Page 7 of The Holiday Honeymoon Switch
“I…” Holly stands still in the middle of the room. “…don’t know.”
“What happened?” she repeats.
Holly opens her mouth and closes it.
“You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“He ended it.” Holly’s voice is the sound wave equivalent of a marble statue. “There’s someone else.”
Ivy pulls Holly toward the couch, pouring her a shot of tequila, knowing this is going to call for a lot more than one and a half sheets to the wind. All three sheets are going to be hanging on the line tonight, if only to get Holly to unleash the torrent of emotion she’s clearly holding in, making her eyes look like she’s one of the zombies inThe Walking Dead.
“What did he say?”
Holly shakes her head. “Something like…something that sounded an awfulfuckinglot like he was quoting Anthony Hopkins inMeet Joe Black.” Holly shakes her head, her eyes dazed. “How falling in love feels different than what we have. He said the sparks you’re supposed to feel…never really happened with us. He said…that maybe we got together because we felt like we were ticking boxes on a list our families had made for us.”
Ivy hates that she agrees with Matt. She holds her best friend’s hands and hopes her expression is not betraying her, but Holly sees nothing as she stares straight ahead like an automaton. “I don’t think he actually came out and said he never loved me, but he didn’t have to. It was unspoken. He doesn’t love me, he doesn’t want to marry me. And Idolove him, Ivy. I do.” She pauses and rakes her hand through her hair, which is flowing in shiny waves down her back, the result of a recent pre-wedding keratin treatment. “Don’t I? I can’t have been planning to marry a person just because we fit. And besides, isn’t fitting a good thing? Aren’t you supposed to find your missing puzzle piece and marry that person?”
“Yes,” Ivy says. “Yes, you are.” She does not say that she refuses and has always refused to believe Matt is Holly’s missing puzzle piece. Now is not the time. She just keeps squeezing her friend’s hand.
“I mean yes, we work well together as a concept, and our families get along.” Holly stops talking and stares down at her glass, then slugs it back and holds it out. This is a drastic scenario, so Ivy pours more tequila and gets her friend a glass of water, too.
“What else did he say?”
“He met someone at work and he doesn’t know where it’s going to go, but he has to…explore it.”
“And you? What did you say?”
“ ‘Okay.’ That’s all I said. ‘Okay.’ I just stood there thinking I should be screaming, crying, begging. But I didn’t feel anything, and I still don’t. I just…feel empty.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“When I turned around and started walking back into your building, he called out to me. And I thought, ‘Oh, he didn’t mean it.’ ”
“What did he want?”
“He asked me if I still wanted to go on our honeymoon. He said the trip was nonrefundable and nontransferable, and my parents had spent so much money on it, and it would be such a waste not to use it. He said, given the shock of everything, I should really go and just spend two weeks…I forget the word he used. ‘Decompressing’? ‘Processing’?”
“What did you say to that?” Ivy manages.
“I said no, of course. That would be way too painful. Then I came back up here.” She puts her face in her hands, butwhen she looks up again, she’s still dry-eyed. “I mean, it reallyissuch a waste. He’s not wrong. Not just the honeymoon, but all of it.”
“Oh, honey.” Ivy keeps rubbing her friend’s back gently, trying to channel her own mother. “I’m here, okay? Whatever you need me to do, I will.”
“I don’t even know what I need to do, though! Do I have to tell everyone?” She looks panicked at this.
“Of course not. You don’t have to do anything, okay? I’ll call your parents and let them know what has happened. And then I’ll call a few of our friends who we can trust to get the message out.”
“Okay. Thank you. I just can’t.”
“Of course. Are you sure you want me to call them now? We could wait until morning. Maybe Matt will come to his senses.”
“I can’t marry someone who is so unsure this is the right thing to do. He said what he said. There’s no going back. Just call them. Please.”
Ivy leans forward and hugs her friend, then stands. “I’m going to call them from my room. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I’m good,” Holly says, with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. She lifts the bottle. “I have Don Julio to keep me company.”
As Ivy enters her room, she fights the urge to call Mattand tear a strip off of him for hurting her friend. Instead, she closes the door and takes a deep, shaky breath—which snags when she sees Holly’s wedding dress hanging on her closet door. It’s snowy white, with a square neckline and wide straps that frame her collarbones perfectly, a plunging back and a ball-style skirt with deep pockets that are the best part of the dress—all made of the softest silk. Holly looks like a literal Disney princess in this dress, and somehow not in a bad way. Ivy quickly pushes it inside her closet and slams the door on the train. No one needs to see that dress right now.
