Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Mira
“Why do I get the feeling that we aren’t getting our nails done?” I ask, stepping over the curb separating the parking lot from Brielle’s Beauty Shop.
Markie laughs. “What on earth would make you think that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that there’s a Closed sign hanging on the door.”
“Maybe she forgot to flip it over.”
Sure. I glance at her out of the corner of my eye as butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach.
The day has been beautiful, if not slightly chaotic.
Lolly has only called and texted me twenty times, asking me everything from whether I needed flowers for my hair to whether I wanted a reception following the ceremony.
The answer to both was a resounding no. I tried to remind her that I didn’t technically want any of this, but I’m confident she didn’t hear me.
When her response was ROFLACGU, I definitely needed an explanation.
Apparently, rolling on the floor laughing and can’t get up is what you say when you have hip pain in the later-in-life world.
Now, though, I’m also more than certain that my sister had more involvement in this scheme than I was led to believe.
It’s just too ironic that she had Mom’s wedding dress handy, plus a pair of heels in my size that go with the dress perfectly.
The fact that I’d bet that I’m about to walk into some kind of bachelorette party is the icing on the cake.
Markie is an accomplice.
I’d be mad at her if she didn’t look so darn happy, and if Hartley and I weren’t benefiting from this so much.
“Surprise!” a host of voices shout as Markie swings the door to Brielle’s wide open. Cheers greet me as I enter the shop, where I find a bunch of familiar faces, a table full of gifts, and pink-and-gold decorations everywhere celebrating Mrs. Adler.
The name—my soon-to-be new name—hangs from a doorway in sparkly letters.
Whoa.
I’ve doodled this name so often, probably wrote it more than my legal name in high school in the back of notebooks that never saw the light of day. Seeing it now, in the present—on the precipice of it becoming true—knocks me sideways.
I’ll be Mrs. Adler tomorrow.
Holy crap. The thought sends a warm flutter through my stomach that feels suspiciously like excitement.
I wrap my arm around my sister’s waist and pull her into a one-armed hug.
I’m dazed at the faces smiling back at me.
Lolly, Cathy, Brooks’s fiancée, Audrey. Gray’s fiancée, Astrid, is also here with her and Audrey’s friend, Gianna, standing beside her.
Violet Crowder from church, Lolly’s friend, DeeDee, and Markie’s best friend, Nettie, all beam at me from across the room.
Tears fog my eyes, and I sniffle them back in embarrassment.
Why would I cry? I can’t explain to them that I’m overwhelmed at the pace of this major life change, or that I’m stupefied that they’d all show up at the last minute for me.
Or that the only thing I really want to do right now is to call Hartley and tell him what’s happening, because I know he’d laugh and tell me to enjoy it. Then, somehow, I’d be able to do that.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I whisper to my sister.
“My baby sister only gets married once. We’re going all out.” Before I can answer her—and remind her this isn’t real—she claps her hands, bringing the volume of chatter to a standstill. “Hi, everyone. Thanks for coming to celebrate Mira for her upcoming wedding.”
A roar of applause and shouts comes from nowhere. Markie waits for them to settle before continuing.
“I think Lolly wants to say something,” she says.
My hand falls to my chest as my grandmother steps forward. She’s beaming, her red-painted lips stretched across her face.
“Like my beautiful granddaughter just said, thank you all for coming,” Lolly says. “I know it was at the last minute, and it means so much to me—to our family—that you showed up for our precious Mira.”
Lay it on thick, Lolly. I shake my head, grinning at her.
“I’ve always hoped my granddaughters would find a man half as good as their grandfather and father. Both were exceptional men. And while I’m still holding out hope for Markie …”—the women laugh—“my Mira has finally found a good, decent, super sexy man in Hartley.”
I lean the side of my head on my sister and cover my mouth, wishing I could sink into the floor and disappear.
Because she’s right, of course. Hartley is all those things.
But hearing him being talked about like this, in this wild situation—when I’m about to marry him for financial gain and not because we’re in love—feels weird.
“We have some snacks on the table by the window,” Lolly says. “You all can help yourselves while Markie and I get a game ready.”
A game? Markie wrinkles her nose at me as she joins Lolly on the other side of the room.
I barely have time to catch my breath before Astrid, Gianna, and Audrey find me.
“Congratulations,” Audrey says first, pulling me into a hug.
