Page 1 of Why Not Now?

Chapter 1

Ava

“Howaretheresomany hot people at this wedding?” my friend and fellow photographer Bethany asks as we stand to one side of the room taking candid shots of the guests mingling while they wait for the two brides to arrive.

Honestly, Bethany is better at candids than I am, but I’ve already taken all the stills we need until later.

“Aren’t you married?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says with a smirk. “That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the view. I mean, look at those two over there. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome and Mr. Golden God.”

I smile as I take another shot of the guests. Bethany and I shouldn’t be taking pictures from the same location—our shots will all come out the same—but she’d come over to tell me about all the beautiful people, so I figure I should actually see these two men.

When I do, my breath lodges in my lungs and it feels like they’ve turned to stone.

“Fudge brownies!” I whisper.

“Whoa,” Bethany says with a chuckle. “Watch the language. What’s wrong?”

“I know that man,” I say, turning us both so we’re not facing him, my heart aching with how much it hurts to see him. Though he hadn’t been looking at me, I don’t want him to see me if he hasn’t already.

“Who?” Bethany looks around, but I make a hissing noise, and she turns back.

“Mr. Tall and Dark,” I answer. No way I can force the word handsome out of my mouth, even though he is. Derek Moritz has always been my definition of the perfect man. At least, when it comes to looks. “Be cool.”

She lifts her camera and scans through her recent shots until she finds the one of the two men. She shows me as well, though I don’t need to see the image to remember what he looks like. He was the most gorgeous boy in school.Of coursehe’s hotter now than he was back then. That’s just how my luck goes.

We’d been friends for a long time before we got together. When we did, I’d thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. He’d always made me feel safe and like I was important. The memory of the way he would look at me, hold me in his arms, surround me with his strength, has me wincing. No one has ever made me feel that way since.

“Who is he?” Bethany asks. “One of your conquests?” She gives me a sly grin and I roll my eyes.

Bethany likes to tease me about the men I’ve gone out with, casual hookups only. She told me once that her teasing wasn’t serious, but she wished I would learn to let people in. I’d told her I had no time for relationships between my multiple jobs and raising my sister. I didn’t tell her I’d already had the kind of love people write stories about and he’d left me, so why would I want to try that again?

“No,” I say now. “We dated. A long time ago.”

She scoffs. “You never date.”

“Nope. And he’s why.”

She looks at her camera again. “Don’t tell me that’s the infamous Derek.”

“One and the same.”

She shoots me a glance, eyes wide. “You broke up withhim?”

“Uh no. He broke up with me.”

“How long ago was this?” she asks.

I clear my throat. “Over eight years.”

“Tell me again what happened?”

I sigh and take a picture of the flower arch over the head table, stunning pink wisteria and white roses with gold accents creating a romantic spot for the couple. “My parents died, and I got custody of Lacey. Derek and I had been dating about two and a half years, friends for longer. I asked if he wanted to leave. He didn’t sign up for the whole raising an eight-year-old sister thing, you know? Anyway, I asked, and he left.” I shrug, trying to downplay the most painful time of my life.

“That’s horrible.”

I snort at the sheer understatement of that. “Yeah, well. It is what it is.”

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