Page 28 of We Wish You a Happily Ever After

“I need you here tonight, Bella. We need to rehearse. I told you in my voicemail.” He sighed, that long, exasperated sigh that drove Bella crazy. “I don’t understand why you’re not already here.”

“You didn’t say anything about…” She drifted away as she remembered how she’d held the phone away while she celebrated with her little dance in Jeremy’s kitchen. It was entirely likely she’d missed some of the finer details of the message. “Shit.”

“Exactly, Bella. Shit. I need you to get here right now. How long of a drive is—”

“Two hours, if the weather is good.”

“Two hours?” Bella could practically see Kyle pacing the floor of his studio apartment where they rehearsed. The vein in his forehead was no doubt pulsing.

She looked out the window again. Blue sky. “If I leave right now, I might be able to get there a bit faster.”

But leaving right away would mean missing the Christmas Eve feast. It would mean missing the holiday with Papa. The last holiday in his house. It would mean…not saying good-bye to Jeremy.

But it would also mean the biggest opportunity she’d ever had. That she might ever have.

It was an impossible choice.

“Get here right away, Bella. I mean it. No more chances after this. I—”

“I got it, Kyle.” There was no choice. “I’ll be there.”

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