Chapter 3
Inever should’ve agreed to let Reece pick me up from the airport. He’s late to everything in life. I like to keep a tight schedule, and right now, I’m at the mercy of someone who never looks at a calendar.
But it’s his weekend.
He’s the groom.
He can pretty much do whatever he wants and get away with it.
Reece:Just took the turnoff. Be there in a few minutes. Can’t wait to see you guys.
You guys.
As in Remi and me.
Apparently, Jana told Remi they could also pick her up from the airport.
That’s not awkward at all.
Out of everyone, Reece should know that I don’t want to ride in the same car with Remi. This has to be breaking some kind of bro code: never make your best friend share a ride from the airport with his ex-girlfriend that he’s still in love with. That’s got to be etched on a bathroom stall in a bar somewhere, right?
In Reece’s defense, he doesn’t know that I’m dreading seeing Remi this weekend. There hasn’t been a moment when he’s asked me, “Hey, are you still in love with Remi and nervous about seeing her for the first time since you broke up?” Friends should really lead with questions like that every once in a while, just in case people are too embarrassed to bring it up themselves.
Since he hasn’t led with that probing question, it’s been easier to pretend like this weekend is no big deal.
Easier for my heart…and my pride.
I know it’s pathetic. I’m thirty years old. I shouldn’t be hiding from my friends that I’m crushed, but I am hiding it. No one has ever dumped me. I’m usually the one to end things. But with Remi, things were different. I’m not hurt because I was dumped for the first time in my life. I’m hurt because I thought she was the one.
And my mom had just died.
I finished the funeral, and that night, Remi left me. It was a low blow that I don’t understand—one that makes me mad.
Two years.
We spent two years together, and she didn’t even have the decency to wait a few days after I buried my mom to break up with me—or give me a good explanation for why she left.
I lost my mom and the love of my life all in the same week. Both losses feel the same.
For the past two months, I’ve been in denial—it’s the first stage of grief—but I think it’s safe to say I’ve moved on to anger.
I hoped Remi wouldn’t come to the wedding this weekend, that she’d bow out gracefully, say she couldn’t come because she had to work. I knew it wasn’t likely, considering Remi’s a yoga instructor. It’s not like there’s an emergency downward dog that needs to happen, but I hoped for it anyway.
Now I have to spend the weekend with her.
A white rental car honks twice as it pulls up to the curb. The passenger door flies open, and Jana jumps out.
“Let the party begin!” she squeals as she flings her body forward into mine. Her arms wrap around me in a hug, and her brown hair—that’s currently in a messy bun—hits my cheek.
“Am I the party?” I ask as I hug her.
“Hardly. Remi’s the party.” Jana pulls back and looks at me. “Have you seen her yet?”
“We just bumped into each other.”
“And?” Jana grimaces.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me we were on the same flight? Or that you are giving us both a ride to the hotel? I could’ve used a little heads-up.”
Jana shrugs. “You’re both adults.”
Just because I’m an adult doesn’t mean I enjoy being blindsided.
“Hey!” Reece comes around the car and slaps my shoulder, pulling me into a hug. “Thanks for being here.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Reece has been my best friend since high school. I would travel anywhere in the world to be at his wedding, including Key West, Florida.
He looks down at my one suitcase. “Is this it?”
“Yeah.”
Jana’s eyes skip behind me. “There she is!” she says as she takes off running.
I left Remi inside the airport. For starters, her bag went around the conveyor belt again before I could grab it. And she had to fill out an incident report for her carousel escapade. If we were still together, I would’ve filled the information out for her. I would’ve stayed with her and teased her about getting her sweatshirt stuck.
But we’re not together, so I left.
I slowly turn around and face them.
Her sweatshirt is tied around her waist, and the sunglasses from earlier are gone. She’s wearing black yoga leggings and a white fitted t-shirt. Her dark hair falls past her shoulders and is styled in waves that took her fifteen minutes to do. I’ve timed her before.
Her beauty hits my heart like a defibrillator. She shocks me back to life and kills me at the same time. My chest tightens, and it’s not even the fear that this weekend will suck that is bothering me. It’s seeing her for the first time since that day two months ago and knowing that I’m never going to stop loving her.
How do you tell your heart to stop loving someone?
You don’t.
I’ve tried.
“I’m getting married!” Jana says as she jumps into her arms, practically knocking Remi over.
“I know.” Remi laughs. “We were all at the engagement party.”
Reece joins them, putting his long arms around both women. “We’re so glad you both are here. There isn’t anyone else we’d want to share this special day with.”
From under her sandwiched hug, Remi’s dark eyes shift to me. She obviously caught the word both and doesn’t like it.
Reece releases the hug and grabs her suitcase. “Let’s get out of here.”
“It’s time to get this weekend started.” Jana heads toward the passenger side of the car.
I stand there like an idiot, watching Reece put Remi’s bag in the trunk. That used to be my job.
“Hey!” he says, walking to the driver’s side. “I’m double-parked. Let’s go.” He climbs in the car, leaving us standing on the curb.
I roll my suitcase over to the trunk. Remi joins me at the back of the car. I reach for her duffel bag slung over her shoulder, but she pulls away.
“I’ve got it.”
“You didn’t have it a few minutes ago when you almost got sucked into the baggage claim.”
I’m coming off as a little cold. I can’t help it. I’m nursing a pretty big broken heart and wounded pride, so cut me some slack.
“The baggage claim was not my fault.”
I turn just as she leans over, dropping her duffel bag on top.
Her perfume circles through the air around me. Flowerbomb. That’s what it’s called. I know because I bought it for her for Valentine’s Day five months ago. I’ve been pseudo-smelling that scent for two months at the office, at the grocery store, and now the real thing is surrounding me. The smell is like a drug, giving me a false high, reminding me of all the good times that have a zero-percent chance of happening again.
She straightens, looking at me. Actually, she’s not looking at me. She’s looking everywhere else but at me. “I plan on writing a very strongly worded email to the manufacturer. Someone could die because of those things.”
“That’ll show ‘em,” I say.
I used to love her strongly worded emails. They’re full of, “If it’s not too much trouble,” and, “I’m sorry to disturb you,” because Remi doesn’t have a mean bone in her body…except when it comes to breaking up with me.
Reece honks. “Let’s go!”
We exchange a look for one painful second before both of us walk to our sides of the car.
I sink into the backseat, combing my fingers through my hair. I’m more nervous around Remi now than I was on our first date. Back then, I had nothing to lose.