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“Different like she doesn’t really trust anyone. I love the girl to death, but she doesn’t tell me anything anymore. Truth be told, we kind of grew apart. I still see her all the time, but it’s almost as though I’m more her cousin’s girlfriend than her childhood best friend. She’s been like this since, well… you.”
“You must hate me,” I conclude.
She thinks about her reply long and hard.
“I think I hate what your absence did to her more than I hate you.”
I wince.
“Don’t get me wrong. She’s always laughing, she’s made new friends, and she’s been working out like crazy, but something feels off. It’s like she’s in denial. Like she just put her pain on pause or something. She didn’t let herself be a wreck over you. As soon as you left, she just shut it off.”
“Or she just moved on?” It hurts to say.
“Right.” She scoffs. “Must be why she can’t let Matthew touch her.”
She regrets speaking as soon as the words trickle out. Her widened eyes go “Did I say that out loud?”
So, they didn’t sleep together.
A wave of relief rolls over me.
Calm down, idiot. Doesn’t mean she didn’t have sex with a hundred fucking guys after you.
“I have to go. My break’s almost over.” She gets up.
I wish I could ask her a million more questions, but she’s clearly beating herself up over letting that last detail slip out.
“Okay. Thanks anyway.”
She forces a smile and walks off. Getting up, I watch her disappear into the back of the shop and walk out of the building in a surprisingly good mood.
So, she won’t let him touch her, huh?
And he’s not best friend approved?
This trial can’t come soon enough.
WINTER
“A new wife barely a year after his divorce? My, my. Uncle Harry is a player.” Kendrick’s voice echoes throughout the spacious wedding venue, and I chuckle.
“I heard that,” my dad calls from the other side of the room, interrupting his pricey wedding organizer midsentence. I laugh and Kendrick joins.
My cousin does have a point. It is a bit ironic that in less than two weeks, my father will be walking down the aisle with a new woman, but my dad and Judy deserve it. They love each other as much as humanly possible, and after everything my dad has been through during the past year—fighting for the custody of Maika, recovering from the accident that wasn’t an accident at all, coming to terms with the fact that his own wife never loved him—he deserves every single moment of happiness he can get.
When he burst into my bedroom earlier today to remind me that we had to go visit wedding venues, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about something so important. Judy has been bugging me about going with them all week.
In my defense, I spent hours on the phone with Matthew last night, wondering whether or not I should wear blue or red to his parents’ charity event this weekend. I fell asleep while he was telling me about the time he rescued an injured animal on his trip to Africa. He must’ve told me this story a thousand times, and although it really is interesting, my eyelids disagreed.
The venues we’ve been visiting are way too expensive. I know it, Judy knows it, my dad knows it. But he claims money is the last thing on his mind, and he isn’t going to hold back on the second best day of his life.
“Is this it? That’s like the hundredth place we’ve seen,” Kendrick whines.
“It’s the fourth,” I mock. “Why? You eager to go back to your girlfriend? Oh wait, you can’t.”
“Shut up,” he groans.
Allie has always been the world’s worst liar. She’s never been good at keeping things to herself—especially surprises—but she still loves to try and pull them off anyway. This year, to celebrate Kendrick’s birthday and their one year together, she decided to skip the secret part and straight up tell him that she’s organizing something for him. After five weeks of begging, she managed to convince her loaded uncle to let her throw Kendrick an epic birthday party on his massive boat. Downside is, between her job and the time-consuming party planning, she hasn’t been able to see Kendrick once in four days.
