Page 93 of My Ex-Best Friend's Wedding

I can barely breathe as her words tumble out. I picture the ugly sneer on Shane Adams’s face and my anger spirals higher. I wish we’d left him lying in the mud like the pig that he is.

“Shh... it’s all right.” I smooth her hair as I try to calm her, to calm us both. “It’s over now. We all do things that don’t turn out the way we expect. See people the way we want them to be instead of the way they really are.” This last one hits a bit too close to home. “I wish you’d never put yourself in that situation. But you were strong. You did what you needed to to get out of there.”

Her tears slow but we’re still locked in each other’s arms. I don’t know how I can ever let go.

I raise my head and pull the towel more tightly around her as I continue to soothe and murmur how much I love her. Lauren comes inside and it feels completely natural for her to walk up and put her arms around both of us. We hold on to one another and sway.

Lauren

Locked in a hug with Lily and Bree, I feel Lily begin to calm as she listens to the person she trusts most in this world. The person who would do anything for her, give up anything for her. The woman who would have gotten into a tin can of a car on her own if she’d had to and raced through a raging storm to find her.

Because that’s what mothers do. Or at least mothers like Bree. And... like mine. How many times did my mother dry my tears, tell me everything was going to be all right, that she loved me no matter what?

Lily’s tears finally begin to hiccup to a stop. We’re still swaying, the elderly woman behind the counter smilingcompassionately, when the front door opens and footsteps sound on the floor. I look up and see my mother watching us. I know that if this was before my father’s appearance she would already be here swaying and holding us. Our eyes meet and I have this urge to walk—or possibly run—into her arms and rock and sway without any thought of who might be watching or who did or didn’t do the wrong thing or why. But it’s Lily who breaks up the hug and runs to throw her arms around Kendra. My mother smooth’s Lily’s hair and whispers in her ear. Just like she always did for me.

Then Jake comes inside and that moment when I might have silently and effortlessly healed our breach is gone.

By the time Clay arrives Bree has already hugged and thanked Sue, who ushered us to a Formica-topped table to which she delivered food that none of us can eat. Lily sits, hollow eyed, her hands wrapped around a foam cup of hot chocolate that Sue placed in front of her.

Bree freezes when Clay walks in. But when Lily gets up and rushes to her father Bree follows. Whatever drove Lily into Shane Adams’s lair, whatever confusion or anger she felt, whatever she has or hasn’t blamed her parents for, don’t seem to matter. In this moment, she clearly needs them both.

Bree’s shoulders remain tight, her smile frozen, when Clay pulls her up against him. It’s clear that she’s furious with him—and possibly herself—even as they form their own small circle of comfort.

“I came straight here,” Clay says as the three of them take seats at the table. Bree’s arm goes around Lily’s shoulders. “But I’m tempted to pay a visit to Shane Adams.”

“He’s already been taken care of,” Bree says, aiming a small smile at me. “He’s probably still lying on that porch trying to get up. Lauren martial-arts’d him.”

“You knocked him down?” Jake asks in disbelief.

I nod humbly. “I did. He was practically begging for it.”

“God, I’m sorry I missed that,” Clay adds.

“It was a complete knockout,” Bree says. “He didn’t know what hit him.”

“Really?” Lily asks.

“Really,” Bree says. “I wish I’d taken a picture of him lying there, but we were in a hurry to get here.”

“Thank you,” Lily says quietly. “I’m so sorry for everything. But... thank you.”

“Oh, believe me. It was my pleasure.” I reach for her hand and a lighter tone. “If he gives you any trouble or tries to shoot his mouth off, tell him we took pictures and that you’ll be glad to post them to social media. He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d want to admit to being knocked down by a woman.”

I glance outside and notice that the sky is beginning to clear. It’s almost sixP.M.

“So, what happens now?” Jake asks.

“If Lily’s up to it we’ll drive to ORF to turn in the rental car and pick mine up. Then we’ll caravan home,” Bree says. At Lily’s quiet nod Bree turns to me. “Any chance you could come back down for a few days? Or do you want a ride to the airport?”

Jake and my mother exchange glances before he says, “I just checked the weather and it looks like the storm has moved up to DC. But there’s some indication that it could stall out over the northeastern seaboard. I’m not sure anything’s flying in or out of New York over the next few days.”

He looks at my mother again. She nods as if she’s afraid that the sound of her voice will cause me to say no. And I hate that she’s right.

“There’s something your mother and I would like to show you in Richmond. It’s just an hour drive from here. We could stay over and then get you to the Richmond airport in the morning if flights into New York resume.”

I’ve barely thought about home other than to let Spencerknow we made it here and that Lily’s safe. And I can’t seem to marshal my thoughts or my will.

“You know what?” Bree gives me a look I once knew well. “I think I need one last potty break before we get on the road.”

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