“Thank you,” I say, releasing her. “And thank you all for coming. Please tell me you were all in town.”
Astrid laughs. “Gianna and I came in this morning.”
“No, you didn’t.” I gasp.
“We’re family now,” Astrid says, giving me a reassuring smile. “Or we will be whenever Gray and I finally get married.”
“We may not be family,” Audrey says. “But as often as Brooks is with Hartley, we might as well be.”
Gianna groans. “Fuck this. If Drake thinks we aren’t moving here now, he’s outta his mind.”
We all laugh, and the sound of it wraps around me like a fuzzy blanket.
There’s nothing but kindness in their eyes.
Their actions are above and beyond what I would’ve expected out of anyone, least of all three women who barely know me.
And the fact they want to include me in their obviously close friendship group nearly makes me cry.
What happens when the newness wears off? What then?
“It means a lot that you are all here,” I say, wishing my nose wasn’t burning like I’m about to cry. What is wrong with me? “I know people throw around language like that, but I know you’re here because you love Hartley. That means so much to me.”
Gianna grins. “We do love Hartley in very loose definitions of the word. But we aren’t here for him, Mira. We’re here for you.”
I don’t know what to say to that. Audrey seems to understand my struggle because she leans in and touches my shoulder.
“I know we can be a lot,” she says softly. “Especially Gianna.”
“Hey!” Gianna says, making us laugh.
“But we’re here to support you,” Audrey says. “Anything you need? We’re a call away.”
My teeth scrape across my bottom lip as emotions that I haven’t felt in forever unbury themselves from the holes where I stashed them a long time ago.
Instinctively, I want to push the feelings away and tell the girls that I’m really a loner.
But being in their orbit feels … amazing.
And I hate that I like it, and that I have hope that the four of us can be friends.
Yet I do. It’s just another unexpected result of this daring little trip I took to Sugar Creek almost two weeks ago.
Markie drapes a sash around me with the word bride splashed in pink font.
“Okay,” she says. “Everyone grab a notepad and pencil off the table if you need it—I’m sure a lot of you might use your phone.
Either way, it’s fine. We’re going to play a game called Who Knows Hartley?
I texted him this morning and got the official answers from the man himself. ”
Shit. I fire a look at my sister because I don’t know him. Not anymore. Not well enough to answer questions about him. And if I get them wrong, how will that look?
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
My heart pounds as I sit in a chair and take out my phone. Markie reads off ten questions, and everyone, including me, writes down their answers. By the time I’m done, my palms are sweating.
“Okay, Lolly’s keeping score,” Markie says. “First question. What is Hartley’s go-to breakfast order?”
A variety of answers fly around the room.
“I have the inside track on this one,” Cathy says.
“Sausage, egg, and cheese,” I say before she can answer. I don’t know why it feels like I need to establish dominance, but it does.
Cathy winks at me. “What she said.”
“That’s right,” Markie says. “You keeping count, Lolly?”
“I think Cathy and Mira got that one,” Lolly says.
Whew. There’s one.
“What is Hartley’s favorite karaoke song?” Markie asks.
“There’s no way Hartley does karaoke,” Gianna says. “I’ll eat my shoe.”
“I think I got this one,” Nettie says, holding up a hand. “I actually witnessed him singing karaoke once, and it was so random, I remember the song.”
Smiling smugly to myself, I write down the answer. Boom! That’s two.
“What do you think, ladies?” Markie asks.
“I call total bullshit on this question,” Gianna says.
Audrey holds up a hand. “He whistles Keith Whitley songs a lot, so I think it’s something by him. If I’m right, I’ll take half a point.”
“It’s ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie,’” Nettie says, smiling proudly. “Heard him do it during Sugar Days maybe five years ago. Hil-arious.”
Nope. Good try. “Actually,” I say, looking at Nettie. “His favorite karaoke song is ‘Shoop’ by Salt-N-Pepa.”
“No way!” Astrid says, laughing. “Are you kidding?”
“She’s right,” Markie says. “And he said to tell everyone that it’s Mira’s fault because she made him listen to it so many times that he memorized it and can’t help that it’s catchy.”
Gianna bursts out laughing. “This has to happen. I need to see this.”
“If you give him enough whiskey, he’ll even act it out,” I say, giggling as I recall a night at Patsy’s the week after I turned twenty-one.
