Page 38 of Yours to Keep

“Awesome.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I’ll text you the details.”

When she left, I leaned against the wall and exhaled. Great. A wedding. With Sullivan Crowne. Well, that’s just… perfect.

Two days later, I was standing in the dressing room of a boutique, trying on a dress I didn’t need, with Ellora and Mercedes flanking me like deranged fairy godmothers. I tried another protest, but the previous half-dozen had fallen on deaf ears.

“Seriously, guys. I have dresses. I don’t need a new one. It’s not like I’m in the wedding party. I can wear anything appropriate and no one will even notice me anyway.”

“You have to look good if you’re going to a wedding with Sullivan Crowne,” Mercedes declared, her gaze sharp as she assessed the dress they’d just bribed me into trying on with promises of pizza and margaritas later.

“I’m not going with him,” I said for the fifth time. “He’s just going to be there too.”

Ellora raised a brow. “Uh-huh.”

“I’m sure he’ll have a date,” I said. “Not that I care. At all. The point is that I’m not getting dressed up for him, because I’m not going to be there either with or for him.”

Mercedes smirked, shaking her head. “You care.”

“I do not.”

“You super care, and you’re totally getting dressed up for him.”

Ellora leaned in conspiratorially. “We’re not saying you want to marry him. All we’re saying is that you want to look devastating while existing in the same room.”

Mercedes nodded as if Ellora had just taken the words right out of her mouth. “That’s just self-respect.”

I sighed. “You guys are impossible.”

“That’s why you love us,” Ellora said sweetly.

“On that note, this dress is a hard no,” Mercedes said, dismissing it from her gaze. “Let’s try that one.”

She pointed at a lacy garment that ended up making me look like a bridesmaid from a historical reenactment. The next was extremely beige, but they kept going, undeterred by the disastrous choices and encouraged by the decent ones.

There was laughter and commentary shouted through the curtain, Mercedes handing me dresses like weapons while Ellora vetoed anything that didn’t make me look powerful.

“You want something that says, I am calm, competent, and not afraid of you,” she said.

Mercedes smirked. “It also needs to say my boobs look amazing.”

Finally, I stepped out in a dress that made all three of us go quiet. It was simple and elegant, a deep blue that clung to my curves and actually allowed me to breathe at the same time.

Mercedes grinned. “Even the priest will fall in love with you if you wear that.”

As I looked at my reflection, I didn’t see confusion anymore. I saw confidence. Someone who knew exactly who she was, even if she didn’t know what she wanted yet.

“Okay,” I said softly. “This one. It’s perfect.”

I might not be going with Sullivan, but I was walking straight into his orbit again, and this time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to avoid the collision.

16

SULLIVAN

The night before my sister’s wedding, I sat at her kitchen table with a stack of cream-colored cards, a fountain pen, and the distinct feeling that I did not belong here.

“Make the L a little curlier,” Liana said, peering over my shoulder. “That looks too severe.”

“It’s a letter, not a personality test.”