Page 66 of The First Best Man

Blaine shakes her head. “I honestly have no idea.”

I start to do the same, then freeze. I meet Penny’s eye and say two words. “Kaylee Harper.”

Blaine leans forward again to look at me with wide eyes. “What? Why would Kaylee want to ruin Penny’s day?”

“I don’t know, but it’s her. It has to be.” I pause to look at Penny. “You got sick after buying ice cream at her shop. I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure she gave you a soy-based product. And everyone on the island knows you’re allergic to soy. When that didn’t ruin everything, and you recovered quickly, she destroyed your dress.”

It’s a stretch, but if you think about it, it fits. I can’t think of a single other person who’d be so vindictive and go to such lengths to hurt someone.

Penny shakes her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Sure, Kaylee and I don’t like each other, but what reason would she have for taking things that far?”

Blaine freezes, her eyes flaring wide again as she looks at each of us in turn. “Oh, shit. I think I know. She had a crush on Logan all through middle school. When you and he got together in tenth grade, she was devastated, and she actually askedmeto help her break you guys up. I refused, of course, and I’d honestly forgotten all about it until now. Is it possible she still wants him after all this time? Enough to try to ruin the wedding?”

“That’s crazy,” I murmur, my thoughts churning at the possibility.

“Well, she’s never been exactly stable. And she’s always hated us.” Penny says, nodding her head in my direction. “And breaking up Logan and me would hurtyou almost as much as it would me. Since you love me so much, you know?”

“That bitch!” Blaine shouts, the words echoing off the salon’s walls and making every eye in the place snap in her direction.

Penny and I rear back at the loud exclamation, then, as if on cue, we both burst into laughter. Blaine stares at us for a moment, fuming, then her lips start to twitch. She visibly tries to stop it, but a giggle slips past her lips, and soon we’re all laughing together.

It feels like a new beginning. My heart swells, and I beam at Blaine, reveling in the strange sense of comradery. It feels…good. It feels right.

We spend the next few minutes discussing several diabolical plans to get Kaylee back for her interference. Some of the over-the-top ideas have us laughing like hyenas, and they only get more bizarre as we keep trying to outdo each other. We debate putting blue dye in her shower head to stain her skin and hair, ordering a crate of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and setting them loose in her shop, and even staging aswatting––anonymously calling the police and reporting a crime so heinous, they send in the S.W.A.T. team to arrest her.

When we finally settle down and go quiet, Penny sighs. “Seriously, though, what are we going to do?”

“Ignore her. The best revenge will be pulling off the most beautiful, love-filled wedding this island has ever seen,” Blaine says, then looks at me. “And while you and Logan are away on your honeymoon, Kate and I will make her life a living hell.”

A laugh bursts out of me, and I lift a hand,stretching it toward her for a high-five. Blaine smacks her palm against it, and Penny squeals.

“Careful! Don’t mess up your nails!”

Before either of us can respond, Penny’s pedicurist pronounces her done and tells her to walk carefully as she heads to the other side of the salon where her hairstylist is ready and waiting for her. She scheduled a practice run, wanting to see how her up-do is going to look for her big day tomorrow.

Once she’s gone, Blaine clears her throat. “I’m sorry about being such a bitch this week about J.T. I was jealous, but I’ve always known nothing would happen between us. He’s not attracted to me, like,at all. His interest in you hurt my pride, and I took it out on you. And for that, I really am sorry. You didn’t deserve my shitty behavior. Honestly, you guys are really cute together.”

“Oh, we’re not––” I start, but Blaine cuts me off with an upraised palm.

“Please, girl. I’m not blind. Everyone can see how close you’ve gotten, and Miss Ginny spread the word around town that you stayed in his room for hours, then tried to sneak past her yesterday.”

“She…what?” I stutter, dread seeping into every bone in my body.

Blaine chuckles and shakes her head. “There’s no reason to be ashamed. He’s a catch, even if it is just for the weekend.”

Blaine doesn’t say that last bit to be nasty. She’s sincere, I can tell, but the words leave me feeling bereft. This thing between Tucker and meisjust for the weekend. After tomorrow, it’s over.

Then I remember how he was acting earlier. Withdrawn. Stand-offish. Like he’s already trying to put distance between us.

Hell, it might be over already.

Pain sears through my chest, and I hunch my shoulders in response, like the ache is physical and not just emotional. God, it hurts. So badly. Why does it hurt so much?

Then it hits me, and I gasp.

Nothing hurts as much as the truth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

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