Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
The Question
Sophie tore through the closet, scowling at her clothes like it was their fault she couldn’t decide what to wear.
Tonight was the biggest night of her life, and it had to be perfect, at least on her end.
She pulled an emerald-green lace dress out and ran her hands over the material.
It fit her beautifully, but it would be too tight to sit in at dinner.
She let it settle into its color-coded place among the other frocks she’d already deemed less-than-worthy, and went to sit on her bed.
She screamed into one of her faux-feather pillows as loud as she could, her breath hot on her own cheeks. If only she didn’t have to worry about what she wore, or said, when Drew asked her out, but there wasn’t a day in their relationship she’d felt comfortable.
Her mom kept telling her that wasn’t normal, that after five years—heck, after one—Sophie should be settled in her relationship with Drew. But it wasn’t that simple. Sophie appreciated that Drew made her want more for herself, that he just wanted her to be the best that she could be.
And she was the best version of herself.
Drew had finally convinced her to study for the bar, and now, four years later, she was up for partner at his firm.
There wasn’t anything wrong with that, she’d sassed her mom.
Sophie believed it, too, despite her mom muttering, “Sure, that’s good motivation if he’s your boss, not your boyfriend,” under her breath.
None of that mattered anymore since tonight—tonight, tonight!
—Drew was going to propose. He’d called her into his office at work on Monday and asked her to pick out something sexy and over-the-top to wear to dinner Friday night.
Friday night was one week before their fifth anniversary.
When she’d coyly asked him why and where they were going, he’d told her Chez Moi, and because why couldn’t he take his favorite girl out for a romantic night in town?
Sophie screamed into her pillow again, and the door to her room opened, slamming against the wall behind it. Sophie cringed at the sound. It meant for the hundredth time, she or her housemate, Jackie would be patching the walls in this crappy apartment.
“What the heck, Soph? If you scream like that, there’d better be a bear attacking you in here, or at least a cute guy.”
Sophie took the pillow off her face and groaned.
“I can’t do it, Jackie. There literally isn’t a thing in my closet that I can wear tonight.”
Jackie’s smile curved up on one side, her eyes glinting mischievously. “Well, then, let’s go shopping.”
“But I already have so many clothes. How can I possibly justify spending money on another dress?” Sophie groaned again and put the pillow back over her face.
Jackie lifted the pillow off Sophie’s head. “Yeah, but how often does your boyfriend propose? I think that warrants a special trip to the mall. Besides, what good is your high-powered job if you can’t enjoy the perks of the paycheck now and then?”
Jackie had her hands on her hips, perfectly manicured nails tapping at her painted-on jeans, and Sophie couldn’t help but smile.
Her friend was jaw-droppingly beautiful, and knew it.
Even though she looked like she was posing for a magazine spread half the time, the real Jackie was kind and giving.
If maybe a little preoccupied with shopping.
“You can take anybody’s problems and turn them into an excuse to shop, couldn’t you?”
“Hey, I resent that. I mean, not any problem…”
Sophie frowned at Jackie, her eyes still playful.
“Oh yeah? Give me one circumstance that you couldn’t turn around into a trip to the mall.”
Jackie pursed her lips, her hand on her chin, looking as if she was deep in thought. Sophie knew better.
“I’ll bet you could even turn somebody’s grandma passing away into a reason to hit the sales at Nordstrom Rack,” she teased.
Jackie slapped a hand to her chest, her mouth agape.
“Well, of course I could. I mean, you can’t show up to a funeral looking like a pauper.
You never know whose third cousin four times removed might be there, an heir to a fortune, just waiting for the right girl to make him forget about his grief…
” Jackie couldn’t even finish her sentence before erupting into a fit of laughter, Sophie right along with her.
Jackie laid down on the bed next to Sophie.
“Seriously, though. Are you going to say yes when he asks?”
“Of course, I am. Why?”
