Page 53 of Always a Bridesmaid

“Camilla was too young to really get it, but Sarah was heartbroken. At first, she didn’t believe me, waiting up at night as if he’d suddenly decide his family was worth more than a pit crew job with Formula 3. He thought it was his ticket into Formula 1.”

“What finally was her breaking point?”

“When he missed Christmas without even a call or sending presents. To this day, Sarah doesn’t like to celebrate the holidays. She will for my mum, but she’s always melancholy.”

Jane’s mom might not have known what to do with her, but at least she’d tried in her own way. Holidays might have been lonely, but her mom always made sure to get the day off. Will hadn’t even made the effort to call his kids. What kind of parent does that? And how deep did those scars run within the family?

“Maybe this marriage will be a fresh start. A way to make new traditions. That’s what college with my friends Georgia and Roxy had been. A fresh start, where we made our own family traditions. It helped me find closure so I could finally move forward with my life.”

“I’ve moved on. Trust me,” he said with so much venom that she didn’t believe him, and that hurt her stomach.

Jane took his hand and placed it against her chest. “It’s okay if you haven’t. You lost a parent. Even if he didn’t die, the loss is the same. Maybe even harder.”

He looked down at her and ran his thumb across her lower lip in a tender way that had her lungs stop working all together. There was a vulnerability to him, as if he had mixed feelings about chasing his dad away. But when he spoke, he said, “You wanted discreet, remember?” and his hand dropped to his side.

Without another word he walked away, and Jane wanted to call him back. To finish their conversation. But this was what she’d wanted. Right?

“Where’s my dad?”Sarah asked Jane. “I thought I saw him earlier.”

It was nearly midnight, and she was dead on her feet. Between her conversation with Henry and knowing he could be around every corner, her nerves were frazzled. The boat was docked, the crowd had thinned out, the party was almost over, and Sarah and Wayne were getting ready to leave. This was Jane’s chance to let Sarah in on Will’s doings.

“He left a while ago,” Jane explained. She was used to getting in the middle of family drama, but this time it felt different.

“But he didn’t even say hi.”

Jane’s loyalty was to her client, bottom line. So then why did telling her that Henry had asked Will to leave feel like such a betrayal?

Because your heart is involved.

Jane knew she had to tell Sarah about what her dad was doing. Even though it was going to hurt, it was her duty. It would hurt less than finding out on her wedding day. Was there a way to be truthful without bringing Henry into this?

“I caught your dad asking industry people for their cards and jobs.”

“What?” Sarah looked horrified. “He promised he wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m really sorry, Sarah. I can’t even imagine how this must feel. And I know I should have asked you, but he was making the other guests uncomfortable, so I called him out on it.”

“You did?” she asked, and Jane prepared herself for the brunt of the anger. Prepared herself to be fired. Only she found herself being swept into a hug. “Thank you so much. I really wanted him here, but not if he’s going to do that.”

“So you aren’t going to let me go?”

Sarah pulled back. “Are you kidding? I’m going to give you a bonus. This is why I hired you. I never would have had the courage to do that, and it needed to be done. I can’t even imagine what Henry would have done had he seen that go down.”

Jane grimaced. This was where things got tricky. She’d tried her best to avoid bringing Henry into things, but her client had mentioned him directly. Normally, Jane would just lay out all the details, but this was different, so she just said, “You should talk to Henry about that.”

Sarah covered her mouth, and her eyes went shiny with tears. “He saw?”

“Like I said, you need to have a long overdue chat with your brother. And Sarah, if I were you, I’d just come clean about everything. He deserves to know how long you and your dad have been in contact, about Elle, about everything.”

Even as she mentioned Elle, she wanted to take it back, because Sarah coming clean about Elle would mean exposingJane’s true identity, and she wasn’t sure how Henry would react to that. She’d shared so many deep truths about herself she wondered how he’d react to this one tiny white lie.

15

Jane lay in bed staring as the moonlight danced across the evening like two lovers on a ballroom floor. It was well past two in the morning, and she couldn’t stop thinking of how empty she’d felt when Henry walked away.

Her body was tense with pent-up hormones and unexplored sexual awareness. Even though she hadn’t spoken to or looked at Henry for the rest of the evening, it was as if her body had been acutely aware of him the entire time.

She’d tried ignoring it, sticking to Sarah’s side throughout the evening like a professional bridesmaid, doing all the things she’d been hired to do. In fact, she was the last to leave the dinner, making sure everything was handled for tomorrow.

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