Page 34 of Mr. Swoony

She smiles at me, and we all exit the car, heading into Jade and Henry’s rental house. I forgot how good it feels to have real friends who have my back.

“Wait,” I say when we walk inside. “My mom. Sam.”

Jade shakes her head. “I’ve got it. You go with Kyleigh, and I’ll handle it.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Hey, I’m the maid of honor. It’s my job.” She winks and heads to the staircase.

“Thank you.”

“You’d do the same for me.” She squeezes my forearm and walks up the stairs.

“All right then—rip it, burn it, or both?” Kyleigh asks, distracting me from my thoughts.

Although my mind is full of lingering worries about what the aftermath of my decision to leave Tristan will be, I push those thoughts aside and try to finally think about what it is I really want.

Fifteen

Conor

Someone nudges my shoulder, and I groan, rolling over. It feels as if my brain is sloshing around inside my skull.

“Get up, lazy ass.”

I slowly sit up, taking a minute to get my bearings, and find Henry standing at my bedside.

“Put some clothes on and come out to the family room,” he says before he leaves.

I wobble when I stand from the bed. My body aches as I throw on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt.

Rowan, Tweetie, and Henry sit in the family room. There’s coffee on the counter along with some breakfast sandwiches from our favorite place. I pick up a coffee and sandwich before joining them in the family room.

“Did I really do it?” I squeeze my eyes shut for a beat because my head is pounding.

“Yep.” Rowan pops the ‘p’ on the end of the word.

I groan.

“Just ran in there and said I object,” Henry says with dad-like disapproval.

Tweetie just shakes his head at me.

I place my coffee on the table and open my sandwich. I’m starving. “You let me keep drinking when we got back here?”

“It was the only way to get you to stop fighting us. We had to cancel two Ubers,” Henry says.

“You owe me a hundred bucks for having to pay for the ride you booked, plus extra.” Rowan sips his iced coffee.

“I had a good night planned last night,” Henry says. “Jade looked so sexy in her pink dress. We booked a hotel, and I had roses on the bed, champagne ordered. But instead, I got to pick you up off the floor at Peeper’s and clean up your puke.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, man. Truly.” I ditch the sandwich and coffee, suddenly nauseated.

“Can we address the real problem here?” Rowan asks. “Why were you running into a church and stopping a wedding?”

I glance at Henry.

“I met Eloise last Saturday,” I confess.

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