35. Nadia
35
NADIA
“How are you feeling?” Ashley leaned over my shoulder as I touched up Zoe’s makeup.
I’d always loved makeup. In high school, I even had a YouTube channel and thought I was going to be a beauty influencer. Unfortunately, that hadn’t paid the bills. I wasn’t very consistent when I went to college, and then once I graduated, I spent most of my time caring for my mom when I wasn’t teaching. Not that teaching really had me rolling in the dough.
“Good,” Zoe smiled, appearing to be as calm as a cucumber.
“You look fucking hot!” I enthused.
She looked as if she belonged in a bridal magazine. Her long, dark hair was styled in vintage finger waves. Her green eyes popped with a bold winged liner and thick, black mascara paired with a red lip that flawlessly pulled off her Old Hollywood look, which was perfect considering she was marrying into new Hollywood.
“Dress time,” Daphne, who worked as a TV producer for years, announced. She was in charge of keeping the day on schedule.
Zoe stood, and Ashley and Daphne both helped her into her dress. As Ashley began to run the steamer over it to get all the wrinkles out of it, I heard raised voices out front. When I pulled back the curtain, I saw news vans, cameras, and reporters lined across the street from the Opera House trying to get a scoop on the wedding of the decade—or at least the wedding of this news cycle, which was approximately 24 to 72 hours.
“The stalkerazzi have descended,” I alerted her.
Both Zoe and Miles had hoped to keep their wedding an intimate affair. They knew that would be difficult, considering Miles's notoriety. It also didn’t help that he’d just been nominated for an Academy award, Golden Globe, SAG, Independent Spirit, and Critic’s Choice awards for Best Actor for playing the role of her late husband.
Even I had to admit the story was clickbait worthy. If Zoe weren’t my friend, I would be drooling over and rabidly devouring any headline about that couple. As a pop culture connoisseur, I would want to know every single, tiny, minute detail about their love story. Since she was my friend, I wanted everyone to get a life, leave my friend alone, and give them the privacy they deserved.
She sighed. “I don’t want to think about that. Distract me. What happened to you last Saturday?”
“Me?” I asked, playing dumb.
“You and Callum were MIA for like an hour after you sent the text that you had completed the scavenger hunt.”
I could feel my cheeks heating. “Were we?”
Zoe pointed her finger at me. “You guys hooked up! Didn’t you?”
There was no point in denying it. But I also didn’t have to come right out and admit it. “I plead the fifth.”
“Pay up.” Daphne held her hand.
“I’ll Zelle you.” Zoe motioned down at her dress, indicating she had no money on her.
“You bet whether or not we hooked up?” My eyes bounced between my two friends like a ping-pong ball.
Neither denied the accusation.
“Okay, now details: was this the first time?” Zoe questioned.
I shook my head no.
“How long has it been going on?!” Daphne demanded.
“Um, pretty much since he started working on my house.”
“Awe, I love that journey for you.” Zoe put her hands over her chest as she quoted one of our favorite lines from Schitt’s Creek . “You know I’ve always been Team Callum and wanted you guys to get back together.”
“I’m not sure that’s…we haven’t made anything official. It’s not that simple.” All week we’d talked on the phone every night. Callum woke up the day after the bachelor/bachelorette party sick as a dog, so I hadn’t seen him, but we’d been texting and talking just as much as we used to when we were together.
But he was feeling better, and he said he would definitely be here today.
“Why not? You still love him,” Ashley pointed out. “He clearly still loves you; it’s so obvious the way he can’t take his eyes off of you every time you’re in the room.”
“There’s just a lot going on in his life right now. He lives in Arizona and has a career. He got offered a fight. If he takes it, he needs to move back.”
“Would you consider moving to Arizona?” Daphne posed a question I’d never thought of.
“He didn’t ask me to.”
“That’s not what I asked.” She grinned. “What I asked was, would you consider moving to Arizona?”
Would I? There wasn’t anything holding me here. I did love Firefly Island, but I’d never dreamed of living here my entire life. If anything, it had been the opposite. The only reason I ended up back here after college was because of my mom.
“Yeah. I think I would.”
The girls all looked at me, then at each other, then back at me; then without saying a word, they bum-rushed me for a group hug.
“No, do not mess up your hair and makeup!” I warned Zoe.
“Sorry.” Zoe put her hands in the air and slowly backed away from the hug.
There was another uptick of raised voices and the sound of cameras. This time Ashley looked out the window. “It’s Felicity. Did you invite Felicity?” she asked Zoe.
“No.” Zoe shook her head. “But the whole town knows, and it’s not like there’s a guest list or anything.”
“Honestly, I never thought Felicity and Callum were a good match,” Daphne commented.
“Did you know them?” Ashley asked.
“Not personally. I met Felicity a few times at events, and I interviewed Callum before his last fight with Martinez. I mainly know them through social media,” Daphne explained. “He always seemed so grounded, real, and hardworking, and she’s…not. Also, and I know this might sound petty, but I remember thinking it was weird that she celebrated so many anniversaries. She would always plan elaborate trips, purchase her own gifts, and write gratitude posts for herself to celebrate significant events such as the day they met, their first date, the day they became official, the day they moved in together, and the day they got engaged. I remember that one because it’s my birthday, and every year when I’m getting birthday posts, people are congratulating her for the anniversary of her engagement. Which is fine; I love love, but I mean, come on, I just feel like when people have to make such a big deal and a big show about everything, it’s like, what are you trying to prove? Most of the time she’s ‘celebrating,’ he’s not even with her; it’s just her. So it’s weird.”
“Wait, you said your birthday is the day they got engaged?” I knew the day sounded familiar when Callum said it; I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Yeah, why?”
