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Why didn’t he ask for something reasonable, like a watch? No. He had to ask me to marry his friend.
Eleanor shook her head. “No, Carla. I don’t think I can run away from this. Seems like I’m getting married, girls. Wish me luck.”
“Aw. I still think getting married shouldn’t be something to be sad about,” Annie chipped in. “Have you met your soon-to-be husband?”
Eleanor nodded. “I have. Actually, I know him. He’s Blake, my brother’s best friend.”
Carla shrilled like a little girl. “Okay! Tell us all about him! What’s he like? Is he hot? Is he charming? Do you like him?”
Eleanor felt her cheeks grow red and hot as she blushed, and her friends giggled in unison. “Oh my God, Carla, you have no idea. This guy looks like a fashion model. What with school and life, I hadn’t seen him in years. I can’t lie, for a moment, I didn’t mind that I was getting married to him.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” Annie asked.
“I mean, I guess,” Eleanor replied. “But there’s more to marriage than a hot body and beautiful hazel eyes. He does seem kind, too. And considerate. He’s wayyyy older than I am, though, so there’s that.”
“He sounds charming,” Carla said.
“He is.” Eleanor’s mind traveled back to the moment she’d seen him again, and remembered the weird sensations she’d felt.
That night, she’d thought about him for hours, thinking about what life with him was going to be like. She liked what she saw, she grudgingly admitted to herself. She only wished the circumstances were different.
“Eleanor?” Annie called. “Are you alright?”
Eleanor blinked rapidly and nodded. She’d drifted off again. “I am. Sorry. I’m just really distracted right now.”
“That’s fine,” Annie said, smiling. “I was asking if we were invited to your wedding. I mean, you do plan on making us your bridesmaids, right?”
Eleanor winced as she gave them her perfectly rehearsed cover story. “There’s nothing more I would have loved than to have my best friends present at my wedding. You know that, right?
“Unfortunately, we’re on a tight timeline and there won’t be time to send out invites. We agreed to keep it as small as possible, just a few family members from both sides. I hope you can understand?”
They were hurt, Eleanor could tell. She’d been dreading this part and had even considered hiding the wedding from them entirely. She hadn’t wanted to deal with the guilt she now felt.
“It’s fine, I guess,” Carla said, trying to keep the hurt out of her face. “Make sure to send pictures?”
“I will,” Eleanor promised.
“You really are getting married, aren’t you?” Carla asked.
“I am.” Eleanor smiled.
Her friends smiled as well, and Carla said, “Well, make sure it’s the best freaking wedding ever in all the history of weddings.”
“I will,” Eleanor said, smiling. It was only after her friends got off the phone, and the darkness of her bedroom swallowed her, that she allowed herself to cry bitterly, muting her sobs in her pillow as tears streamed from her eyes.
***
Eleanor wished that she could clone her mother’s excitement and energy. Ever since she was a child, her mother had always told her regal tales of her wedding to Eleanor’s father.
Eleanor often wondered how much of those stories was real, and how much of it was pure fiction. The bottom line was that she was the biggest enthusiast about Eleanor’s wedding.
Never mind that I’m being dragged to the altar with the ancient rope of pack tradition, Eleanor thought while her mom was taking her dress shopping.
The woman fussed about the guest list, and was determined to throw the perfect wedding party. Eleanor wondered if her mother was so far gone in her delusion of a perfect wedding that she ignored what her daughter was going through with the entire process.
When she spoke to Xander about it, he shrugged and said, “You need to know that she’s doing all this for you. She’s hurt that you’re not marrying for love, but duty. And she’s hoping that by somehow doing everything right, you’ll have one moment of happiness before you spend the rest of your life with a complete stranger. So, think you can cut her some slack?”
“I can try,” she said.
