Page 18 of Fragments of You

“I wouldn’t dream of it. In fact, you can pick the dress yourself.”

“I can?” She perks up at this.

“Considering you’re the only bridesmaid, I don’t see why not.”

“Why aren’t you having any of your friends in the wedding?” She hitches a brow at me.

“You know we’re keeping it small. Besides, I’m not really that close with any of my friends anymore.” My mind drifts back to yesterday’s interaction with Iris, my stomach coiling slightly. “At least not close enough that I want them in my wedding.”

Truth be told, after Nash left, I didn’t care about anything, including my friends, and as such, I lost a lot of them along the way. I’m not proud of this fact, but there’s nothing I can do to change it now.

“That’s sad.” She snorts, almost like she finds it funny. “What about friends from work?”

I shake my head softly. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people I work with. Some of them I’ve been working with since I was sixteen when I first started volunteering at the vet clinic. Dr. Sampson was the one who inspired me to go to school to become a vet technician in the first place, though it took me longer than I would have liked to complete my degree, but we’re not going to talk about that. But even given all that, there’s not a single person I work with that I feel close enough to have in my wedding.

“They’re all invited, of course.”

“So basically, I’m all you’ve got.”

“Even if you weren’t, I’d still want it to be you.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not lying. You’re my sister and I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Are we done now?”

“We can set a date to go dress shopping for your dress in the next few weeks, if that works for you.”

“As long as the parentals are paying.”

“You already know they are.” I give her a pointed look.

Because again, I have an old-school father, and with that comes the refusal to let me pay for anything. Even though I have insisted several times that Felix and I can handle the cost, he won’t hear a word of it. In his eyes, it is a duty, and a privilege, for the father of the bride to pay for the wedding. Though if we were having something large and extravagant, I doubt he’d be so resolute on the matter.

“Just let me know when.”

Celine picks her phone back up and resumes whatever she was doing before I walked in.

“I’ll talk to Mom and we can figure out a day that works for everyone.” I push to a stand. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” She peers at me over the top of her phone. “You might just regret asking me when I show you up at your own wedding.” She’s serious when she says it too.

I don’t give her the satisfaction of a response as I roll my eyes and quickly exit her room, making my way toward mine, which sits at the opposite end of the hallway.

Closing my door, I jump slightly when I hear something hit my window from the outside, growing weirdly nervous when I hear it again.

He wouldn’t...

I shake my head, my heart ramrodding against my ribcage as I draw closer to the window, trying to stay out of view as I peer down at the ground below.

Nothing.

“Now you’re imagining things,” I mutter to myself with another shake of my head, moving to take a step back.

But then it happens again. Only this time, I see it as well as hear it. A tiny pebble. It ricochets off the glass with a ping that I’m honestly surprised doesn’t crack it. Tilting forward even farther, I damn near topple over at the sight of Nash as he steps out from behind the large tree in our side yard, making a motion with his hands I understand all too well, considering I’ve seen him do it hundreds of times over the years. He wants me to open the window.

He repeats the motion again when I still haven’t moved, not entirely convinced I’m not hallucinating if we’re being real right now.

---