PROLOGUE #2
“I’m so happy to see you,” I said to Drake as I held up two fingers to the bartender.
He actually owned the bar, and we’d become friends over the years.
His name was Jake. He was busy but gave me a chin nod, pulled two IPAs out of the fridge for us, and sent them over with a waitress.
She was hot, of course. Jake only hired hot girls to work for him.
I sometimes wondered how his wife felt about that, but it wasn’t my business.
“You ready to order?” I asked Drake. Something was off with him. He seemed nervous, and I hoped there wasn’t anything seriously wrong in his life. Is that why he’d driven over to see me on a weeknight? That rarely happened anymore since we were both busy with work. I hoped nothing bad had happened.
Drake nodded, we gave our orders to the waitress, and she left us with the beers. Drake immediately picked his up and took a long pull. My eyebrows went up. “Can you tell me what you wanted to talk about? You’re starting to scare me a little.”
He let out a huff of a laugh. “Nothing to be nervous about. Well, maybe a little.” He rubbed his hands on his pants.
“Dude. Just tell me.”
“I proposed to Melinda, and she said yes.”
“That’s awesome!” I jumped up and gave him another hug, slapping his back. “I’m so happy for you. I knew it had to be coming soon, but I didn’t know when. This is great news.” I was genuinely pleased for my friend, but I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of regret, a small jab of pain under my ribs.
Sadie and I were supposed to be married by now. At least, that had always been our plan. I felt the smile slip from my face, and I realized I had to push those thoughts away so I could focus on my friend’s news.
“When is it?”
“Six months. October is her favorite month.”
I winced. “A wedding on a football Saturday in the South?”
He chuckled and drank more of his beer. Our waitress walked by and we both asked for another. “If I have too many of these, I might be spending the night at your place. That okay?”
“Of course. How do you plan to tell Melinda nobody’s going to come to your wedding because they’ll be home watching football?”
It was still painful for me to talk about football. I still miss it, and my mind usually slipped to what could have been. But I’m doing better with it. Being in therapy helps for sure.
“I’ve got it all planned out. We’re having the reception at the country club. We’re going to set up a room with a few TVs so people can check scores, watch a play or two, things like that.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “And Melinda’s cool with that?”
“You remember she likes football even more than I do, right? We just agreed we wouldn’t put chairs or tables in there, so guests know they can’t just skip the reception and watch football in there all night.
But I guarantee you Melinda will be in and out of that room checking scores in her wedding dress just as much as anyone else. ”
I laughed. “You know, I forgot that about her. She knows her shit, too. She should have been a sideline reporter or an analyst instead of a teacher.”
“She thought about it. But she loves the kids.” He got quiet and looked around the restaurant. I could sense he was about to tell me the real reason he’d come to Halliwell to tell me about the wedding in person.
His eyes finally met mine. “I want you to be my best man.”
I let out a sigh of relief. If that was the reason for his nerves, I could handle it. I gave him a fist bump that evolved into the complicated hand shake we’d made up in ninth grade. “Of course! I’d love to do it.”
“The, um, problem is,” an uneasy look crossed his face, “that Sadie is Melinda’s maid of honor.”
It felt like all the air in my lungs escaped my body. Of course she was the maid of honor. How stupid was I? I should have connected those dots immediately.
“I get it. No worries. You and I can celebrate together another time. With Melinda, too, if she can ever stand to hang out with me.”
He took a deep breath and started to say something right as the waitress brought our meals out. I stared at my plate, my appetite gone. The mess I’d made all those years ago was still coming back to bite me in the ass. It always would.
“Harrison.”
I looked up at him.
“Melinda talked to Sadie, and she’s okay with it. So, as long as you can handle seeing her for a few events plus the wedding, we’re good to go. The only thing I ask is that you don’t… try to change her mind about you or anything. Just leave her alone, let her take the lead, that sort of thing.”
I nodded, trying hard not to break into a huge smile. “She didn’t mind?”
His lips turned up in something between a wince and a smile. “I wouldn’t go that far, but Melinda said Sadie would be horrified if I didn’t choose who I wanted to be in the wedding party because of her.”
“Sounds like Sadie,” I said, picking up my burger and taking a big bite. “Don’t worry. I’ll hang back and let her come talk to me if she wants to. I’ll do my best to not make this weird for her.” I paused. “God. Do you think she’d mind if I just stood in a corner and stared at her?”
He gave me a look. “Don’t make me regret asking you, jackass.”
We laughed then, and I felt the tension fade away. But even as I enjoyed his company, in the back of my mind I was already thinking about when I’d see Sadie.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. My thoughts kept drifting back to that awful two-year period when I’d blown my life apart.
Mine and Sadie’s. It had been years since then, but I’d never stopped regretting what happened.
I didn’t think I ever would. Life is all about learning, and I knew that.
Mistakes are a huge part of that process.
Every one of us will make dozens, if not hundreds, of mistakes over the years.
But some were so big and hurt so bad they left scars that just wouldn’t heal.