Page 29 of Mr. Big Mistake
She pulled the red strapless dress out of my closet, and I smiled. That was it. That was my dress for the night. No bra required, and I could surprise Brenden by not wearing panties, either. I had matching red heels with bows on the back that would be too cute with the dress as well as a set of real onyx jewelry Mom had gotten me for my sixteenth birthday.
The ensemble was perfect.
“I could keep the makeup tapered down, too, with something like this,” I said.
Roxy tossed the dress onto my bed. “Got that onyx set Mom gave you?”
I nodded. “I was just thinking about it.”
“Always in sync, you and I.”
I paused. “Why did you say that in the tone you just did?”
“What? What tone?”
I slowly turned around. “Don’t give me that shit. You had a tone to your voice. Like, I don't know. Like something was ending.”
“Girl, you really don’t think I know how you feel about Brenden?”
I froze. “What?”
She giggled. “You’ve been in love with that man for years. Trust me, your doing this deal with him doesn’t shock me in the slightest. I was just kind of hoping you wouldn’t do this to yourself.”
“I’m not following.”
She sighed. “I know you, Kelly. You’re going to do this, and you’re going to fall even harder, and he’s just going to go back to being your friend, and it’s going to break you.”
“Can you give me a bit more credit than that?”
“No, I can’t. Because I see how you light up whenever you’re around him, and how distraught you look when he walks in with some new girl. I see you compare yourself to her. I see those cogs turn every time he turns up with some new flavor. He hurts you over and over. And he’ll hurt you again. It’s why I wanted you to do this with Clint.”
“Well, thanks for that update now.”
“Kelly, I--.”
I waved her way. “I’ve got this. I’ll see you at the chapel. And you can text Karina to make sure she’s got the address?”
“She’s actually downstairs, waiting for us?”
My head popped up. “What?”
“I kind of rented you a surprise limo to take all three of us to the chapel. You know, to have a bit of fun and really make it feel… real.”
I wish it were real.“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then. You’ve got around an hour before we have to head out. I’ll take all two of your bags downstairs.”
“Thanks.”
Everything was a blur. Slipping into my dress seemed more like a motion than a moment. Pulling my hair back seemed more like a requirement than a picture-perfect idea. Roxy’s words kept turning over in my head. Even after I slipped into my heels. Even after Karina shoved a flute of champagne into my hand. Even after we arrived at the chapel. Even after we got out and got ourselves positioned.
It wasn’t until Roxy kissed my cheek that I snapped out of it.
“You’ve got this. You're in control. Never forget that,” she whispered.
My eyes danced around the wedding chapel, and it made me snicker. Twinkling snowflakes hung on strings as if it were snowing. I looked down at the carpet that my heels settled into, and it was a crisp, clean white. Something blinked in the corner of my eye, and I turned my head, smiling brightly at the white Christmas tree that twinkled with warm lights.
“Christmas,” I whispered.
