"You can thank my sisters for that," I admit it to her, and her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open.
"Are you saying that you wouldn’t have invited me?" She has a serious face, and I suddenly feel like a dick for bringing it up when her mouth slowly forms a smile. Now it’s her turn to chuckle while she brings her glass of scotch to her mouth. She takes a sip, and I want to suck her lower lip into my mouth right before my tongue slides into her mouth. "So if I invited you to my wedding," she says, and the knot in my stomach feels like it’s turning and twisting. "You wouldn’t come?"
I grab the glass of scotch, downing the rest of it as a lump grows in my throat, and the anger starts to form and spreads from my toes all the way to the tip of my head. "Are you getting married anytime soon?" Everything in me stops while I wait for her to answer the question. For four years, I pretended I was fine. For four years, I let myself only think of her on special days, like the day we met, her birthday, and until this day, no one knows why Halloween was always my most hated holiday.
She finishes her own scotch and then places the glass down. The bartender comes over and refills the glasses. "Can I have water also?" He nods at her and then comes back with a bottle of water. "What did you ask?" She looks at me, and it takes everything I have not to reach out and tuck the strand of her hair behind her ear.
"I asked if you were getting married anytime soon," I repeat the question, and this time my hand holds the glass of scotch harder than I did before as my heartbeat fills my ears.
"Nope." She shakes her head, taking a pull of her water bottle. She dabs her lips with a napkin. "Not anytime soon, that is." She looks around the venue now.
"Haven’t met the one?" I ask her, taking another long pull of scotch.
"Thought I did." She turns from me, looking at the dance floor away from me. "Didn’t work out."
I want to ask her who the guy was. I want to ask her if I was that guy. I want to ask her everything. I want to know everything. "How did you meet Jennifer?"
"Work," I say, and she just nods. "She was watching her friend’s cat for the weekend, and the cat ate her birth control pills."
She nods, not sure what to say. "Are you dating?"
"Not at the moment," she replies, and I’m pretty sure I’m a glutton for punishment at this point.
"How long were you two dating?" She turns to look at the bar as she spins the glass of scotch in her hand.
"About a year," I say, and her head just nods. "Did you open the practice like you wanted to?"
"I did." She smiles, and it makes what I did feel just a touch better. Breaking up with her so that she could open her practice was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
"Bet your dad is happy you're home." I get up and lean against the bar. The sound of people on the dance floor clapping has me turning my head to look and see what is going on.
"Is he doing the Worm?" Harlow tilts her head toward my side to see what is going on. She is right in front of me, and I can feel her heat on my arm as she leans in. "Oh my God." She puts her hand on my arm, laughing. "He’s doing the full Worm." I look at the dance floor and see that Jake is now doing the Worm from one end of the dance floor to the other, and then he tries to go back while everyone cheers him on.
He gets up and high-fives Frankie, who takes off his jacket and looks like he’s about to get on the dance floor. "They are insane," I state, not moving because I’m afraid she’s going to let go of my arm.
I look to the side and see that Shelby is talking to a guy dressed in a black suit with a hat under his arm. She looks around the room, and when she finds me, she comes straight for me. "Okay, so your car is here.” I look at her, and Harlow’s hand falls off my arm.
My skin still tingles from where she had her hand on me. "My car?" I ask, confused.
"Did you listen to anything we spoke about at the wedding meetings?" she hisses out. "Like anything?"
"One"—I hold up my finger—"we didn’t have one."
"Well, I’m sure I mentioned it." She tries to remember and then flips her hands. "It was supposed to whisk you guys away like a glass carriage. But what now is more like a pumpkin since you were ditched on your wedding day. It’s going to take you away," Shelby says and flaps her arms like a bird. "You need to be outside in five minutes."