My hands were tingling, and my pulse started racing. “Your birthday is May tenth.”
“May tenth,” she said at the same time I did.
Holy shit. The conversation I had with Callum played in my head again.
“When did you get this again ?”
“ I told you about six years ago. ”
“ What was the exact date ?”
“ Why ?”
“ I was just wondering .”
“ May tenth .”
Callum got his— For now, For always —tattoo the same day he proposed to Felicity. That had to mean something. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Why?” Daphne questioned.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost again. Just like on New Year’s Eve.” Ashley took a step toward me. “What’s wrong?”
Before I could answer that question, the doors opened, and Lorraine Shelby, the wedding planner, walked in.
“We’re ready to get started,” Lorraine announced.
Daphne, Ashley, and I all huddled around Zoe once more and told her how beautiful and amazing she looked. As we were leaving, AJ appeared at the door. He looked so grown up. He was wearing a suit and tie and was going to be giving his mom away. I remembered going over to see him after he was born when we were still in high school. It was crazy how that seemed so long ago, and also like it was yesterday.
Daphne, Ashley, and I made our way to the auditorium where the ceremony was going to be held. Daphne found Harlan, who was seated with his grandfather and Mrs. B, who ran the boarding house, as well as her Aunt Rhonda and her aunt’s new boyfriend, Albert. Ashley went to join her husband, Declan; sister Skylar, and brother-in-law, Hank, who was seated with his brothers, Jimmy and his wife Isabella; sister Cheyenne; and her husband, Cash. In the row in front of them, Hank’s third brother, Billy, was sitting with his wife, Reagan, who was my college roommate.
I could go over and join them, but honestly, I was just so tired of being the third wheel, or in this case, I would be the eleventh wheel. I scanned the room to find a place to sit. It was hard not to be discouraged as I looked out over the crowd. Besides all of my besties being wifed up by their soulmates, all of the Comfort brothers and their little sister found their HEAs, and they had a family curse that was working against them.
It wasn’t just the younger crowd in Firefly Island who had been struck by Cupid’s bow. The senior citizens were getting in on the action. Besides Harlan’s grandad and Mrs. B, being loved up, Zoe’s father-in-law, Walter, and my old babysitter, Anna May Birch, had been spotted ‘necking’ in her classic ‘63 Oldsmobile Cutlass after Bingo night. Buzz and Agnes had hearts floating around them on their Pace Maker walks. Even Nora, who hadn’t dated in a decade, looked head over heels when I’d seen her with Michael Robbins.
Everywhere I looked, people were coupled up. I felt like I was a cast member in a real-life Love Island, and I was at risk of being dumped from the island because I was single. Doing the scavenger hunt with Callum, I didn’t feel single. It felt like old times. We were hanging out on the pier just having fun, and when we finished with the scavenger hunt, we had even more fun. I just wanted to be back together with him more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life, but we hadn’t had that talk, and I just didn’t know what was stopping us.
For all the years Callum was gone, I’d been able to, for the most part, bury my feelings for him, numb myself, and lead a relatively normal life. But now that he was back, there was no denying how I felt. If Callum did stay in town and we didn’t work out, I was going to have to move. There would be no way I could have a front-row seat to watch him falling in love with Ariana or Kendra, or even casually dating them.
Until then, I needed to find a seat to watch my friend get married. I walked to a row that was occupied by the Jenson family and took my seat beside the nine-year-old identical twins Harry and Fred, whom I taught a few years ago. They were distinguished by their favorite colors. Harry loved blue, and Fred loved green. Today they were in khaki slacks, white shirts with black suspenders, and bowties, one blue, one green.
“Hi, Miss Nadia,” they both spoke in unison.
“Hi, boys. You both look nice.”
“It’s itchy.” Harry frowned as he shifted in his seat and pulled at his collar, trying to undo his blue bowtie.
Fred, the more, shall we say, adventurous of the two, pulled his suspenders out as far as they could stretch in front of him and then let them go. There was a loud snap and a wince/whimper.
“Boys.” Lucy Henson snapped her fingers at them.
Fred’s expression revealed he was clearly proud of himself. Harry’s frown deepened, and it made me wonder how many times Harry got lumped in on the scolding for something his brother did. I would guess many.
My head was still facing the boys when I felt someone sit down beside me.
I was turning my head when I felt fingertips graze my ear as my hair was tucked behind it, and warm breath fanned my neck as a deep voice whispered, “Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay.” Goosebumps rose on my arm as my entire body tensed and relaxed simultaneously. The anxiety I’d felt about Callum not showing up was gone; it was now replaced with tension of the sexual variety.
He moved even closer, and his clean, woodsy scent lit up my pheromones like triple sixes on a slot machine. “Chloe had a hair emergency. She wanted to call you, but I told her you were with Zoe, helping her get ready.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little bit giddy that I was the person Chloe wanted to speak to when she had a hair emergency, which for a thirteen-year-old girl, is very serious. Felicity lived in the house and was a beauty influencer, but it was me she wanted to call.
“Did she get it worked out?”
“My mom helped her.”
“Good,” I was feeling a little breathless and dizzy from just being this close to Callum after being apart from him. I needed to build up a tolerance again.
A door on the side of the stage opened, and Miles walked out with his assistant, Jada. They both took their places beside Pastor Miller, and the music began to play softly through the speakers. All of the attendees stood as the doors opened and Zoe appeared, holding onto AJ’s arm.
As she walked down the aisle, Callum put his hand on my lower back. It wasn’t a declaration of love or some grand gesture, but at that moment, it was everything I needed and wanted. I spent so long living in the past and wishing for a different future, it was time I tried to just be in the present—which was a lot easier to say since Callum was here now…in the present.