“I dunno. It’s just sometimes, when you come into my room to get ready for a date, you have all the joy on your face like you would for an interview for a job you know you aren’t going to get. All the nerves, too. Kinda like now.”
“You sound like my mom.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Mrs. K is the best.”
Sophie snorted.
“I get that he’s an incredible catch,” Jackie added.
“Now you sound like my ninety-year-old grandmother.”
“I know there’s also something to having the security, Soph. I get the appeal, but it isn’t everything.”
“He’s successful, but that’s not why I’m going to say yes. I love him. He’s good for me. He makes me a better person.”
Jackie grabbed the pillow from the other side of the bed, sat up, and whacked Sophie flat against the chest, toppling her to the gray, cotton comforter.
“Kale makes you a better person. The guy you shackle yourself to for all eternity should make you neurotic and goose-bumpy.”
“Says my all-knowing, perpetually single best friend who has a no-callback rule after the first date if he hasn’t kissed her? Who never makes it to date three no matter what?”
“Hey, if he hasn’t made the first move after that long, he’s either gay or married. And you know me, I’m picky. Either way, Soph, I’ll support you. Unless you make me wear one of those hideous teal, mermaid-cut bridesmaid dresses with the puffy sleeves. Then all bets are off.”
“I would never do that to you, Jackie. You know I hate teal.” Sophie didn’t see the final pillow until she was on her back on the bed again. An errant strand of hair had fallen from her ponytail across her face. Jackie stood over her, her arms back on her hips.
“By the way, speaking of engagements, did you hear who’s getting married?”
Sophie shot up like a spring.
“Who? If you tell me that perky Rebecca from the first floor is getting married to that guy she just met a month ago, I’ll stab you for being the messenger, I promise.”
“No, but I did see her with a sparkly little necklace in the elevator earlier.”
“I seriously don’t know how she does it. She’s like male catnip.”
“Anyway, no, it’s that girl we roomed with sophomore year at U of I. Julia.”
“Wait, I heard she and Brad broke up.” Sophie sat up straighter.
She’d had the biggest crush on Brad at school, but only from afar.
He’d been to a couple of the same parties with her freshman year, but she was way too shy to talk to him.
He and Julia were a thing and stayed that way for the rest of their time there. Rumor was, she’d cheated on him.
“They did. He caught her with Chris, his best friend.”
Sophie knew exactly who Jackie was talking about.
Chris was a beefy guy on the hockey team who could have had any girl he wanted—and often did.
No one could see what Sophie saw—just an insecure guy who relied on his muscles and status as a college athlete to lure girls into his bed.
She didn’t get what someone like Julia—a smart, fun girl—would see in him.
Especially when she had someone like Brad.
“Wow. When?” Sophie was fully invested in this conversation. It had been years since she’d heard Brad’s name, but she often thought of him and wondered how he was doing.
“Last year. Chris moved back to town to work for his dad, and Brad came home one day to find them both in Brad’s shower. Or at least that’s what I imagined. I think his sister caught them, actually.” Sophie had never been so glad to have a roommate who was an insatiable gossip as she was now.
“No. Way. That sucks. So, who’s she marrying, then?”
Jackie shrugged, her smile mischievous.
“What? No. Not Chris.” When Jackie nodded, a smirk on her lips, Sophie screeched.
“Ugh! Noooo! She’s such an idiot! What could she possibly be thinking? I’m still friends with that guy on Facebook, and all he does is post misogynistic stuff about women being in the kitchen and fetching beers and all that. Ew.”
“Sophie, I think we need to address the real elephant in the room, here.” Sophie looked at Jackie nervously. Did her friend still remember Sophie’s drunk confession about being in love with Brad freshman year? “Why are you still using Facebook, and why do you still have Chris Proulx as a friend?”
Sophie laughed, relieved.
“You know I don’t take anyone off my friend list. I’m afraid I’ll hurt their feelings.
But oh my goodness, can you imagine what a train wreck that wedding is going to be?
