Page 1 of Three Pucking Wedding Dates

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OAKLEY

Georgia and Dan are excited to invite you to partake in celebrating their special day!

Iclutch the wedding invitation in my hands, feeling like I’m about to explode. My eyes dart from the embossed gold lettering on the fancy cardstock to Georgia and Dan, standing before me in the middle of my dad’s living room. It’s as if I’m trapped in some twisted reality television show. This cannot be real.

“Is this a joke?” I demand, tossing the invitation onto the coffee table. “You two have got to be kidding me.”

Georgia smiles innocently, but I see the truth in her piercing blue eyes which are cold and calculating. Dan wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. The way he’s holding her—his hand resting possessively on her stomach—makes my skin crawl. She’s pregnant, isn’t she?

And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.

“Oakley, sweetheart, I know about your past with Dan,” Georgia coos, her voice dripping with condescension. “But we’re meant to be together. Now we’re going to have a family. Isn’t it romantic?”

“Romantic?” I scoff, my anger boiling over. “You call sleeping with my fiancé behind my back romantic? You two deserve each other!”

When Dan proposed to me, I was stunned, and I hadn’t wanted to embarrass him so I’d said yes. I hadn’t expected that a week later I would catch him in bed with my stepsister. And the worst part is that after I ran out of the room, all he could do was say he hadn’t meant to hurt me.

Once again, Georgia was picked over me. I’m over it.

“Hey, Oakley,” Dan interjects. He’s trying to sound reasonable, but his brown eyes give away his guilt. At least he feels guilty. Georgia couldn’t care less, despite the act she’s putting on. “We didn’t plan for things to turn out this way, but what’s done is done. Can’t we all just try to move on and be happy for each other?”

“Happy for each other?” I sputter, incredulous. “Dan, you betrayed me! And Georgia, you’re supposed to be my sister. How could you do this to me?”

Because she always gets what she wants and doesn’t care who she hurts in the process.

Didn’t I learn that a long time ago?

“Oakley, it’s not like I intentionally set out to hurt you,” Georgia whines, her eyes filling with crocodile tears. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. It just…did.”

I stare at her in disbelief, my pulse pounding in my ears. Of course she’d try to play the victim here. She’s trying to gain sympathy and twist the situation to her advantage. My hands clench into fists as I refuse to give her what she wants.

“Really, Georgia?” I spit, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “You expect me to buy that pathetic act? You knew exactly what you were doing when you slept with Dan. Don’t even pretend otherwise.”

Before Georgia can respond, Tina, my wicked stepmother from Pittsburgh, steps forward, her icy blue gaze fixed on me. Her designer clothes and perfectly styled hair scream superiority, and I briefly wonder how many hours my dad had to work to be able to afford those clothes.

This woman wouldn’t know a thing about love if it hit her in the back of the head.

“Oakley, there’s no need to be so dramatic,” Tina chides, her voice clipped and precise. “Georgia has made a mistake, but she’s your sister. You should be more understanding and forgiving.”

“Stepsister,” I correct her. “And—forgiving? Tina, this isn’t some petty spat over borrowed clothes. Georgia slept with my fiancé and now expects me to go to her wedding and be a bridesmaid? The answer is no. There’s not enough money in the world that you could pay me to attend that trainwreck.”

The air between us crackles with tension, and I stand tall, refusing to cower under their scrutiny. Despite the pain and betrayal gnawing at my heart, I will not be seen as inferior to them. They may have broken my trust, but they won’t break me.

“Oakley, you’re being unreasonable,” Tina snaps, her patience wearing thin. “We’re family, and families forgive each other.”

“Family?” I scoff. “I don’t want a family that stabs me in the back and then expects me to smile and accept it. And I sure as hell don’t need a stepmother who puts me down at every turn. Oh, I forgot Georgia is the golden child and does nothing wrong, right?”

I lock eyes with Tina. She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by my outburst. “You’ve never been happy for Georgia a day in your life, and you want to call her the bad sister?”

That’s it. I’m going to lose my mind.

“Excuse me?” I snap. My fists clench involuntarily at my sides, as if preparing for battle. “I told my dad he never should have invited you or your daughter into this family. You two intruded on our lives and tried to manipulate everyone around you.”

“Manipulate?” Tina scoffs, feigning innocence. “I’ve done no such thing. I’m simply trying to help you see reason and support your sister in her time of need.”

“Support her?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “She betrayed me, and you expect me to just…what? Get over it?”

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