3. Addison
Addison
# Never let your soon-to-be sister-in-law find you crying into your wine nine days before her wedding
I hold the wild jasmine to my nose and take a deep inhale.
It’s one of my favorite scents in the entire world and it never fails to make me smile.
Then I carefully place it into the Wild Bloom arrangement I’m currently making for Edith Calhoun.
Her husband, John, gets her a bouquet of flowers every other week without fail, and they almost always include wild jasmine.
My soon-to-be sister-in-law, Eva, is supposed to be selecting the final flourishes for her wedding flowers—they’ll be artificial flowers, of course, so they still look fresh in five days’ time and can be reused afterward.
The latter being particularly important to Eva who likes to recycle everything.
These particular flowers will be donated to Juniper Ridge’s nursing home to spruce up their Christmas décor, and I’ll add some extra holly and mistletoe to ensure they look as festive as possible once I’m back from Vermont.
But instead of looking through the various samples of eucalyptus and ferns, Eva’s eyes are burning into the back of my skull.
Her concern for me is mildly suffocating, not to mention entirely unnecessary.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks again, her usual soothing tone only making my skin prickle today.
I screw my eyes closed, give myself a quick reminder that she’s only concerned because she’s like my big sister and she loves me, plaster a smile on my face and spin around.
“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.
But now , 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 of him .
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’t fondle in 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 Chase Hunter 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 na?ve 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. “Would an employee know 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 of the 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.
I pinch the spot between my brows and take a breath. “You know you’re way more than an employee. I’m sorry, Em. I’m just feeling so on edge.”
“I know, girl.” She wraps a comforting arm around my shoulder. “All the more reason you should tell your brother what a heartless, disgusting douchebag his bestie actually is.”
I offer her a faint smile. If only it was that easy.
Because the truth is, Chase is a good guy, at least for the most part.
He’s always been there for Brax. When the bank almost foreclosed on his repair shop, it was Chase who bailed him out.
When my idiot older brother got stranded in Budapest with no money to get home, Chase didn’t just wire him some cash, he sent a private jet to bring Brax home.
He even sent Brax a sympathy card when his dog, Huxley, died.
He is a good guy, just not to me. I can’t believe that I wasted a second of my time on him.
But we all make mistakes, it’s just that mine happened to be a huge one that broke my heart into a billion pieces.
“I can’t do that. I can’t ruin their friendship, not to mention Brax and Eva’s wedding. ”
“Looks like you’re gonna have to suck it up for the next four days then, girl. Brutal.” She shivers dramatically.
Who even has a wedding that lasts four damn days?
Brax and Eva would have gotten married in the little church in town, but Eva’s mom insisted on a big white wedding at some fancy lodge hotel in Vermont for her only child.
One that will be packed full of festivities that are gonna last for four freaking days!
As the sister of the groom and chief, aka only, bridesmaid, I can’t even duck out of any of it. But I do have a plan.
“I made sure to get the cabin that’s farthest away from the main hotel lodge, which is where Chase will be staying. In public, we’ll be civil and polite, and then I’ll never have to see him again. It will be fine.” I’m impressed that I at least sound convincing.
Emma snorts a laugh. “Good luck with that.” Then she nudges me in the ribs, her eyes twinkling like she has an idea. “But you could hook up with one of the other groomsmen. That would really piss this Chase guy off, huh?”
I shake my head. “Not gonna work. Cole and Oliver are married, and Parker is gay. Anyway, I’m sure Chase wouldn’t notice. He’d barely bat an eye if I walked down the aisle beside him naked.”
Emma gives me a dramatic eye roll. “Even Parker would notice you naked, Adds. I’ve seen you in a bikini, remember? So maybe that’s what you focus on? You rock your bridesmaid dress, and every other outfit you wear this week, and show this Chase dude what he’s missing.”
Also not going to work. He knows exactly what he’s missing, and if he missed it at all, he’d have come back here at least once in the last eight years.