Page 1 of Unforgettable

ONE

Amanda

Apparently,dealing with stupidity was something akin to a superpower.

Before the rehearsal dinner began, my best friend, Hazel, her sister, and her mom all praised my ability to deal with Hazel’s wedding planner, which renewed my determination to bear with her relentless questions and ridiculous tasks. If it was such a superpower, I at least deserved a fucking cape.

I reminded myself, as I recounted the printed menus for the umpteenth time, that Hazel’s happiness—well, and Luke’s—was most important. As long as their wedding went off without a hitch, then I could stand Bridget and her madness.

“I swear I counted one hundred and sixty-five. How many did you get this time? There should be one hundred and eighty,” she asked, then laid the sixth stack of thirty navy-blue menus down on the table. Hazel had designed them herself—navy-blue cardstock with gold calligraphy that listed the dinner options. They were beautiful, but I was sick of counting them.

“Actually, Bridget, they’ve multiplied. There are now two hundred of them. They’re like gremlins, but instead of eating after midnight making them multiply, they multiply every time I touch them.”

Bridget whipped her head toward me. Her perfectly styled and colored deep-brown hair flung over her shoulder, and her brows furrowed in the center as her mouth gaped.

“That’s not even possible. You’re kidding, right?”

I shrugged, straightened the stacks of menus for the last damn time, and brushed past her. “I thought a stupid question deserved a stupid answer. Now, I’m getting a drink and enjoying the party,” I said, my sharp tongue getting the better of me, but I could see the finish line, and my patience with the wedding planner was completely gone. So much for dealing with stupid.

I’d still work with her to ensure the wedding day went flawlessly, as was my job as maid of honor, but I couldn’t continue to hold my tongue.

I stepped out of the storage room and into the rehearsal space that was crowded with Hazel and Luke’s closest friends and family. The actual dinner portion of the rehearsal was over, but the party had only just begun.

We hadn’t found it necessary to hire a DJ for both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding day, so I’d curated a playlist for the dinner. The music played at a decent volume on the speakers positioned throughout the space. My phone was plugged into the main sound system behind the bar, and I squeezed past one of the bartenders to check the playlist.

There were still plenty of songs that hadn’t yet played, so I set my phone back on the shelf.

“Could I have a double gin and tonic, please? With two limes,” I asked one of the bartenders, not even attempting to go around the bar like all the other guests. The maid of honor should get at least a few perks anyway.

While the bartender pulled the gin from below the counter, I spotted Hazel beelining for me. Her ethereal white dress flowed behind her and fluttered around her shoeless feet. She was a glowing bride, and I don’t think the smile on her face had fallen for even a minute in the past few days.

Delilah, her sister and matron of honor, and I had done our best to make sure there wasn’t a reason for Hazel to be unhappy.

“I think it’s going well, right? And this music is perfect, Amanda. Everything is amazing,” Hazel said as she pressed up to the bar.

“Everything’s perfect. We still have a little over an hour and a half until we officially have to get the hell out, so mingle and dance and drink and whatever else you wanna do,” I instructed.

She bounced lightly on her feet and leaned over the bar top, gripped my face, and kissed my cheek.

“You, too!” she shouted over the music. “You’ve done enough work, so it’s time to enjoy it.”

I didn’t argue because arguing with the bride was explicitly off-limits the day before her wedding. So, I just nodded and watched as Luke wrapped his arms around his bride’s waist and pressed a kiss to her neck.

He smiled at me, winked, and then pulled her back into the crowd of people.

They were hopelessly in love and perfect for each other, which was all I could have ever wanted for two of my best friends and two of the best people I had ever known. After all they’d been through with their terrible past relationships and near-death experiences, they deserved a happily ever after.

But I couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy at watching them live their fairy tale. Maybe it was more than just a twinge because when the bartender finally handed me my drink, I chugged it like a frat guy trying to impress a half-dressed sorority girl.

The bartender watched me with wide eyes, but I smiled at him sweetly as I pushed the empty glass back to him and requested another.

He only shook his head a little before he began making me another, and that was when a shot of hope zipped through me. I wasn’t completely alone—I had brought a date. But I hadn’t seen him since Bridget frantically told me that menus had gone missing and requested my immediate help.

I stood on my toes—which was all the more difficult in my heels—and scanned the crowd of people for the tall man with messy brown hair.

Technically, we had only been on a few dates, but it seemed like our connection was growing, which was promising and, honestly, something I had all but given up on.

Since my ex-boyfriend, Tyler, and I had broken up for the last time—because there had been several prior breakups that didn’t stick—only once had I found any sort of connection with anyone. But that time had just so happened to be during a threesome with two of my best friends and was a time we hadn’t necessarily discussed afterward. I couldn’t lie and pretend that it wasn’t placed securely in the top three best nights of my life, but it was a line that shouldn’t have been crossed in the first place. Which meant I tried to keep it as far from my thoughts as I could, and that took more self-control than I would have liked to admit.

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