Page 134 of Spurred On

Chapter Twenty-three

“Porsche,” Hanna breathed. “You look lovely.”

Porsche turned on the dais to check out the bustle on her wedding dress. She shot them all a grin and waggled it.

The bridal party—Sidney, Hanna, Claire, Lisa, and Ford’s wife, Crystal, and Brandon’s sister-in-law, Penny—were all sitting on the divan in the dress shop, sipping champagne and cheering Porsche on. She did look lovely. More than lovely. She glowed. While Sidney was happy for her, there was a slight roil of bitterness writhing around inside her, but she tried hard to keep it to herself.

Everyone had found their true love.

Hanna had Logan—the two had married in a quiet ceremony a month ago and had just returned from a fabulous honeymoon in Paris.

Claire had Charlie. Lisa had Cade. Penny had Mark. Crystal had Ford. And now Porsche had Brandon.

She was the only one without a partner.

It was her own fault.

She’d given up on men months ago.

Which was for the best.

But it did make weddings awkward.

“I can’t believe it’s almost here,” Porsche said as she stepped down from the platform and sat gingerly on the sofa next to Sidney. Hanna handed her a glass of champagne, but Porsche shook her head. “I shouldn’t.”

Everyone gaped at her.

Porsche hadn’t turned down a drink since she turned twenty-one. And probably not even before that.

“Are you all right?” Claire asked, her eyes wide with concern.

“I’m fine. It’s just not a good idea to get drunk while I’m choosing the bridesmaids’ dresses.”

“Oooh.” Penny’s eyes widened. “Good point.”

The others laughed, and they all started chattering about hideous bridesmaids dresses they’d had to wear at one point or another. All but Sidney. Oh, she made all the right noises and smiled and pretended she was amused and all that crap, but it was hard keep from weeping.

She didn’t know why. It wasn’t as though Porsche was stealing anything from her in her happiness. And she most certainly wished her friend nothing but the best. But it was hard to witness such a fairy tale blossom in her friend’s life when hers was so barren.

Oh, she had Dad and Mom. And she spent a lot of time with Hanna, Logan and the Wilders. She’d even started a business restoring and selling antiques on eBay that was doing brilliantly.

Still, her life was an empty husk.

She knew why.

She wasn’t a fool.

She missed him.

She missed him terribly.

She’d spent hours upon hours thinking about him, and her, and her past grievances against him and his against her. She’d run every scenario in her head six ways to Sunday. What if they got back together? What if she were able to put it all behind them and dredge up the courage to try again?

How would she feel, how destroyed would she be when he finally decided he was finished with her and started dating someone else? Because, of course, he would.

But he hadn’t. From what she heard—and of course she never came out and asked—he wasn’t seeing anyone.

That hadn’t made it any easier.