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Drake nodded. “Are you going to invite her to the wedding?” he said softly.
“Of course not,” I said and frowned. “It doesn’t matter how sorry she is now, or who she dates. She would have hurt you, damaged your career, back when she was trying to break us up. She was behaving irrationa
lly and not like a true friend.”
“She was,” Drake admitted. “But everyone makes mistakes. If it makes you happy, I’d be fine with you two becoming friends again.”
“What?” I said, completely surprised. “After what she threatened to do to you?”
He nodded. “Yes, even after that. She didn’t do it. Besides, she came from an abusive family. She thought what we had was abuse. It makes a lot of sense when you consider her experiences.”
I stood without saying anything for a moment. Truthfully, I ached to have a friend share my wedding planning. I loved planning things with Drake and Elaine, but there was this place in my life for a best female friend that was empty. There were a couple of women I knew through the journalism program at Columbia, but they weren’t the kind of friends who would become personally involved in a thing like planning my wedding.
No, it was Dawn or no one. I was surprised that Drake would encourage me to befriend Dawn once more but perhaps he was more forgiving than I knew.
“I thought you said she was unpredictable,” I said, remembering our discussion about Dawn back when I found out she’d been seeing Kurt.
“She is, but her experience with domestic abuse explains that. She’ll be rigid in her thinking as a result. I know enough about psychological trauma to understand that.”
He came to me and took me by the shoulders. “Why don’t you have coffee with her or a drink? Give her a chance. If she says anything that makes you uncomfortable, you can always end things and not move forward.”
I looked up into his blue eyes, so calm and secure, and felt my heart swell with love for him.
“Maybe I will after the wedding,” I said and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. He kissed me back tenderly. “I don’t want to feel obligated to invite her to the wedding in case she really isn’t serious about making amends. Thank you for suggesting it. For being okay with it. I still don’t understand why you’d do it.”
“Because I love you,” he said and kissed me again. “I want you to be happy. If that means you and Dawn become friends again, I’m okay with that. Sometimes your biggest detractors can become your biggest supporters.”
I shook my head, still in disbelief that he was truly okay with me re-establishing a friendship with Dawn.
“We’ll see,” I said and played with his collar. “I’m not sure I can forgive her. I’ll play it by ear.”
“It’s up to you,” Drake said and then leaned back against the island, pulling me against him. “In other news, things are set for my bachelor party.”
I grinned up at him. “Oh, yeah? I hope there won’t be any lap dancing hookers or anything…”
“Not a chance,” Drake said and laughed. He tickled me and I squirmed in his arms, giggling. “I told Ken that I want to go for an old fashioned shave with hot towels and a real razor and then go to a martini and cigar bar to have drinks and dinner, maybe go to a live band, but that’s it. No girls. No excessive drinking. I’m a grown up and so is he.”
“Oh, don’t shave your whiskers off,” I said and held his face in my hands. “I love your scruff. It makes you look slightly rakish, and don’t you dare cut your hair short. I love it this length,” I said and ran my fingers through his hair.”
“As you command,” Drake said with a grin.
“Please?” I added, and bit my lip.
“I’ll just get the barber to clean up any errant whiskers, if it pleases you.”
“It would please me.” I put another item away in the cabinet. “I won’t be having a bachelorette party,” I said with a sigh. “But Elaine is organizing a nice sort-of shower for me, including a luncheon. Christie will be there, too. We’ll go to a spa, have a mani/pedi and massage, and then a nice lunch.”
Drake sighed as well. “If you and Dawn were still friends, she’d do something for you.”
I didn’t say anything, although that was exactly what I said to Dawn in the grocery store.
“Oh, well,” I said, resigned to it. “That’s life. I’m sure I’ll have a nice time with Elaine and Christie.”
He nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “We’ll have a nice quiet wedding at your dad’s. Dinner at The Russian Tea Room afterwards. And then we’ll stay at The Ritz. Our flight leaves in the afternoon, so we’ll have a nice leisurely Sunday morning and then we’ll be in Nassau for seven glorious days.”
“I wish we could stay longer,” I said, “but I have work to do and so do you.”
I felt guilty that we had to cut our stay short but I had work to turn in to my thesis advisor and didn’t want to miss any deadlines.
