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She was clapping.
“Oh, you two just have to come to the wedding. I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Wha—” I began.
Then I felt Carmela’s arm wrap around my waist as she turned back toward the girl. She rested her head on my chest for a moment and then looked up at me with a smile and eyes that pleaded for me to just play along. I could feel it in my bones how much she needed me to go with it.
“Absolutely,” she said. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world. We will definitely be there. Right, honey?”
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her tight, smiling as I looked back up at the girl on the horse. I was all too aware of her breasts pressing against the side of my chest, and how good they felt pushed against me. My jeans felt like they were getting tighter.
“Right, of course,” I said.
The girl on the horse jolted and reached down to her pocket. She pulled out a phone and looked back up at us with a pained expression on her face. I wasn’t entirely sure it was genuine, or if it was the kind of expression a person has when they are trying to politely excuse themselves by pretending to have something important to do.
“I had no idea how late it was,” she said. “My time is up, and I need to go meet my mother for lunch. It’s too bad, I was having so much fun!”
“Ah, well, you can just hop down,” Carmela said. “We will go over how to take care of the horse when you put him away some other time.”
“Sure,” the girl said. “I’ll be back very soon for another lesson. Oh, Carmela, I am so glad you were here!”
She hopped down off the horse and yanked off the pink, glittery helmet she was wearing. I believed it said bride on it in fake diamonds, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
“Me too,” Carmela said in a voice that made me think she was lying through her teeth. “Bye, Jade.”
“Bye!” Jade said and waved as she jogged toward the driveway, fiddling with her phone.
We stood there and watched her as she exited, waiting until she was completely out of earshot before Carmela suddenly separated from me and started walking toward the horse. I followed her, jogging behind her as she grabbed the reins and turned toward the stable.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Sorry,” she said. “I am very sorry about all that.”
“What was it all about?” I asked.
“That’s Jade,” she said.
“Yeah, I heard you call her that,” I said. “Who is Jade?”
“You don’t remember?” she asked. “She was one of my best friends. Until she stole Trevor from me.”
“Trevo—oh,” I said. “Your ex.”
“Yes, Trevor, my ex,” she said, guiding the horse back to the stable. I stood outside of the stall as she removed the saddle and started putting him away.
“So what happened?”
“They’re getting married,” she sighed. “I was so flustered. I thought I would be ready for all of it, but then she showed up and acted like she was so happy to see me, and I got bowled over. I didn’t know how to react, you know? She was being kind of sweet, but also, kind of bitchy? Like bragging, right? Bragging about how she was engaged and this wonderful life they were going to live in this mansion he has now and all this money the family has.
“Then she said they were getting married on this island. How she was only here to learn how to ride a horse because she was going to ride it in the ceremony and then ‘off into the sunset with Trevor.’”
That last bit, she did an affected voice and threw her hands out to the side mockingly.
“Wow,” I said.
“Yeah, wow,” she said, still ranting as she took care of the horse. “She just made me so angry talking about her charmed life. The life that I was going to have before she stole it from me. Then she was going on and on about how great it was and then just asked me if I was seeing anyone. So of course, my big fat mouth opens, and I just start talking. I just start saying stuff, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Oh,” I said.
“It was such an impulse reaction. I didn’t realize what I was doing. I can’t believe I said it.”
“Said what exactly?” I asked. “I’m still a little bit confused as to what I just agreed I was doing?”
“I just wanted her to think I had someone. That I wasn’t some big loser who was still angry at her for Trevor, which I’m not. It’s not about Trevor anymore. I just… I just said yes. On impulse. I said yes. Now I don’t know what to do.”
