Page 41 of Wanting Happily Ever After

If she would have had any idea that agreeing to do Nicole a favor would have resulted in her spending her Friday night dressed up like a blushing bride, especially after the shit week she’d had, she would have run the other way.

“You look stunning, Sarah!” Faith walked into the bathroom and clasped her hands in excitement. “Thank you so much for doing this. I know that it’s probably a little strange.”

That didn’t even begin to cover it.

But Sarah didn’t bother saying anything. Instead, she turned again to the full-length mirror in the bathrooms of the Ever After Ranch barn where she’d been getting ready. “I’m happy to help,” she lied. “And I have to admit it is a pretty dress.”

It really was, and it fit her perfectly. With a corset back and sweetheart neckline that squeezed her in and pushed her up in all the right places, she did look good despite the extra pounds she couldn’t seem to get rid of. “But I don’t know why you’d want a single mother, chubby bride in your advertisements.”

“Are you kidding me, Sarah?” Faith spun her around. “You are stunning. Curvy in all the right places. You are a gorgeous, real woman, and I’m so excited that it worked out for you to be my bride for this shoot.” Faith adjusted Sarah’s skirts a little and stood back to admire her. “I’ll admit, I never even thought of featuring a same-sex couple in my advertisements, but when Nicole and Amy came to me with the idea, I absolutely loved it. They’re beautiful women, who are even more radiant because of the way they look at each other. And you should see how their pictures turned out. We did their shoot earlier this afternoon because Amy had to get back to the restaurant. But they were absolutely perfect. You can really see it when a couple has a connection, and they really have it. Don’t you agree?”

Sarah nodded. She had to completely agree. They clearly had each found something special in the other, and even more importantly, it was nice to see love being celebrated in any and all forms. It made Sarah’s bruised and battered heart happy to see so much love with her friends. “I think it’s wonderful,” Sarah admitted to Faith. “And if it means that I have to subject myself to the camera in order to make it happen, then it’s all worth it.”

Faith clapped her hands and grinned mischievously. “I’m so happy you said that. Because you and your groom will be absolutely perfect. Now, I need you out here for makeup and then onto the shoot, okay?”

She spun on her foot and was halfway out the door when Sarah realized what she’d said.

“Wait,” she called after her friend, but either Faith didn’t hear her or she’d ignored her because she was gone, and Sarah was left speaking to the empty room. “My groom?”

“Okay, now if you could lean against that tree there.” The photographer barked out the direction to Brody, who did his best to follow along. “Just gaze out over the river like you’re deep in thought about the biggest day of your life.”

Brody was having a hard time staying focused on what the photographer was saying despite the fact that the man was starting to get frustrated with him. The truth was, Brody had been having trouble staying focused on anything for the last few days, and it was a problem that was only growing worse. He’d tried repeatedly to get in touch with Sarah, but she was straight up ignoring him and it was starting to worry him. She hadn’t even brought Rory to her soccer practice the night before, letting her dad do it instead. Ed had dodged questions about Sarah, saying she’d had a hard week and was exhausted from work, but Brody knew there was more to it than that.

It was him.

She was avoiding him because—

“Brody!” Faith was yelling at him.

He shook his head to clear it and focus on his friend, who was marching toward him.

“I need you to focus. Dan’s telling me that you’re not taking direction and you look sad.”

“I’m not sad.”

“But you’re not taking direction.”

He shrugged. “Probably not.”

She tipped her head and glared at him. “Could you try, please? I need my groom to be on point when his bride gets here. And she’s almost ready.”

His bride.Brody almost laughed at the idea. Especially considering it was supposed to be Amy. “And whoismy bride, anyway? Amy said she was going to find someone.”

Faith grinned. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Obviously not.”

“Oh, perfect.” She giggled a little and scribbled something onto her clipboard. “Then you’ll be surprised when she walks down the aisle. It’ll look so real.”

Brody tried not to get annoyed with her. After all, Faith was just doing her job and trying to get a marketing campaign off the ground to help her business. He could respect that. He didn’t need to be so pouty about it all. Besides, if he just focused, it would be over sooner and he could go figure out a way to get through to Sarah.

“In fact,” Faith looked at her cell phone, “Logan just texted. Turns out the bride is ready.” She grabbed Brody’s hand and walked toward the ceremony space that had been set up, complete with an arch he assumed he was supposed to stand under.

No guests, though. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about faking his excitement to marry his pretend bride in front of any other people.

“Okay,” Faith said. “You stand here. Look expectant, okay? You need to look nervous and excited and all the things a groom would feel. As soon as you see her, pretend she is the love of your life and smile like she is the most beautiful woman in the world and you can’t wait to make her your wife.”

He nodded. There was no point doing anything else.

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