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Except when she was talking about weddings. Or make-up.
Across the room, Chrissie smiled. “I can’t wait to see your dress.”
“I can’t wait to wear it!”
“It’s stunning.” Izzy grinned. “Bree’s right. Radleigh’s going to be so happy when you walk towards him tomorrow.”
I nodded, and out of nowhere, tears filled my eyes. I tried to blink them away before anyone saw, but there was no hiding anything from my best friends. Bree, who was sitting closest to me, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me tight.
“You guys have been through a lot lately, huh?” she said, gently.
“Yeah.” I brushed the tears away from my cheeks and let out a small laugh. “Sorry. It’s just… I can’t believe we’ve got this far. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be sitting here with all of you the night before my wedding, knowing I have the best people in the whole world around me. I never thought…” I shook my head. “I always wanted more than the small town I grew up in, but this? God, I thought maybe I’d end up in London, married to someone I loved, but you know, someone fairly ordinary. Not some
one famous. Not here.”
Bree gave my shoulders a squeeze. “None of it’s been easy, though.”
“Not for any of us.” I rested my head on her shoulder.
“You’d think we’d known each other our whole lives with all that’s happened in the last couple of years,” Freya said. Her lips pulled into a tight smile and Izzy took her hand.
“I still don’t know what I’m doing here,” Izzy said with a chuckle. “I swear, one minute I was at home, going to college like a normal person my age, and then this cute football star swept into my life and turned everything upside down. Now I’m here. I can’t thank you enough for letting me be a part of your lives, and a part of your wedding.”
“We love you,” Bree told her. “We just wish you were here more often.”
Izzy’s cheeks coloured and she lowered her head, making me laugh.
“If anyone doesn’t fit here, it’s me,” Chrissie said, laughing. “All of you with your exciting lives, and I’m a boring housewife from the UK!”
“Not true,” Freya said. “First of all, you’re not boring, and second… let’s not forget the part you played in Leah and Radleigh’s love story.”
“She’s right.” I straightened up and took another drink. “If it weren’t for you, Radleigh and I might never have got together.”
It was the trip to the Florida Aquarium that Radleigh invited himself to when Josh and Chrissie were visiting that made me start to see him differently, and I smiled again as I remembered how he’d given me a Florida Snowman as a gift before he left us. Okay, the fallout afterwards wasn’t pretty. In fact, the aftermath made me suffer in ways I never knew were possible. But it was Chrissie’s encouragement that made me go to London where I knew Radleigh would be. Where we finally told each other how we felt.
“What kind of sister-in-law would I be if I didn’t give you a shove in the right direction? Besides, it was pretty clear to me he was in love with you. You just needed to go and find that out for yourself.”
My heart swelled in my chest, and some of the worry I’d carried with me was stripped away. Radleigh and I weren’t without our problems; we still had plenty of challenges ahead of us, but whose life is totally plain-sailing? What mattered was knowing we had each other, and the most fantastic support system we could ask for.
“Okay,” Bree said, standing up and heading for the sound system that sat between two of the enormous windows overlooking the city. “I think we need to get this party started. Who’s up for dancing?”
“In our bathrobes?” Izzy raised an eyebrow.
Bree shrugged. “Who can see us up here? Think of this as the bachelorette party – round two.”
“Too bad we don’t have a karaoke machine.” Freya winked.
“Ha! Don’t encourage her!”
Bree turned to us, hand on her hip. “Are you forgetting where we are and how much this place costs? Bet we could get them to find us one.”
Izzy threw her head back, laughing. “What world am I in? And who actually demands a karaoke machine in a hotel room?”
“You ain’t seen nothing!” Freya laughed. “This is not the most extravagant request.”
Izzy’s eyes almost bulged out of her head, and I said, “Enough with the diva behaviour. We’re supposed to be having a quiet evening, remember?”
Bree rolled her eyes but smiled. “Okay. But… we can put some music on, right?”
