AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’d love a glass of white,” she said. She preferred red, but she wasn’t letting fate ruin this for her with a stain on her light tan blouse.
Niall opened it and poured a glass for both of them. “To table nineteen.”
She accepted the toast and took a sip. “So…are you here with anyone?” She glanced around, but no one else was approaching their table. She’d be okay if they ended up being the only two sitting there.
“Nope. Flying solo,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
She bit her lip. That didn’t mean he didn’t have a glamourous supermodel girlfriend somewhere. After all, Trent was here alone and he wasn’t on the market. Not that that would stop a lot of women from flirting with him. Good thing Trent was head over heels in love with Whitney and her friend had nothing to worry about.
“George, my partner, had a Christmas modeling shoot in Paris this weekend,” Niall said.
Or supermodel boyfriend.
“Paris, wow. Guess Blue Moon Bay can’t really compete with that.” She sipped her wine and gazed longingly at Whitney’s empty seat at table three as the other members of theirs joined them. Two seventy-year-old men that golfed with John’s dad, three of Emily’s female university alumni friends, and her old babysitter. No sexy singles.
It seemed they’d all evaporated from the bay in recent years.
Soon she, too, would have to decide if staying in the small town, clinging to the safe and familiar and comfortable, was the way to get the future she’d always wanted.
“So, wait,you’rethe Jessica that John dated before he met Emily?” Niall asked, turning to her with renewed interest.
Still not the kind of interest Jessica had been hoping for, but she nodded politely.
“Emily told me all about you.”
“She did?” Had the subject of all of John’s exes come up with her hairdresser or just her? She was the only one in attendance, but that was primarily because of the cake.
He lowered his voice as he shimmied his chair closer. “You’re the good luck charm, right?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“That’s the rumor circling around. A man dates you, then he finds his true match.”
Holy shit. So it wasn’t just Whitney who’d noticed that uncanny connection. She cleared her throat. “I…don’t think that’s a real thing. Coincidence,” she mumbled.
“A three-time coincidence? Not likely. The New Brides Club has deemed you their lucky charm.”
Jessica’s gaze fell on the New Brides Club, her ex-boyfriends’ wives all sitting together at table four. Their new husbands at their sides. Her ex-boyfriends. Emily would now join that group, too. And who would be next?
“They actually call me that?” she asked.
Niall laughed. “It’s in an endearing way, believe me. They’re all super grateful.”
Grateful. That her heart had gotten broken so they could find true love? That men she thought she had a connection with dumped her for them?
Who the hell even believed this weird shit was really happening anyway?
They looked her way and caught her staring, and their smiles were indeed full of gratitude.
Theybelieved it.
“There’s no way Emily started this rumor, though, she’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” she said. One of the other women, she could believe, but not Emily.
Niall glanced around him as though making sure no one else could hear. “Okay, I could totally lose my hairstylist-therapy reputation for this, but…Emily made a play for John while you two were still dating, hoping it was true. That your magic would work for her.” He glanced toward the couple. “Obviously, it did.”
Jessica’s cheeks flushed with an uncommon rush of rage. Emily actually saw her as the reason for her happily ever after? She was gossiping about her behind her back? And now she had people soliciting her services?
No freaking way!
