Page 28 of False Promises

“He was so tiny back then. To this day, it’s still one of the best surprises of my life. It was really what I needed to keep going. Every time I’m about to walk onstage, I always look at the picture June took of the three of us that night I keep in my guitar case.”

A lot had happened in the last three years. I had resecured my position at the top of the charts, built the house of my dreams on the piece of land I bought in Green Mountain, and had learned to consider Dahlia as just a friend. Well, I was still struggling with this one some days, but I was doing better. Getting there. My love for her would forever be there. Strong and unapologetic. But a part of me now understood she wouldn’t be my happily-ever-after. Even though sometimes, it still stung to think about it. Seeing her and Nick together wasn’t easy. But I recognized how blissfully happy my best friend was, and the realization healed some of the scars on my heart. One by one. Even after everything we’d shared, she only saw me as her friend. Her best friend. Not her endgame. Not her forever.

A quick glance at the shiny diamond on her ring finger reminded me we would never happen. Not in this lifetime.

I swallowed the uneasiness tightening my vocal cords and mirrored her smile.

As if she sensed I needed a distraction, my best friend raised her glass to clink my bottle. “To you, Cart. You did it. Once again, you proved you’re the best there is.”

“And to you too. Because you’re making the cover of Wedding Bliss magazine next month,” Nick, her fiancé, said when he joined us after checking up on Jack to make sure he was still fast asleep, as we had heard him talk in his sleep through the baby monitor.

I leaned myself away from Dahlia. “Wait. What? You are? Why didn’t you tell me?” I tried my best to hide the hurt lacing my voice.

“Listen, I wanted to tell you in person.” Dahlia poked her tongue out at Nick. “Thanks for ruining the surprise,” she told him, unable to hide the amusement in her voice.

They were nauseatingly in love.

I rolled my eyes at their exchange.

“Sorry, babe, I thought you’d already told him. You two are always telling each other everything. It’s kind of disturbing sometimes.” Nick let out a heartfelt laugh, picked up his glass, and took the chair before us, raking his hand through his blond locks.

Dahlia squeezed my hand. “Okay, I agree. You may be right. From an outsider’s point of view, our relationship can be misunderstood.” She shrugged. “But I don’t care, though. Carter and I have always been this way. And I love the way we are. It’s us.”

I dragged a hand over my face and shook my head. “I guess it can be intimidating. Anyway, I can’t believe you hadn’t told me the big news. You know I’ll buy an entire stand of magazines, right?”

Dahlia’s eyes widened, and she snickered. “Oh god, you’re always overdoing things. Perhaps I should’ve told you months after it actually came out. Or gifted you a copy on your birthday or something. Saved you a single dedicated copy.”

“Dah, you wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret from me that long.”

She barked out a laugh. “I guess.”

“Are they featuring the shop or you as a bride?”

Dahlia now owned a bridal shop in Green Mountain. A successful business she built from scratch. She even co-designed a line of affordable wedding gowns along with a famous designer. My best friend had turned her life around, and I couldn’t be prouder.

“Both. I’ll make the front page and have a ten-page article where I try a dozen gowns from the shop and talk about trends and wedding stuff.”

I nodded. “I really need an entire stand. Do you want the front page to be framed? I can get it done for you.”

Her laughter warmed my heart. “Nah, I don’t wanna watch my face on an oversized poster because I know you’ll get it resized to gigantic proportions.” She shook her head, holding my hand in hers. “I’m glad you’re back,” she said once her laughter died down, her voice strained. “I missed you while you were away.”

“I missed you too. It’s good to be home.”

Nick sighed. “I think I’ll never get the extent of your friendship, guys. It’s as amazing as it is disconcerting.” He took a sip of the whiskey. “But it’s something everyone should aim for because it’s quite extraordinary that it survived through everything you two faced. You’re both lucky to have each other.”

I nodded.

Dahlia wiped the tears now filling her eyes with her fingertips.

“I’m not sure I would have made it through everything without Cart by my side,” she said, her voice low and saturated with emotions. These days, we rarely talked about the obstacles we overcame together. It’d been almost four years since our lives changed forever, and we laid Jeff to rest. So much had happened since then. “From moving here alone to raising Jack and starting the business, and you going solo and touring the world twice while launching two albums and building a house here, it’s been quite a ride. Can you believe we accomplished all this?”

Tightness grew in my chest. And I kissed the side of her head, pulling her closer.

“It’s like we’ve grown up twenty years in a short span of time.”

But hey, we made it to the other side. Alive. Fairly happy. And when I looked back, I couldn’t be prouder of the family we had created.

It had been hard on both of us, but it also sealed our friendship bond forever.