Page 4 of My First Mistake
“I’m fine, Eva. No, I’m better than fine. I’m great. And more importantly I’m excited for your wedding,” I say, trying to direct her back to our important job of choosing the greenery that will be added to the table decorations to her winter wedding in Vermont.
Her eyes narrow in suspicion, and I can hardly blame her after she found me wasted in Rogue’s bar a few nights ago, crying into my rosé and telling her my life was over. How dare Jasper Bolton dump me five days before we were supposed to leave for my brother’s wedding?
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give one solitary hoot. I’m too busy for a relationship and I love being single—it’s my natural state of being. Butnow, I have to attend my brother’s wedding as a one with no plus. And that is a fate worse than death. Not even because my aunt Irene likes to loudly ask me when I’ll find a nice guy and settle down, but because ofhim. Chase Hunter. My brother’s best friend and best man—the latter being a moniker that has never been so thoroughly undeserved. Worst man. Breaker of hearts. Betrayer of trust. Stealer of virginity under false pretenses. All of those titles would be much more appropriate.
“You sure you don’t want to drive down with us?” she asks.
I scoff at the notion. “Play third wheel to you and my brother while you fondle each other in the front seat for six hours. Ugh. No thanks.”
She smiles sweetly and then her warm hands are cupping my cheeks. “I worry about you driving alone at night, Addie. Is that so bad?”
“I’m twenty-seven years old, Eva. I’ve traveled around Europe alone, I think I’m perfectly capable of getting to Vermont. As I also had to remind Mom and Dad this morning before they left at the butt crack of dawn. Besides, I need room for all of your beautiful flowers.”
Her brown eyes fill with concern. She doesn’t care a lot about the flowers; she’s not a flowers kind of gal. But she cares about me, and she always supported my dream of opening my own boutique flower and gift store one day. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yes. And I love you too.” I raise a brow. “But I still don’t need to witness the lovefest that is you and my brother at such close quarters. It’s frankly sickening how much the two of you can’t keep your hands off each other.” This is an outright lie and she knows it. The truth is, the two of them are adorable together. They’ve been best friends since they were thirteen, but it took them fifteen years to realize they were supposed to be together, despite it being clear as day to everyone around them. And I couldn’t be happier for them.
She wrinkles her cute button nose. “Well, what if I promise we won’tfondlein the front seat the entire way there.”
“Still, I’ll pass.”
She sighs. Defeated.
“Hey.” I catch her hand in mine and squeeze. She’s always been there for me, even before she and Brax were an item. She was there to comfort me on the worst day of my life, even if she doesn’t know the reason why it was so awful. “I know you’re worried about me, but I promise you I’m fine. The other night was just a…” I search for the words. It was what? An existential crisis brought on by the reality that I’m about to see ChaseHunter for the first time in eight years and I’m not sure whether I’m going to kick him straight in the balls or fall into a crying mess at his feet? No, best not tell her that. “You know how I get when I drink wine. I am not heartbroken over Jasper, I swear to it.” I hold up my hand like I’m swearing allegiance to the flag.
Her piercing brown eyes narrow on my face again. She’s too shrewd for her own good, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, or definitely too shrewd for mine. “Maybe not. But there’s something going on with you.”
I roll my eyes.
“I’m not going to push. I trust that you’ll tell me when you’re ready. Just know I’m always here and I would never ever judge you. Okay?”
“Hard to judge someone who’s wiped up your vomit and tears when you drank an entire bottle of tequila after Brax got engaged to that yoga instructor from New York,” I remind her. Their love affair was brief and very misguided, but it broke poor Eva’s heart.
She gasps loudly, feigning her indignation. “Yeah, well you promised me we would never discuss that again.”
I pull her into a hug, wrapping her in my arms and holding on tightly. “I love you. I’m excited to watch you marry my doofus big brother. I’m okay. Really.” Or I will be once this wedding is over and Chase Hunter goes back to his fancy penthouse apartment in LA. Then normal service will be resumed.
“Okay.” She steps out of my embrace. “I have to run. But we’ll see you for drinks tonight, right?”
I nod. “I should get in around ten and I’ll meet you at the bar in the main lodge.”
She smiles, still failing to hide all of that big sisterly concern in her worried expression. “I’ll have a large bourbon with your name on it.”
“I’d expect no less.”
Eva gives me a final hug goodbye and shouts a farewell to Emma who’s hiding out in the storeroom at my request, and then she’s gone.
Perhaps I should have told her what happened all of those years ago and then maybe I wouldn’t be feeling so much dread about what is sure to be a truly wondrous occasion. But then she probably would have thought less of Chase. And then she would have felt torn between her loyalty to him and her loyalty to Brax and me, and then maybe the three of them would no longer be the best of friends. And I couldn’t be the one responsible for that travesty, because it surely would be one.
No, I did the right thing. And I’m a big girl now. Not the naïve nineteen-year-old college sophomore who thought the sun shone out of Chase Hunter’s perfectly toned ass.
Emma comes out of the storeroom, mischief sparkling in her tawny brown eyes—exactly the reason I asked her to make herself scarce while Eva was here. “Why the hell don’t you just tell her the truth? You and she are pretty tight.” She steps around the counter and bends to tuck her long, trailing lace into the side of her bright purple Dr. Marten boot. “She could be the perfect wingwoman for you this week. You know, seeing as how you won’t take me as your plus one.”
“I don’t need a wingwoman,” I reply defensively. “And I can’t take you because someone needs to take care of the store. Besides, the only thing sadder than showing up at Brax and Eva’s wedding alone, is showing up with my employee.”
“Rude!” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Wouldan employeeknow the real reason you had tears and snot running down your face the other night at Rogue’s?”
I almost regret telling her about Chase and me, but Emma is one of the few people around here who didn’t grow up in Juniper Ridge, having moved here three years ago after college, and as such she is immune to the charms of Chase Hunter. The rest ofthe town, including my brother and his wife-to-be, remember the star quarterback with the perfect white smile who would stop his car to help an old lady cross the road. They remember the good guy Chase pretended to be. Unfortunately, I know the truth behind the charm and dimples.
