Page 2 of The Wrong Boss

“Heard you finally did it,” she said, grinning at me. Her makeup and hair were already done, and she wore a gorgeous dark-blue mother-of-the-bride dress with a boat neck and a perfect bias cut. “Saw all that junk in your car and Hailey told me you finally left that useless lump of meat. I think I’m prouder than the day you graduated college.”

“All right, all right, I get it,” I replied, huffing. “Derek was no good. Can we please move on?”

“We just want to make sure you know we approve,” Hailey called out from her chair.

The makeup artist smiled at us as she waited for Hailey to face forward again so she could glue false eyelashes on. “Sounds like there’s a story here,” the artist said.

I watched her place the lashes with expert care, but it was Julie who cut in and said: “There are a hundred stories. None of them are good.”

I met my own makeup artist’s gaze as she approached with a clean sponge and a bottle of foundation. “You know, I really could have used this pep talk earlier. Why didn’t any of you tell me what you really thought of Derek?”

“You’ve got your mother’s stubborn streak,” Aunt Jackie said. “No use telling you anything before you come to it on your own.”

A chorus of agreement sounded from all corners of the room, and I tilted my head in reluctant agreement. There were a few times, after bad fights, when I’d called Hailey to vent my frustrations. She’d tried to gently suggest that the relationship might not be working, and I’d shut down. After all, I’d spent most of my twenties with Derek; wasn’t I in too deep to turn back? I wanted a family, and what if I never found someone to have it with? Wasn’t it better to stick with the imperfect relationship I knew?

Now, with the benefit of hindsight—fresh as it might have been—I realized I’d been wrong. It felt too good to be free of my ex’s judgmental presence to think that breaking up with himhad been anything but the right decision. Time would tell whether it would work out in the long run. Maybe my fears would come true. Maybe I’d never meet anyone who wanted to start a family with me. Maybe having kids and a husband and a quiet, simple, happy life wasn’t in the cards for me. Maybe hot men who truly cared about their partner’s pleasure only existed in books.

But I’d deal with that later. It was my favorite cousin’s wedding, I was single, I was free, and I wouldn’t let myself get bogged down with thoughts of the future. Breaking up with my ex had been the hardest thing I’d ever done—but itwasdone.

The makeup artist dusted a tiny bit of powder under my eyes, then stepped back and smiled. “Gorgeous.”

I stared at myself in the mirror, straightening my spine. Ducking behind a screen to put on the dress Hailey had chosen for us, I was careful not to disturb my hair or makeup as the slinky, silky peach dress slipped over my skin. The straps were spaghetti-thin. It was a backless dress, with the straps crisscrossing all the way down to nearly the base of my spine, and I was grateful that my small breasts didn’t require any kind of support.

Derek’s voice popped into my head as I adjusted the fabric over my chest:“You should get a boob job. I’ll pay for it,”he’d told me just moments after rolling off me the last time we’d slept together, which had been nearly five months ago. He’d pawed at my chest, gathering up the small amount of flesh in his palm before catching the horrified expression on my face, immediately rearing back.“What?”he’d protested.“You know how flat you are. You’d look way better with bigger tits. You can’t look at me likethat and tell me I’m wrong. Your saving grace is your ass, Carrie. You know it’s true.”

Instead of breaking up with him right then and there, I’d researched breast augmentations with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Not because I judged anyone for their cosmetic surgery choices, but because deep down, I didn’t want to go under the knife because my boyfriend found me lacking.

I shook off the memory and the shame that still accompanied my reaction to his words. I’d been so twisted up by our relationship, by him, that I’d lost sight of who I was.

No more. I would learn to love myself again, small breasts and all.

A wolf whistle greeted me as I walked out from behind the screen. Hailey beamed at me and announced, “I think we should find someone for Carrie to hook up with tonight.”

“Hailey Jane Benson,” Aunt Jackie snapped. “Today is your wedding day.”

“Yeah,mywedding,” Hailey quipped, grinning. “It’s also the first day of the rest of Carrie’s life.”

“Let’s just focus on getting you down the aisle on time,” I said, checking my hair in one of the many mirrors in the room before finding and slipping on the pair of cream heeled sandals to finish the outfit. The back strap of the shoe hit a fresh blister on my heel, and I frowned down at it. That would be sore by the end of the night.

“We can focus on more than one thing,” Hailey pointed out.

“Aren’t a couple of Seth’s groomsmen single?” Julie asked, naming Hailey’s college sweetheart and husband-to-be.

“They are,” Hailey replied, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling. My cousins always managed to cheer me up, and today was no exception. It’s not that I wanted to sleep with someone else right away. It’s that Icould. If I wanted to. Which I wasn’t sure I did. But the thought was a dangling thread of possibility just waiting to be tugged. What would unravel if I gave in to temptation?

The smart thing to do would be to take some time to heal. I knew I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I probably wasn’t even ready for a rebound. I needed to get to know myself, to figure out why I’d let myself be treated like crap for so many years. Derek had found every crack in my confidence and wriggled his way into the very heart of my insecurities. He’d made me feel weak.

What if I fell for a charming, cruel man again? What if I learned nothing from the first serious relationship of my life?

Suddenly the chatter and noise in the bridal suite felt oppressive. I needed some air—needed to get away from all the well-meaning comments. “I’m going to go check on preparations downstairs,” I announced to the room at large.

“Come back with a few bottles of champagne!” Julie called out.

Nodding, I pulled open the door, stepped into the hotel hallway, and let the noise of the wedding preparations go silent behind me with the snicking of the latch.

A long sigh slipped through my lips. I was lighter, yes. I was happy to be free of my ex. I was ecstatic for Hailey and grateful to be able to celebrate her wedding.

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