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“Well, good. Because that would be incredibly disturbing.”
“You have no idea.” Emmy turned away from me and stared at her reflection in the mirror, checking her hair, running her fingers under her eyes. “I can’t get over this.”
“Well, you have to. Today is your wedding day. I suggest you set everything aside and remember what today is about.”
Emmy paused, peering out the window at the white sand and the blue ocean, the waves gentle as they washed along the shore. “I wish I could. Two days ago, I thought I’d lost my best friend forever. I was sick with worry. I was about to call off the whole wedding. And then I find out that she didn’t give a shit about me.”
“What? Of course she cares about you.”
“If she really did, she wouldn’t have broken her promise to me.”
“You can’t be angry with her and not at me,” I said.
“Of course I’m angry at you. You’re an idiot, bro. But you’re still my blood. You were the one who helped pick up the pieces after Mom died, so yeah, I’m going to have you at my wedding. But Summer… it’s just that I trusted her so deeply for so long. I never thought she could do something like this.”
“Christ, Em, it’s not like she killed somebody,” I said.
“You have no idea what this means,” she said, turning on me. “The whole reason I’m angry is because she ruined everything, and so did you. We don’t have much, you and I. I mean, you have your money, and I have mine, and I have Scott, but as for family? Not much. Mom is gone. Dad has his drinking problem. You’re busy all the time.” She swallowed. “I was looking forward to having family dinners. Christmases with everyone there. To having a son or daughter who would have an Aunt Summer and Uncle Matt.”
“Nothing’s changed. Summer still loves you. You’re still her best friend.”
“Yeah, but you still don’t get it. What happens when you two break up or stop whatever the hell was going on between you two?” she asked. “You’ll both have your hearts broken because let’s face it, neither of you are exactly emotionally whole. You’ll end up hurting each other, and then you won’t want to see each other anymore, and then everything will be ruined.”
“And it’s not now?”
“That’s beside the point.”
“Summer should be here.”
“It’s too late for that,” she said. “She made her choice, and so did you. I expect that you guys will stay away from each other and maybe we can just… I don’t even know. I don’t know what to think. This is all bullshit.”
“You asked her to leave,” I said gruffly.
“I know that.”
“So, you’ve made your choice. Are you really going to let this ruin your day? Scott deserves better than that.”
“All right, Jesus. Don’t be such a hardass.”
“You don’t have to forgive me for what happened,” I said. “Just focus on yourself and on Scott today, and on starting your life together. We can deal with the rest later. You can talk to Summer later.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be ready for that anytime soon.”
“That’s your choice,” I said.
But if I had any say in it, she’d be talking to Summer as soon as she could. I wouldn’t, of course. Summer would have to remain in my past. If this had taught me anything, it was that I wasn’t ready for anything serious, and with Summer, there was always a hint of that.
“All right,” she said. “Then, I guess I can sort of forgive you. But I won’t forget, all right? So you’d better watch your butt, brother.”
“You know, I’m only allowing you to be this domineering today because it’s your wedding.” I shook my head.
Emmy shouldn’t have been putting pressure on either of us. I understood her point, and she was right in that Summer didn’t want anything and neither did I. But things could get complicated fast. In fact, they had gotten complicated already.
“All right.” Emmy checked her reflection again. “Now, I would hug you, but, you know, it might mess up my makeup and that’s so not happening.”
“I’ll see you downstairs. Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck. I mean, look at me.” She laughed. “I’m kidding, thank you.” She pressed her fingers to the necklace, and for a second, it was like Mom was in the room with us.
I slipped out into the hall and nodded to the bridesmaids. They immediately filed back in, chattering and insisting that they’d lost time because of my interference. Not that there was much left to do.
After the door had closed, I rested my back against the wall in the hallway. The last few days had been bullshit. A part of me looked forward to getting back to Florida and working again. I had plenty of meetings to catch up on, people to see, but the other part…fuck, why couldn’t I get this woman out of my mind?
