As I was posing for pictures with the groom’s side of the wedding party, I suddenly felt caught in the crosshairs of a familiar gaze. How many minutes over the years had I wasted searching Vanessa out in a crowd? From the time I fell in love with her in middle school and through all of the years we’d spent dating, she’d always been the center of my entire world. Maybe that was at the crux of why we’d ultimately failed. Because we’d both always put her first.
Upon seeing her, I braced myself for an impact. But the moment our gazes met, the anticipated jolt wasn’t there. The sting of pride was present, but even that was a dull ache instead of the sharp pain I’d expected.
As soon as the photographer called the women over for the next round of photos, she came up with a big smile. “Hi, Reid, how are you?”
“Fine, thanks. How are you?” I could do this. I could have a civilized conversation with my ex.
She looked around as if she desired privacy, but there was none to be found. All eyes were on us. “I’m okay. But I was hurt to hear you brought a date. Who is she?”
“She’s someone I work with.”
“How long have you been together?”
Her question hit me with déjà vu. It’s what she’d asked when I’d been dating Shelly years ago. And I was ashamed to remember my answer had been, “not long enough to be serious.” I’d purposefully left the door open, not realizing how serious it had been for Shelly at the time. Even after all these years, I felt terrible that I’d gone home the same night to break things off so I could reconcile with Vanessa. But this was different. I had no desire to take Vanessa back.
“A few weeks.” Over Vanessa’s shoulder, a vision of red hair caught my eye. Teagan wore a smirk on her face, making me want to walk over and ask what was on her mind.
“We should get in position for pictures.”
Vanessa didn’t appear happy with my suggestion or the fact I was already turning to go. “We need to talk. Please give me a few minutes. We can meet tonight. Get some closure.”
I didn’t want to talk to her later, but neither did I want a scene in front of everyone. By the way her eyes were tearing up, that’s exactly what was going to happen if I didn’t agree to meet her.
“Fine. We can talk tonight.”
Her beautiful face morphed into a triumphant smile. One I’d seen too many times to count. “I need your number.”
I hated the fact Teagan was witnessing Vanessa pull out her phone to type in the digits I relayed to her. It felt like a step back instead of demonstrating that I was over her.
Thirty minutes later, the bridal party was getting restless. How many pictures did they need for a cocktail party two nights before the actual wedding? The answer was too many. Especially since Vanessa insisted on standing next to me for every snap. Because I didn’t want to cause a scene, I kept my mouth shut, but after the last shot, I walked over to where Teagan was standing beside Ellen.
“Hi,” I whispered, cupping her chin. Faking it was feeling, oh, so real.
“Hi.” She barely got a chance to respond before my lips descended. The kiss was soft, chaste by all standards, yet it also felt incredibly intimate.
I leaned in close to her ear. “I taste whiskey on your lips. Should I be concerned?”
A giggle bubbled up in her throat. “Not yet. Unfortunately, I met your brother. I was hoping your mom was wrong, and he wouldn’t be here.”
“Chance rarely does what’s expected of him. Did he say anything to you?”
“Yeah, some shit about bourbon being better than rye whiskey.”
I had a feeling she was omitting a great deal of the conversation, but I appreciated that she was intent on keeping me calm.
“I don’t understand why he’s here. He hates weddings.”
“I would guess he’s here to talk to you. Maybe to apologize.”
I expelled a long breath. “My brother isn’t capable of a real apology.”
“Sorry for bringing it up. You should probably pretend you’re still crazy about me before everyone thinks we’re fighting.”
She grinned when I pulled her close, and I enjoyed the excuse to put my hands on her. “Just do me a favor and stay away from him.”
“You know, fake or not, I’d never do that to you, don’t you? Ever.”
My gaze didn’t leave hers. She couldn’t know how much I appreciated her absolute promise. “Thank you.” I couldn’t stop myself from then suggesting, “You should probably kiss me. Lots of people looking.”
She didn’t disappoint, laying her hand against my chest and taking my lips without hesitation. Jesus. When she pulled away, I was hard pressed to let her.
