Page 46 of Unexpectingly Happily Ever After

Brit turns her head awayfrom me.

″What happened? Did you get in a fight?”

Brit snorts, such an odd sound coming from her. “About five weeks ago.”

″What happened?” I repeat. “Did he not like you coming here? What’s his problem?”

″His problem, apparently, is me. We broke up.” Her tone is casual like she’s reciting a menu.

″What?” My tone is anything but. “What are you talking about? When? Why? Why didn’t you tell me? Brit, what’s going on?” Brit shrugs, looking more vulnerable then she has in years. I move closer and touch her arm. “What happened?”

She sighs heavily. “It’s over. He met someone else–someone he liked better. I guess he met her around the same time as he met me, dated both of us, picked me and then changed his mind when the wedding plans were made. He got in touch with her; she still had feelings…” she trails off with another shrug.

″Sounds like the last season ofThe Bachelor.” My mind swirls with questions and I’m sure I’m gaping like a fish, but I don’t know what to say. Comfort? Get angry on her behalf? Sympathy? Jokey comments?

And deep down, in that low place, I don’t want to acknowledge, I can’t help but think Brit might have deserved it.

″Let me get this straight,” I begin. “You’re not getting married?”

″Not anytime soon,” Brit says bitterly.

″But–”

″You think I deserve it.”

″Of course I don’t,” I lie.

″You think because I’m such a bitch–You even told me I was being a bitch earlier, so why wouldn’t Justin think that?Why wouldn’t he pick someone nicer?”

″I’m not thinking that. I don’t know what I’m thinking. Are you okay?” Brit only shrugs. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I keep my voice quiet, even though I want to scream it at her. Brit is my best friend, so why on earth wouldn’t she tell me?

We came to Las Vegas because she was getting married again.

She gives me a tight-lipped smile. “It’s not the easiest thing to admit to. It’s embarrassing.”

″Seriously?” I reel back, holding tight to my temper. Now is not the time to be upset that she’s dragged me away from my children. “Brit, you’ve seen me with my head stuck in a toilet. I’ve helped you pee when you were wearing your wedding dress. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. I would have hated him for you. I would have stalked the other girl on social media.”

Brit doesn’t say anything for a long moment, staring out the bars and refusing to meet my eyes. I ignore the crying and conversation behind us, praying no one will interrupt.

″It’s been…hard. I’ve watched you and J.B. Before him, you were a mess. I had the better relationships, the hotter guys, but then you got pregnant and got married.”

″It’s not a competition!”

″It is for me,” she confesses. “It always has been. That’s just who I am. Not a great trait, I know.”

″You think?”

″We’re not criticizing my character traits–”

″I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing! You drop this bombshell on me, tell me you’ve been jealous of me, the wedding is off. Forgive me for being a bit confused.”

″I never said I was jealous. But you have everything you’ve always wanted, Casey. As happy as I am for you, I can’t help feeling sad for myself.”

I pause. Whatever I think of Brit, I’ve only wanted happiness for her. We planned our lives out–She was going to have a grand, sweeping epic life, and I was going to have a more comfortable, but still amazing future. We were both going to find our happily ever afters.

But only one of us did.

″So what are you going to do?” I ask after a long pause, broken by more retching in the corner.

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