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I nod. “Sure.”
“You seem nice but I’m super glad you’re leaving town after the wedding. Ever since he found out you were coming back your name has practically lived on his lips. I can’t wait to get it back to mine.”
She bites into the cupcake and closes her eyes to enjoy the wave of sugar that follows. It’s a good thing because she fails to see my reaction. She seems to be a sweet kid who is headed for a world of hurt unless she opens her eyes. I think of all the ways he’s manipulated her that I’m aware of and can only imagine how many I don’t know about.
I open my mouth and prepare to break my pledge to her. “My turn, one last thing. Tomorrow at the reception, Palmer is going to want to request a special song from the DJ. Don’t let him.”
“Why?”
I bite my lip, unsure of how much to reveal. Palmer and I attended three weddings when we were a couple. Each time he requested the same song and pulled me to the dance floor. He said one day we would dance to the song on our wedding day. My friends are familiar with the song and if Palmer continues his mini me makeover with Claire and requests that song, I’m not sure how I’ll react. I finger her bow tie and run the material between my fingers before flicking it away, hoping she gets the message. “Make your moments your own.” I want to say so much more but I chew on my tongue.
I don’t want to become what Palmer made me out to be. I don’t want to manipulate a grown woman by poisoning her mind. But it pains me to see Claire walk around oblivious.
“So, what did you major in at school?” I ask, grateful to pivot away from Palmer.
She exhales and I know she’s pleased with the shift as well. “I was a double major. Hospitality and…”
I mouth the words that I already know will cross Claire’s lips, “… operations management.” As much as I want to distance myself from Palmer, he embeds himself in everything. Him dating a woman that looks like, eats like, dresses the way he wanted me to dress and who also happens to have studied the same subjects as me. Palmer can’t move on because he’s rebuilding me.
Claire is Catherine 2.0.