“Sorry about your lip gloss. You’ll probably have to reapply it.”
“Any kiss worth having should mean I have to reapply my lip gloss.”
She took my offered arm and walked with me into the hotel lobby. “I want to say one more thing about Chance, and then I’ll drop it.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Remember that any reaction you have to him will make it seem as though you’re still hung up on your ex.”
I weighed her words. “I’m not hung up on her, you know.” I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, me or her, but I needed a change of subject. “Phil was talking about getting dinner next door after this. You up for it?”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for, to be your date.”
“After being around this crowd, I wouldn’t blame you if you’re ready to call it a night.”
“I’m okay. How do you feel after seeing the ex?”
“Fine. She wants to talk tonight, but it’s just a closure thing.”
Her body stiffened almost like she was jealous, but I was sure I had to be reading her wrong.
“Are you upset?”
She pasted on a smile. “No, of course not. You should do what you want. But do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t make a fool of me. I may be here as your fake girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have some pride invested here. If you want to get back with your ex, please don’t do it until after the wedding.”
I was already shaking my head, adamant that wasn’t ever happening. “I’m not—” But we were already getting interrupted by Phil and Ellen.
“Hi, you guys planning on dinner?” Phil asked.
“We were just discussing. Teagan, this is Phil, and I take it you already met Ellen. And this is my girlfriend, Teagan.” It was starting to get easier to roll off the tongue.
Phil and Ellen were good people, both of them now living in the DC area where they taught at a local university.
Two hours later, after enjoying dinner, we moved the party to one of the hotel bars. Thankfully, the bride and Vanessa had plans that didn’t bring them to either of the locations we’d chosen. That meant I was less on edge and could actually enjoy myself. And more importantly, Teagan seemed to be having fun. It was great to see her in her element, her face flushed from a couple drinks, unregretful about ordering the pasta dish, laughing, and holding her own. I admired the way she was always true to herself. No pretense. No bullshit. Not for the first time, I realized how easy it was to be with her. Hell, Phil had even whispered to me earlier how much more relaxed I seemed to be. Sadly, he was right. Why hadn’t I seen it sooner? I’d been under immense stress while with my ex. I could never do anything to her liking, no matter how hard I tried.
I pulled my phone out when it buzzed and immediately sighed at the notification. It figured. First chance in years I’d truly enjoyed a night out with my friends, and Vanessa would find a way to ruin it, sending me a text reminder she wanted to meet.
“Your nuts warm?” Teagan whispered with a grin.
I tried to return her smile. “They are. But are you ready to call it a night?” I took the last sip of my beer.
Phil downed the last of his drink too. “We should call it a night too. Golf is early tomorrow. We need to leave by seven for an eight a.m. tee time.”
We both went our separate ways to opposite towers of the hotel.
Although Teagan and I were in the elevator alone, I enjoyed the way she kept hold of my hand. “Did you have a good time?”
Her smile was genuine. “I did. I worried earlier you might be surrounded by assholes, but Phil and Ellen are awesome.”
“There’s still plenty of assholes, but thankfully Phil and Ellen are the exception.” We walked toward our room, and I slipped the key card into the door to let her precede me inside. Dammit, why did I feel guilty for what I was about to say? I hesitated at the door.
Turning to face me, she beat me to it. “It’s okay. Go. I know it was Vanessa texting you at the restaurant.”
Shit. Although Teagan was my fake girlfriend, I experienced very real guilt. “I won’t be long.”
She waved me off. “Take as long as you need.”
“Will you wait up?”
She cocked her head to the side as if surprised by the question. Guess I was too, but I supposed I needed her to know I had every intention of coming back to the room.
“Guess it depends how late you’ll be.”
“I won’t be long.”
Vanessa was waiting for me downstairs in the lobby on one of the sofas. She stood as soon as she saw me approach.
“It’s ridiculous to meet down here when I have an entire suite to myself where we could talk in private.”
