Page 97 of The Boss

“Is this supposed to make me feel better about my breakup?”

“No, but it’s supposed to make you a bit nicer for my damned wedding, sister. Come on. I’m supposed to be getting married.”

We open the door to find a team of stylists and wedding party members on the verge of dialing 911 because my big brother locked them out. When they see us, they beg Ted and me to get our asses out to the altar. The wedding is supposed to start in twenty minutes.

Believe it or not, this is only my first time being in a wedding party, let alone a gay one. Every couple does things differently. Some shirk traditional methods altogether because it’s rather awkward having one man come down the aisle while the other waits for him. This is especially true for my brother and his groom. People make jokes that Jordan’s “the woman” (whatever that means,) and my brother wasn’t about to let him be a spectacle like that at his wedding. So, last night at the rehearsal,we ran through Ted coming down the aisle first. Jordan was to follow until they were both at the altar.

Jordan’s parents aren’t here. My parents? My mother sits in the front row looking like she’d rather be drinking. My fatherisdrinking and raising a ruckus with some of his buddies in the second row. There’s no way in hell my mother would walk with her oldest son down the aisle at his big gay wedding. Jordan and Ted compromised by walking with their best mates.

That means me.

Flashes go off as cameramen get their shots and retreat into the rows of chairs. Classical music plays in the background. Fresh-cut flowers smell like candy to me – and there are plenty of them at the end of every aisle. An adorable flower girl, the daughter of Jordan’s best man, throws orchid petals like she’s scored a touchdown. This would be romantic if I wasn’t thinking of…

Thinking of…

Someone must be dancing with Mary-Jane and giving me a contact high, because I swear to God I see Alessa sitting at the end of one of the rows, dressed in the lilac-colored tulle dress I had made for her one week before we broke up.

“Try to keep it together, Jules,” Ted says to me halfway down the aisle. I’m too gobsmacked to look away from Alessa’s averting gaze. “You can slobber over her after the ceremony.”

He smacks my leg when I refuse to pay attention.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

Chapter 48

Alessa

Yes, that’s me sitting on the very end of the sixth row, right next to my lawyer, Holden.

I hadn’t planned on coming to Ted and Jordan’s wedding after what happened with Julianna. After all, my ex-girlfriend is the one walking her brother down the aisle, their identical suits and flowers making the two siblings look more alike than they ever have before. Except for the fact that Julianna is quite the femme and Ted is every bit of a masculine guy’s-guy. Even with Julianna’s dark hair swept up in a coiffed bun studded with diamonds, she is every bit her brother’s womanly counterpart.

They both shoot me steel-cool looks. But it’s Julianna’s mouth that drops the moment she realizes it’s me.

“Don’t worry, Alessa,” Holden says with his usual legal bravado. “If she tries anything, I’m here to slap a restraining order against her.” Really? Is that appropriate talk for a wedding?

It’s sort of a long story how I’ve ended up here – and I did not intend to sit on the end of the aisle. But I still had the dress hanging in my closet. What would I do with it, anyway? It was too bespoke to sell anywhere. Too nice to simply throw out. I suppose it’s fate that kept me holding on to it, even though it was delivered long after I walked away from Julianna. Because a few days ago?

Ted called me. Ted Marcon, not Jordan, of all people!

“Look, Alessa,”he said,“I don’t know what my baby sister did, but I believe you when you say she royally fucked up. Give her one more chance. At my wedding. It will be poetic.”

I said no about three times. After all, why the hell would I want to go to Ted’s wedding? Not that I have anything against Ted, although I can see why he has a reputation as a notorious flirt who is liable to start pissing people off with his devil-may-care attitude… and Jordan had been nothing but kind and understanding with me… but…

Julianna. She would be here. She would see me.

And both certainly happened no fewer than ten minutes after Holden and I sat down.

I made the mistake of telling Holden, the younger of my two lawyers assigned to my lawsuit, that I planned to still come to this wedding. Not only did he object to me doing it, but after I decided, he invited himself as my +1 to “protect my interests.”

I dare anyone to insult me by suggesting I don’t notice Holden has a crush on me. He’s been hovering since he was assigned my case. At first, I appreciated it—who wouldn’t want a younger lawyer who takes the time to explain things? But once it was obvious his real interest was in me, I decided to grin and bear it until the settlement is finalized, and I can wash my hands of him.

No, I’m not going out with him. No, I’m not flirting or leading him on. Honestly, I shouldn’t have even let him tag along today. I should’ve brought one of my friends. But his persistence caughtme so off guard, that I couldn’t think of anything to say except “okay.”

Now here I am, wishing I could hide under some lady’s hat if it means I don’t have to face Julianna a final time.

She’s so shocked by my appearance that she almost trips her brother in the middle of the aisle. Ted grabs her arm and hisses something into her ear.“Get a grip, Jules,”I imagine him saying.“This is my damn wedding you’re making a fool of yourself at.”

The ceremony continues. Jordan flashes me a smile on his way by but doesn’t wave. He saves the waves for his friends.

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