Page 52 of One Wealthy Wedding

“I’ll deny it if Miles ever asks, but he’s stupidly hot. It’s the backward hats, I think,” Lane muses.

“Don’t forget the stunts he pulls,” Blair adds. “There’s something about a guy who doesn’t care what people think.”

“He’s so nice too. Do you ever see him shirtless?” Lane perks up.

“No.” I shake my head. “You guys are crazy. He’s hot, yes, but he’s also Theo. It’s fake. He actually reminded me of that the other day.”

“What’s that phrase?” Blair asks. “Something about protesting too much.”

Lane nods. “Exactly. He’s just like Miles. If you have to say it’s fake…”

I can’t go down this road. I take another gulp of wine. “This is not that,” I say. Very much not that. “We discussed it like adults. We’re getting along fine in public, and that’s all we need to do. It’s fine. I don’t care. It is fake. Better for us to be on the same page, don’t you think?”

“You loved him, though,” Blair says quietly. “Way back when. I know you did.”

Her words lodge in my chest, dismantling my carefully built walls. Don’t think about that time at the lake. Don’t remember how he used to smile at you. And definitely don’t think about that night. Each memory makes up a ball of longing that lodges in my throat. I suck in air anyway and straighten my shoulders.

“I did.” I look Blair in the eye. “But I was a child.”

“You did?” Lane sits up. “I didn’t know that.”

“Theo grew up with me.” I flop onto the bed with my friend. Blair is looking at me with sympathy. “He was my best friend for years.”

“Tell her,” Blair urges when I fall silent.

I shut my eyes briefly. The memory of Theo’s warm, slick skin and strong hands is always waiting, right behind my lids. “I kissed him,” I say. I open my eyes to see Lane’s mouth twisted unhappily. “One night in the lake. I was nineteen. He was twenty-one. And that was it.”

“What happened?” Lane asks.

“I saw him with another girl,” I say shortly. “At a party he invited me to. I was so nervous, but he asked me to go. I didn’t go out much in those days. My parents didn’t like it, so I always had to lie and say I was going to study at a friend’s and then make sure I was home early. I was deeply infatuated with Theo, though, so I was willing to risk it.” I sigh. “You guys would have laughed. I used to follow him everywhere back then. He’d come up with these horrible plans, and I always went along with them.”

“Sounds fun,” Blair muses. “You suburbs kids had the best time. I bet you went joy riding and smoked cigarettes behind the movie theater or something. TP’ed houses on Halloween. All that stuff.”

“We did.” A smile tugs at my lips. “Theo was the worst. And also the best. Whenever I had a bad day or my parents were harsh, we’d meet up at the lake on this rickety dock that Theo rigged up one summer. It was mostly plywood and totally unsafe. We even had a secret code. When one of us needed the other, we’d leave a stack of pennies by the door. One for each hour, and then we’d go to the lake at that time.”

“Sounds like he loved you too,” Lane says softly.

My stomach pinches. “Nah. He didn’t. We were friends, but it was always tenuous. He started to distance himself when he left for college. I can’t blame him. My parents didn’t like him. I was too young and not cool enough. He was too reckless.” I blow out a breath. “He left. Just disappeared two days after the kiss. He dated that girl for a whole summer, and we never spoke again. Well, until I saw him at the bar the other night.”

“And now you’re married,” Lane says.

“Crazy,” Blair mutters.

I don’t respond. I still can’t believe I’m in this situation.

“What’s on the list tonight?” Lane asks.

I gratefully pick up the list, happy to change the subject. “Palm reading?”

“Ooh, yes.” Blair rubs her hands together. “Let’s do this.”

My friends and I bundle into our coats and take a cab downtown, and I’m happy for the distraction.

When the palm reader tells me I’m going to meet and marry a handsome stranger, I laugh and pull my hand out from under the table to show her the ring.

“Already did,” I say.

“He loves you,” she says, eyeing the giant diamond.

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