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Hadley examined both and pointed to the one on the left. “That one. The teal color looks great on you, plus that flowy skirt will be fun for a beach wedding.”
Molly held up the maxi dress and looked at her reflection in the mirror. This dress with its high neck, low back, and long, flowing skirt had always been one of her favorites. “Good choice.” She hung the other dress in her closet and tossed the chosen one on the bed next to Hadley, heading into the bathroom to finish her makeup.
“You’ll sit next to him at dinner?”
“Yes.”
“And dance with him.”
“Yes.”
“And co-mingle with all of his family and closest friends?”
Molly brushed mascara on her lashes. “I’m starting to wonder if you understand how weddings work.”
“The wedding bit I got. It’s the friends bit I’m checking on.”
“Friends can’t dance together?” Molly tossed her mascara back in her bag and picked up her brush, working on her hair.
Hadley appeared in the doorway. “I’m sure they can, but they don’t have that look in their eyes.”
“What look?”
“That one you got when you saw your reflection in the mirror and imagined yourself dancing with him in that dress.” Hadley met her gaze, a knowing glint in her eyes.
Guilt pricked at Molly. She immediately pushed it away and distracted herself by searching for bobby pins on the counter. She’d only pictured dancing with him for a second. For the briefest of moments, she’d allowed herself to imagine what a romance with Grant might’ve been like, what could’ve been if things were different, before she’d shut it down. And Hadley had caught that?
“We’re just friends.” Molly wasn’t sure if she was reiterating it for Hadley’s sake or her own. It was the truth, wasn’t it? Was he a great guy she loved spending time with? Absolutely. In fact, in the two weeks since their candlelight conversation, she’d spent a decent chunk of her free time with him doing everything from going on runs on the beach to helping him scrub algae off the bottom of a tank. But that didn’t change anything.
“That’s good.” Hadley selected a tube of lipstick from Molly’s makeup bag and twisted it up to examine the color. “There are definite benefits of being a…what was it you called it again?”
“A non-date plus-one.”
“Right. A non-date plus-one.” It sounded a lot lamer when Hadley said it.
“That’s a thing, you know.” Or it should be a thing if it wasn’t one already.
Hadley recapped the lipstick and tossed it in the bag, choosing another one. “Sure. All the benefits of having a plus-one without the hassles of a date.”
“Exactly. Less pressure on everyone.” Feeling slightly more justified in her plan, she stuck a couple of bobby pins in her hair.
“Like, if there’s no attraction whatsoever, you don’t have to worry about having something stuck in your teeth. Your non-date will have your back.” Hadley picked up a third lipstick tube.
“Right. And no need to worry about awkward silence. We can talk, not talk, doesn’t matter.”
“There’s no need to analyze his dance moves and consider if you could really let someone who danced that badly be the father of your children.”
Molly paused and glanced at her friend. “Now that’s a bad date story I want to hear.” They both giggled.
“Girl, you don’t even know.” Hadley shook her head as if contemplating the absurdity of it all. “I have enough bad-date stories that I could start my own podcast. I’m going to call itThe Chronicles of the Never-Afters.”
“I have a couple of episodes I could add. Starting with ‘The Wedding that Never Was.’”
What a disaster that had been, but now that there was a little space between her and her engagement’s demise, she was able to see a few things that she’d missed at the time. The most notable revelation was that she’d never been in love with her ex at all.
That was probably something she should’ve caught during the first year of their relationship—or even when he’d proposed—but she’d been too busy looking in the wrong direction. She loved the idea of him. He was the exact type of handsome, successful man, committed to living in their small town, whom she’d always dreamed about marrying. And she’d loved what their life could’ve looked like. Could it get any cuter than husband and wife vets who ran their own neighborhood clinic and drove to work together every morning in matching scrubs with their dogs riding along in the backseat?
But somewhere in the middle of all that, she’d never noticed the most important thing—that she hadn’t actually loved him.
