d used on them. The only problem was the haunted sadness within them, and if even I could see it, that meant everyone else would too.

I blinked a few times, pasted a smile on my face, and then tried again and again when the first time didn’t work. Eventually, I focused my mind deliberately on Ashley and Chase, the memories I had of the two of them smiling at each other and joking around.

I thought of the way he looked at her and the easy banter between them, and then I reminded myself that was what I was here for. Them.

Little by little, the sadness receded and I gave myself a real smile, ready to get on with it. By the time I emerged from the bathroom, the bridal party suite had once more turned into a hive of activity. Women were everywhere, touching up their lip gloss and smoothing out their dresses.