I happened to be in town, and we ran into each other while picking up a pizza.
We decided to grab a drink and wound up drunk off our asses, belting out karaoke songs until Patsy made us leave.
It was one of the best nights of my life. And it made me realize that even though we’d never have a romantic future, I knew I’d be hard-pressed to lose our friendship.
We play three more rounds and I win every one. By the time Markie declares me the winner, I’m riding on a surge of adrenaline. Cathy passes out lemon drop martinis while Lolly gets the presents gathered for me to open.
“Here you go,” Cathy says, handing me a drink in a red plastic cup. “Sorry it’s not fancier. As you can imagine, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare.”
I take a sip, letting the alcohol warm my stomach. “Thank you for this. All of it.”
“It wasn’t me, honey. It was Lolly and Markie.”
“I know,” I say, frowning. “But you helped. And you put together the picnic for us last night, which was amazing. Your fruit dip is my new favorite food group.”
She laughs. “I’ll keep some in the fridge for you at all times.” Her smile falters. “Also, if you don’t want me in every day, please let me know. It’s your home now, and I don’t want to interfere.”
The emotion in her voice catches me off guard. I clench my cup and try to read the situation. I’m not sure if she thinks I’m going to try to fire her, or if she’s just nervous, or if she thinks this whole thing is ridiculous.
I suck in a breath. “Honestly, Cathy, I was hoping you’d stay and keep your routine.”
Her eyes light up. “Really?”
“Hartley loves you, and you know everything about how things work. How he works. What he likes and what he hates. And, you know, I haven’t been around a lot so I might need help.”
And I don’t want him alone when I leave in a year.
The thought shakes me, causing a chill to ripple down my spine.
I’ve gotten so caught up in the celebration today that it’s been easy to forget that this isn’t my actual reality.
Their joy might be real, and their support of our union might also be true.
But that doesn’t change the terms of the arrangement, and I’d do best to remember that.
And when I leave … it’s vital that they don’t put any of the blame for our divorce on Hartley. But that’s for another day.
“I’d love to stay around,” she says. “I work for you now, too. So, please let me know if you’d like things changed or if you have different preferences for meals—anything.”
“I’m sure you do a great job.”
Her smile returns, but this time, it’s softer. “Listen, honey. You make that man complete. When you’re not around, he can barely hear your name without walking out of the room. It’s as if it hurts him too much not having you there that he can’t sit still.”
Really? My mouth falls agape as her words strike my chest.
“I’ve worked for the Adlers for most of Hart’s life,” she says. “And I’ve hoped and prayed for this day for the better part of it. So, this wedding? It’s the answer to my prayers, and I know his mother is watching down from heaven with a smile on her face.”
Tears pool in the corners of my eyes as I stare into her green irises. Would she, though?
Hartley’s mom was one of the strongest and sweetest women I’ve ever known. She was funny and warm, generous with her time—her love—and I think she’d actually hate me for possibly breaking her son’s heart this way.
And I can’t blame her, really.
I struggle past the ache in my chest to focus on Cathy.
“Just remember one thing,” she says. “Love comes in all shapes and sizes. But when you find the one that fits your heart, you hold on to it for dear life. Because once it’s taken away, you can’t always get it back.”
“Now let’s have some fun!” Lolly says from across the room. “Let’s gather around this chair and have our bride sit here so we can all watch her open her gifts.”
I pull Cathy into a quick hug, fighting back the tears, as she presses a kiss against my temple.
“A quick warning,” she whispers in my ear. “You’re going to need an extra drink before you open Lolly’s. I don’t even know where she found something so dirty.”
My cheeks flame as I pull away, laughing in both amusement and fear. “You’re kidding?”
“Mine first,” Lolly says. “It has snaps. My husband loved being able to—”
“Come on, Lolly,” Markie says, holding a hand out in front of her. “Stop. Please.”
I stand in the corner of the room and take in the women who gathered today to celebrate me. They didn’t give an excuse or send a gift instead. They showed up. For me. And for Hartley.
For … us.
For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, being a part of something doesn’t feel threatening. Staying in Sugar Creek, at least for a while, doesn’t feel terrifying. It kind of feels like … home.
I pull out my phone and type out a quick text.
Me: Wish you were here.
Then I put the device back in my pocket and rejoin the party, silently terrified that what I’m about to open from Lolly is something I’ll forever wish I could unsee.