Had her voice always reminded me of nails on a chalkboard? I remembered a time when I’d sought to soothe her complaints, but now I found myself annoyed by them. “I’m not going up to your room. And I have only a few minutes.”
“Why? Because you want to return to your new girlfriend? I hope you know she insulted the bride and your mother tonight. Is she the type of woman you want to be with?”
“She stood up for herself when both of them decided to go out of their way to insult her. Now please say what you need to say.”
She sat down and scanned the lobby as I took a seat across from her. This was as private as it would get.
“I needed you to know your brother set me up.”
I’d heard this excuse before, but honestly, I hadn’t been calm enough to absorb the details. “How, exactly, did he do that?”
She looked excited I’d asked. “He made me think he wanted to be with me, but then staged the timing so you would interrupt us. But I never actually went through with it.”
“Because I walked in on you both, not because you didn’t want to.”
“I was anxious and stupid, and I had cold feet or something about getting married. But I don’t any longer. Now I know without a doubt how much I want to be with you. How much I want to be your wife. You’ve proven your point by bringing your little date with you. Congratulations, I’m jealous. It’s what you wanted, right?”
To some degree, there was a small part of me petty enough to admit it was. But a larger part of me found no satisfaction in her jealousy. “Vanessa—”
“I still love you, Reid. You’ve always been my forever. Since we were in middle school when you gave me a white flower and told me you thought I was beautiful.”
The flower had actually been pink. Not sure why that tidbit stuck out now, but it did.
“We have so many years invested in each other. No one knows me better than you do.”
This was probably true, but had she taken the time to truly get to know me? Or better yet, accept me for who I was? A flash of Teagan and me playing Mario Kart on my couch came up in my head.
“Vanessa, I—”
“No, don’t say anything. Just think about it. Know I’ll be here, waiting for you.”
“I need to go.” I was caught between frustration and anger, which meant I was better off keeping quiet. We had a wedding to get through, so upsetting Vanessa with harsh words would not make the rest of the weekend go smoothly.
“Okay. We’ll plan to talk again soon?” She stood up and leaned in for a kiss but settled for my cheek when I turned my head.
My steps couldn’t take me away fast enough. But I was so focused on getting back up to the room to Teagan, I walked straight into the one person I had no desire to talk to.
Chance.
He merely lifted a brow as he looked beyond me to where Vanessa stood. “Your new girlfriend aware you’re down here talking with the ex?”
I loathed his smugness.
“Fuck off.” I turned to go, not intending to say more than the two words to him. The simple sound of his voice triggered the feeling of betrayal all over again. I took one step before he spoke.
“Wait.”
I didn’t stop until his next word.
“Please.”
I halted, but I didn’t bother to turn around. “What do you want?”
His heavy sigh permeated the air. “To see you happy. Which begs the question of how well you know your new girlfriend.”
I turned around, anger lacing every word. “You stay the hell out of my business and leave Teagan alone. You don’t know the first thing about her.”
“I know Mother can’t stand her, the bride stares daggers at her, your ex is green with jealousy, and she basically told me to fuck off, so clearly Teagan has more going for her than anyone else you’ve dated.”
My eyes narrowed at the unexpected compliment. “Exactly. So leave her alone.”
“What did the ex want?”
“To get back together. To tell me how you set her up. It isn’t happening.” I’m not sure why I chose to share the words with him, but there was no mistaking the way his shoulders relaxed.
“Glad to hear it. You speak with Aiden lately? Have you heard how he’s doing in Iraq?”
Since Aiden was a childhood friend of both of ours, it seemed petty to withhold information about him. “He should be back in the States this weekend.”
“And the girl? What was her name—Chloe?”
I wasn’t shocked to hear he knew about Aiden’s girl. “He’s moving to LA to be with her. It’s a secret, though, so don’t go and ruin anything.”
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I need to go.”
He gave me a curt nod. “You look good, brother. Happier than I expected to see you.”
My molars ground together. “Must be the tropical air.”
He shrugged. “Or the redhead. Good night.”
