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Prologue
Kiera
This was the end.
Or the beginning of it, anyway.
With strong arms wrapped around me, I wondered how it was possible to feel two conflicting emotions.
Joy and sorrow.
“Congratulations, Zac.”
Zac loosened his hold on me, thanked me, and stepped back. My eyes immediately slid to his side, where I found my best friend, Talia, standing. Offering her a genuine smile, feeling my emotions get the best of me, I rasped, “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks, Kiera,” she replied. “Zac and I are so lucky to have you and Johnny in our lives. Not everyone can say they’ve got such great role models.”
God, if she only knew.
Now forcing the smile to remain on my face, I insisted, “You two are meant for each other. There’s nothing anyone could ever do to change that.”
That’s when Zac decided to chime in. “Yeah, but you two make it look not only easy but fun, too.”
“Exactly,” Talia agreed. “And while I know I’m a bit more excited about the wedding planning, that’s going to happen over the next few months, the most important thing to us is knowing that we’re going to have our best friends standing by our sides when we say our vows to one another.”
In a surprising twist, Johnny stepped forward and said, “We wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
Our friends beamed bright smiles at him and shifted their gazes between us before Zac replied, “It means everything to us. But we should probably get going now. We still have a few more stops to make today.”
“Of course. We’re so honored we were at the top of your list today, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you,” I returned.
With that, Johnny moved around our friends to the door. He opened it, and after a final round of goodbyes, Zac and Talia took off.
Once Johnny closed the door, my eyes met his, and all the momentary joy I’d been feeling had vanished. Left in its place was nothing but sorrow.
For several long moments, I stared into the eyes of the man I once loved more than anything in the world.
“You didn’t tell them,” I declared eventually.
“You didn’t, either,” he shot back.
Tipping my head to the side, I reasoned, “Talia is my best friend, Johnny. I couldn’t bring myself to share such awful news with her today. It would have broken her heart.”
He nodded his agreement.
Or maybe it wasn’t agreement so much as it was acknowledgment. “Zac is one of my closest friends, too,” Johnny replied, clearly wanting to defend himself from not sharing the truth. “Besides, it’s not exactly something I’ve really had the chance to absorb myself. I’m still in a bit of shock. If you wanted them to know, you should have shared it. At least you’ve had time to come to terms with what’s ahead.”
The timing of this had been all wrong.
When I woke up this morning, after having agonized over it for months, I hadn’t expected that my choice to finally bring this up to Johnny would be interrupted by our best friends stopping over to share the greatest news of their lives with us.
But they had.
And there was no question Johnny and I had to pull ourselves together quickly and celebrate such a joyous occasion with our friends. They’d gotten engaged last night, and we were the first people they wanted to tell.
They were engaged.
They were getting married.
