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“Well, you did a great job anyway,” I said.
But there was something wrong—it was easy to tell. Sean seemed…tense, measured in the way he carried himself and spoke. I sensed that whatever he’d come out there to talk about, I wasn’t going to like it.
“Listen,” he said.
Nope, I didn’t like this one bit. No good conversation in that context ever started with the word “listen.” Almost as bad as “we need to talk.”
“We need to talk,” he said.
And there it was.
But what was about to happen? Were we going to break up? Had we even been dating? And what the hell had actually happened that would make him decide this?
My mind raced with questions, and my heart pounded like hell in my chest.
“I don’t want to make a thing about this, so I’m going to get it out and let that be the end of it.”
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
He took in a slow, deep breath and looked away for a moment before turning his attention back to me. “This whole thing,” he said. “This thing between the two of us. It all happened…really fast. Too fast. So fast that neither of us bothered to take a look around and see what was going on. Which is really ironic, actually—the whole point was that you and I could have this fun thing that was easy and simple.”
“Stress relief,” I said, agreeing with him.
“That’s right,” he said. “But…”
Now he seemed really conflicted.
“What?” I asked.
Finally, he seemed to settle on the words. “I…I can’t do it anymore,” he said. “I know we had an arrangement, and I know we agreed to keep feelings out of it. But…” He shook his head, as if talking himself out of something. “No,” he said. “I don’t know what you thought this was, and truth be told, I suppose I didn’t really have any idea what I thought it was. But it’s over now.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get out a word, he raised his palm.
“There’s too much happening right now,” he said. “We’ve got the wedding, and you’ve got your business. And speaking of that, I’m guessing you don’t need my help anymore.”
“Wait, what?” But he didn’t stop to answer my question. “It was good seeing you, Shania. Maybe this was could have been something more, but I guess we’ll never know. You made your choice.”
“What?” I asked. “You’re the one making the choice for both of us.”
He gave me a cutting look for a moment, one that seemed to suggest that I’d stepped over some kind of boundary. “Fine,” he said, a tinge of anger in his voice. “If that’s how you want to look at it, then don’t let me stop you. But I thought we might’ve had something here. Guess I was wrong.”
And that was it. Sean turned on his oil-black dress shoes and left. Like I was before, I was alone. But at that moment, after that conversation, the word was true in the worst, deepest sense.
Chapter Twenty-Six
SEAN
It wasn’t really a bachelor party, but it was the closest thing to it any of us were in the mood for. It was the night before the wedding, and me and the guys were at a bar in West Hollywood, packed into a booth and gathered up around a pitcher of beer.
And it wasn’t just any bar. It was the Woods, the strip-mall dive where the four of us had made the decision to take Lover Boys on the road, leave our old lives behind and throw caution to the wind and all that. Since then it’d been our go-to spot in the city when we wanted a night that was only the four of us.
Theo raised amber-colored beer to his lips and took a sip, letting out a long “ahh” as he did.
“You and your ‘ahhs’,” said Will with a small grin. “Why do you always have to do that whenever you take a drink of anything?”
“Must be my body’s way of letting me know it’s happy about what I’m putting into it.” Theo shrugged. “And right now, it’s happy as hell for the beer.”
Another sip, another “ahh.”
Noah took a look around the place, which was nearly empty—exactly the way we liked it. And the few people there didn’t seem too concerned about the table full of fairly famous dudes sipping their beers.
“Having second thoughts about the ‘bachelor party?’” asked Theo. “I mean, we’re in LA—not too late to get some strippers.”
He winked, letting Noah know he was screwing around.
“Hell no,” said Noah. “This wedding—these weddings have been taking every last bit of energy I’ve got.”
“Same here,” said Will, his blonde hair hanging loose over his forehead. “I mean, I’m so excited I can hardly sit still, but I think drinking some cheap beer and staring off into space is about all I’ve got the mental space for.”
