Page 68 of Love to Prove You Wrong

Marissa shot me a look. “Would you like me to do your makeup as well?”

“Oh, that’s sweet, but I’m not one of the girls who booked your services.”

She shrugged. “I’m paid by the hour and still have forty minutes left. Everyone else is ready, so why not? Come on, it’ll make you feel better.”

My eyebrows shot up. Did Justin tell them what had happened between us? I swallowed. “Make me feel better?”

Jess shot me a look. “I don’t want to be rude, but Marissa is right. You look like a tragedy went down.”

“Is everything okay?” Layla asked.

I plopped down in the chair in front of the desk where Marissa’s makeup and brushes were strewn around. “I guess hosting your wedding at the inn has made me nervous.”

It was only half a lie. The wedding had brought me so much stress, you’d think I was the one tying the knot.

“I understand,” Marissa said. “But just in case it’s also boy trouble, let me help you look even more stunning than you do.”

Did she have a sixth sense or something?

Marissa set to work and twenty minutes later, she was done. I took a look in the mirror and gasped. I had never looked this good before. Marissa had made my best features pop and I could’ve fooled myself into thinking I was a celebrity.

Eat that, Crocodile Man.

Brianna topped off everyone’s champagne glasses and I quietly disappeared, but not before profusely thanking Marissa for making me look like a goddess.

I shut the door, leaving the chattering and clinking of champagne glasses behind me. As I descended the stairs, my phone started to blow up. I hoped it wasn’t Diane with another ridiculous crisis that needed tending to asap.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. Huh. There were dozens of Instagram notifications, all from Justin’s account. Apparently, he had been tagging me in posts and stories.

Without hesitating, I opened the app and looked at his content. All over his stories feature were short clips of him, telling his fans about how he had a surprise for a special person and how he was going to reveal it later today.

Huh. I had forgotten about his surprise. At least, I assumed this surprise he had told one and a half million people about was the same one he had texted me about a couple of days ago.

I put my phone away before I got flooded with hope. No matter what surprise Justin had in store for me, it wouldn’t be enough to fix the actual problem. He was leaving me behind with nothing but the memory of a few dazzling kisses, to chase his dreams. It hurt like hell to realize I wasn’t a part of that dream in any way.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“And that’s how Layla and I got the nickname The Wildflowers in college.”

Ashley laughed and touched Justin’s arm.Again.

The ceremony had been beautiful, and just as tear-inducing as I’d thought it would be. Asher and Layla both looked stunning, and made everyone cry when they said their vows. And they even had their dog, Peanut, be the ring-bearer.

But one hour into this dinner and I was ready to strangle Ashley. She had done nothing but gawk at Justin, telling him tons of wild stories about her college years, and touching him every chance she got. Which wasn’t hard to do as they were seated next to each other.

I rolled my eyes and channeled my anger into my bread roll. I shredded the thing into six pieces, then royally buttered every single one of them.

Before dinner, I had tried to rearrange the table seating, but it was impossible to do without causing delays so I sucked it up and decided sharing a table with Justin wouldn’t bethatbad. Boy, had I been wrong.

Despite the fact that I was seated three chairs to the right of Justin, he constantly tried to get my attention with silly things like asking me to pass the salt or requesting the bottle of sparkling water to be sent his way.

He didn’t look one bit impressed by Ashley’s over-the-top stories and laughs, though. Good.

“That reminds me of Justin and me in college,” Asher said. “Always pranking everyone. It was priceless.”

I harrumphed. “Typical.”

Justin’s eyebrows shot up. “So youdospeak.”

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