Page 16 of Until Then

Carter: Facts. Listen, we’re all here at The Loft. Briar says to get over here so we can celebrate your new freedom. Oh, Rees just showed up. He’s laughing.

I chuckle. We’re lucky to be close as twins, but my brother will taunt me relentlessly about whatever nasty post Eden put up. Vienna will likely give me that sad look since she knows I’ve basically been hunting for anyone to fill the cut left behind from months ago.

I’m an idiot.

One stupid day and night and I act like I lost a soulmate.

It’s ridiculous and a little pathetic. Still, there is a fierce truth I’ll deny until I’m blue, but inside I know the truth—if my wildfire ever asked for me again, I’d stumble all over myself to take the chance.

SIX

Hayley

Lights and thumping music are the first sign I’m out of my element.

The second is the pretty blonde woman who slips past me in the doorway dressed in a perfectly fitted pencil skirt. She flashes me a quick grin, then keeps talking on the phone about a Jude.

Probably Jude Law.

Doubtless, Briar has some makeup or fashion line with the man. Her connections are outrageous and incredible. It’s been amazing to watch her fly so high while learning to keep grounded and down to earth.

“Ready?” Greer checks her red lips in a pocket mirror. She looks elegant without even trying. The woman carries curves like a profession and has the deepest, richest Italian olive complexion, she looks like a walking filter.

“No.”

“Come on, she said it’s just her family, right?”

I nod. Trouble with Briar is, sometimes family doesn’t always mean blood for her. Then there’s her fiancé’s invite list—I don’t know who might be in there to support Tyrell.

“I’m not ready,” I say, “but we’re going anyway.”

Greer tosses back her tight curls and loops her arm through mine. “This is good for you, Haze. You’re starting to talk to only horses.”

“I like horses more than people sometimes.”

She laughs like I’ve cracked a great joke. I wasn’t trying to joke.

We step into the loft above the packed restaurant. It’s less stacked in people, but this is a private party with Tyrell’s and Briar’s closest family. A dinner before the rehearsal dinner.

For a year or two, I wondered if the hustle to be the top model would take one of my oldest friends away in a life I couldn’t follow. Briar Madden and I lost touch for a bit, then one Christmas she showed back up at the ranch door, a basket of peanut brittle and eggnog fudge in hand, and a request to bingeChristmas Story, just like we did every year from fifth to twelfth grades.

She’d stepped back from fashion modeling and decided to live her true passion in makeup and the behind the scenes of fashion.

It was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

First, she eats a sandwich now and then, and second, the choice brought her to Tyrell. Sweet, driven, shy Tyrell.

We’ve only met a handful of times, and I know he’s the head of a movie, or TV studio—I don’t know, something important—but he makes her happy. He reels her in, and she nudges him forward.

Love Briar as I do, this is not my scene.

I snatch a dainty flute of some fruity looking drink off a tray when a waiter waltzes by and gulp half in one go.

“Easy, girl.” Greer takes the glass out of my hands and places it on an end table near a modern sofa. “He’s not here, Haze. I told you, the video was posted like an hour ago.”

Ah, Greer chipped away to the real reason behind my nerves. Noah Hayden knows Briar. I mean, I don’t really know how close they are; Briar usually talks about Tyrell, the past, and her new lines.

Still, it’s the first time in nine months where a real possibility of crossing paths weighs over my shoulders.

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