Page 126 of Bound To Be Mine

Istood in the middle of Cleo’s design studio while she and Callum circled me like sharks, pulling at the hem of the wedding dress I was modeling. Not for me but for their new bridal line. I was their living mannequin for the afternoon, which meant standing still while they pinned and adjusted and debated hemlines.

“Hold still,” Cleo commanded, her mouth full of pins.

“I am holding still.”

“You’re fidgeting.”

“Because I’ve been standing here for forty-five minutes and I’m bored.”

Callum laughed from where he was sketching at his drafting table. “You look happy though. Like, disgustingly happy. It’s unnerving.”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I am happy.”

“It’s the husband, isn’t it?” Cleo said, standing up and studying the dress from a different angle. “He’s still here, right? Hasn’t fled back to New York yet?”

“He’s still here. We have a few more days.”

“And then what?” Callum asked, setting down his pencil. “Back to the miserable long-distance thing where you mope around and check your phone every five seconds?”

I made a face at him. “I don’t mope.”

“You absolutely mope,” Cleo said. “You’ve been a complete bummer when he’s not around. No offense, but it’s exhausting. One of you needs to move. Like, immediately.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it. They weren’t wrong. The few days Briggs had been here had been the happiest I’d felt in weeks. Hell, if I was being completely honest, it was the happiest I had been in my entire life. Coming home to him every night, waking up next to him every morning, having him there when I got off work—it felt right in a way nothing else had. It felt so good to be loved. I trusted his love like nothing I’d ever trusted before.

“I know,” I admitted quietly. “I’ve been thinking about it.”

“And?” Cleo prompted.

“And I don’t know what to do.” I looked down at the dress, the beautiful lace and silk that Cleo had designed. “My whole life is here.”

“But is it your whole life?” Callum asked gently. “Or is it just the life you built because you didn’t have anything else? Would you say Briggs is your life now?”

I’d spent years building my business in LA because it’s where I lived. It just kind of happened. Had I done it because LA was where I wanted to be? Or had I done it because it just worked out that way? I didn’t have any ties to the place beyond my business.

“I love LA,” I said.

“Okay, let’s break this down,” Cleo said, stepping back and crossing her arms. “What do you love about LA?”

“The weather. The food. The beaches.”

“New York has food,” Callum pointed out. “Some would argue better food.”

“Fine, but New York doesn’t have beaches.”

“It has the Hamptons. Close enough.” Cleo started unpinning the dress from my waist. “What else?”

“My clients. I’ve worked really hard to build my client base here.”

“Rich people get married in New York too,” Callum said. “Probably more of them, actually. And with the Blackwell connection, you’d have an automatic in with that whole scene.”

I chewed on my lip, thinking. “The traffic is terrible in LA.”

“The traffic is terrible in New York too,” Cleo said. “But at least New York is walkable. You don’t need a car. Most people that live in the city don’t have cars.”

“I’d miss you guys,” I said quietly.

Cleo’s expression softened. “We’d miss you too. But, Mandy, we want you to be happy. And you’re happy with him. Anyone with eyes can see that.”