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“You want to smash his face in the wedding cake or something?” asked Katy with a smile.
“Are you kidding?” I asked. “That thing’s a work of art—too good for him.”
“Good call,” she said. “Maybe he’d be more deserving of a sheet cake from Super King or something. One of the ones that’s discounted because it’s almost gone bad.”
I smiled, happy that I had friends like Katy who were always ready to cheer me up.
“I still can’t believe you’ve known Sean since college,” Katy said. “Not to bring it up again, but none of us even had a clue. How did that slip past us? And that he took your freaking virginity?”
“Well,” I said. “I guess I…I wanted to keep it to myself. Not exactly the best memory in the world. And I figured if I ignored it, it would keep things not-weird.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Katy. “You’ve been acting not-weird around him since that first Lover Boys show.”
Truthfully, it’d been taking a lot to keep it inside.
“I’d really wanted to tell you guys, but I hate making my problems the center of attention, you know? Especially with everything else going on.”
Katy placed her hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
“I get it. But we’re friends, and that means no secrets. We’re here for you—even on a day like today.”
I smiled. What else could I do? I had the best friends a girl could ask for.
But before the conversation could go any further, a knock sounded from the large double doors that led into the room. Everyone’s attention whipped in the direction of the noise, like it was some messenger waiting to deliver news that we’d all been waiting for. Really, the excitement in the air was so strong that everyone was on a little bit of an edge.
“I’ll get that,” said Katy, preparing to rise.
“Nah, I’ll do it,” I said. “I need to get off the couch before I sink into it.”
Katy nodded, giving my arm one last squeeze of support before I heaved myself up and toward the door. The bustle of the room sounded out behind me as I made my way, and I’d let my mind get a little distracted by it.
But when I opened the door, all my attention was on who stood at the other side.
It was Sean.
He looked amazing—I had to give him that. His dark hair was slicked back and tucked behind his ears, and the tux he wore fit his body perfectly. If circumstances had been different, I might’ve been thinking about things other than how much I kind of wanted to slap him where he stood.
And the look on his face was strange. It was like he was coming to deliver some bad news.
“Yeah?” I asked, my tone curt.
He looked conflicted, like he’d known that he wanted to come but hadn’t thought about what he wanted to say exactly.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“Holy shit,” I said. “You’re really showing up and saying that again?”
I felt the back of my neck burn, and a glance over my shoulder revealed that more than a few pairs of eyes were on me and Sean. And Katy was already on her way over.
“OK, dude,” she said once she reached us. “There a reason why you’re busting into the brides’ room?”
“I want a few minutes with Shania,” he said. “Something I need to tell her.”
“You already had a pretty good conversation with her, from what I heard,” she said. “Now—”
“Katy?” asked Pepper from the other side of the room. “Something wrong?”
Shit. I sure as hell didn’t want my problems to mess any part of this day up.
“It’s fine,” I said. “He wants a minute, he can have a minute.”
“You sure?” asked Katy.
“I’m sure,” I said.
With that, I slipped out through the crack in the door past Sean. I shut the doors behind me, and there I was, standing in the middle of the massive hallway, the hundreds of guests beginning to arrive.
“Listen,” I said. “I only came out here because I didn’t want you making a scene. So, say what you came here to say, and be done with it.”
I was being mean, and at first I was fine with it. But there was something about the expression on his face, something that made me feel like whatever the reason he was here, he was wearing his heart on his sleeve. People milled around us, and I quickly realized it wasn’t exactly the best place for a private conversation.
But is that what I wanted with Sean?
“Mind if we go somewhere a little more private?” he asked.
“What?” I asked. “You really think you’re entitled to a minute of my time after what you did? Give me one good reason.”
He looked almost pained. It was strange to see Sean, always cool, always unflappable, like this. Something was wrong, and I wanted to know what it was.
