Page 63 of The Last Lavender Sister

“I’m so sorry. Chestnut had me running late.”

“He has that effect. It’s the adorable way he blinks at you, like you’re the only human on Earth and he plans to make you his best friend.”

“That’s exactly it, he—” She went silent. Aster stood twelve feet away on a small stool in a forest-green off-the-shoulder dress. Brynn’s mouth went dry, and her brain stuttered. The seamstress moved adeptly around her, pinning the bottom of the dress as Aster faced the lighted three-way mirror.

“Just running a few minutes late,” Tyler said, following her gaze.

“Hi,” Aster said, raising a hand.

She looked absolutely stunning, as in push pause on the rest of the world and admire this woman and her God-given beauty, the dress accentuating all the best parts of her like an arrow sign. “Hi back.”

“Five more minutes,” Gina, the owner of the shop, said from her spot on the ground.

Brynn nodded politely, then attempted to make small talk with Tyler about the wedding, the office, the weather. But it was really just five minutes of Brynn raking in each and every detail of Aster in that dress, like they were leaves in the fall. She stole glimpses of the curve of her breasts, which she remembered torturing endlessly back in the day. That is, until the only night they’d had together, when she’d been free to explore those breasts with great specificity.

“But the weird thing is he doesn’t even like chocolate milk.”

Brynn blinked because what? She’d completely spaced on Tyler, who she now realized was going on about Sage and milk, and she’d forgotten to listen because Aster was feet away looking likethat.

“That’s crazy,” she said with maybe too much enthusiasm, pulling an odd look from Tyler.

“Are you even listening to me right now?”

Caught. Brynn pivoted. “Oh, I think they’re finishing up.”

“All yours,” Aster said, stepping down from the stool. Apparently the changing room was right behind Brynn, which meant they did that little awkward dance until Brynn effectively got the hell out of the way. Who were they anyway? Since when did she and Aster have physically awkward moments? She would have believed it impossible until now. She hated everything about who’d they’d become. She’d love to say Aster had been solely responsible and hand off that blame, but underneath she knew there was culpability on her own doorstep. Maybe even more than Aster’s.

She was whisked off by Gina to change in an alternate dressing area. When she returned, Aster was gone, probably ran out of there like the place was on fire. She couldn’t blame her.

“You want to talk about it?” Tyler asked, arms folded as she watched Gina tug in the waist of Brynn’s dress, similar in color to Aster’s but an entirely different cut.

“The milk thing?” Okay, that was a childish avoidance tactic. Even she knew that. This was Tyler, her ride or die. She knew where all the bodies were buried.

Tyler sent her a look.

“Do we have to?”

“As someone who stood here and watched how the two of you just behaved around each other, I feel like we do.”

“Fine. What is there to say?”

“No one affects you the way Aster does.”

Brynn blinked against the truth of the sentence. She didn’t have the energy to argue. “Yeah, okay. So?” This conversation already had her uncomfortable.

“And ever since the two of you have been keeping your lives to yourselves, I’ve seen a huge change in you, and I don’t mean for the better.”

“Okay, ouch.”

“Did I hurt you?” Gina asked, popping up.

“No, not at all. It’s my cruel friend, the bride.”

Gina looked at Tyler, then Brynn, then went back to her pinning.

Tyler wasn’t deterred. “Do you even remember what being happy feels like? Because I certainly remember what it looks like on you. The smiles when you’d get a letter. The slight blush when you would read one. Your whole being lit up when you reported all Aster was up to in Boston, and when I talked to you when you were there?” She shrugged. “You were hovering somewhere in the stratosphere.”

“Things change. We weren’t supposed to take things any farther than we did. That’s how I look at it. Aster is someone who was very important to me for a time. But people move on.”

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