What a nightmare for the guests. Anyone who knew either of them will feel so awkward, which is everyone, I’m guessing.
Brad was both their friends, and they were together forever.
” She paused, her brain on overload as she processed all the new information from Jackie. “Wait…is she pregnant?”
“Not that I know of.”
“How’d you find all this out, anyway?” Sophie asked.
“I keep in touch with Julia. She and I were shopping buddies, so she used to fill me in on all the gossip in college.”
“So, she told you all this dirt about her and Chris cheating?”
“No, she gave me this,” Jackie said, procuring a white envelope from her back pocket with incredibly detailed and elegant gold calligraphy on the front of it.
“And I called Sarah after that to get filled in.” Sarah Miles was their suitemate, Julia’s roommate.
She and Sarah had remained friendly enough to keep in touch as Sarah traveled the world as a professional rock climber.
Sarah even stayed with Jackie and Sophie when she was in town, but Sophie only knew her as well as those visits allowed—she didn’t have much in common with the woman who scaled mountains sans ropes for fun.
“You’re horrible.”
“No, I’m invited. We’re invited,” Jackie said, nonchalantly, looking down at her fingernails. “Be my date?”
Sophie laughed.
“Are you sure you don’t want to bring John or Scott, or any of your other latest friends?”
“No way I want them there to witness what you so aptly described as a train wreck. That’ll ruin things long before date three. No, I want you. You’ll be the only one who appreciates the insanity this wedding represents.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes, thinking. What if Brad showed up? Nerves fluttered in a long-dormant part of her stomach. Not that it mattered if he did. She had Drew, and Brad was probably balding with a beer gut by now. Plus, she doubted he even remembered her from back then…
Sophie waged a war with herself, going back and forth about whether she should risk ruining what was a perfect crush in her mind. What if he showed up at the wedding and was a complete tool now? The reality of him could never match the Brad of her dreams.
A little voice spoke up from deep inside her, the place where her nerves danced wildly, and argued that she’d never know unless she tried.
“I’m in,” she announced. Jackie squealed like a preteen at a Justin Bieber concert.
“Good, now quit stalling. It’s time to go shopping for the last dress you’ll wear as a single woman.”
“Ugh. Don’t put it like that. I’ll meet you downstairs.” When Jackie left, only under the strict promise of not being made to wait more than five minutes, Sophie threw on a pair of jeans and tossed her hair into a ponytail. She took a cursory glance in the mirror and sighed.
She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t as giddy about tonight as she should be. Maybe it was just nerves, but she couldn’t shake what Jackie had just asked her about Drew. She’d always assumed she would say yes to him, simply because that was the path they were on.
He told her when she got serious about her career, he could see them being a serious couple.
So, she’d studied, taken the bar, started as an intern at Drew and his father’s firm, and risen through the ranks.
Now she was one of the top trial attorneys with the highest in-court success rates, not just in the firm, but in Montana.
She couldn’t be more serious about her career, and so she assumed this meant that he was serious about her.
Never in that whole process, though, did she stop and think about whether she still wanted to be on that path.
Sure, she loved Drew, but then why did her stomach flip when she thought about Brad?
She’d never felt that way about Drew, not even in the beginning.
Lust and passion were two words that had been all but nonexistent with him.
I’d be nice to have at least some answers heading into such an important night, but no matter what, dinner would make everything clear.
Jackie met her at the bottom of the stairs, somehow looking radiant and flawless in slacks and a button-down blouse, a designer purse hanging delicately from her strong shoulders.
Sophie didn’t know how she did it. She pulled off small-town chic effortlessly.
If Sophie tried that outside the office or the courtroom, she’d stick out like a sore thumb.
“You ready?” Jackie asked her.
Even though she wasn’t sure, Sophie smiled and pulled her black fanny pack tight over her shoulder.
“Let’s do this. Lead the way,” she said.
“To your future,” Jackie added, and Sophie gulped, nodding.
“To my future.”