“Wait until it’s time to test the food.” I smile at them both, this whole time avoiding looking at him.
“I’ll work on this tomorrow,” I state, instead of saying tonight, because how would that look, that I’m home alone at night? It screams I’m single. “Then send it over to you. If you have any questions, you can call me at any time. If you get home and discuss some of the answers you gave and would like to change something, it’s not too late to change anything.”
“This is going to be amazing,” Helena says, looking at Matthew, who nods at her. The smile he gives her is as fake as fake can be. I can see the tightness in his shoulders. “It’s going to be the best day of our lives.”
I’m waiting for Matthew to say something, but he doesn’t say anything, instead he gets up out of his seat. Helena follows him as she gets up, the smile never leaving her face. She holds out her hand for Matthew and he obliges when he slides his hand in hers, and a lump forms in my throat. I know what it feels like to be held by those hands, something I wish I didn’t remember.
I follow them out, my eyes going straight to Matthew’s ass. I shake my head and look down before Helena sees me checking out her fiancé. Once we go around the corner and into the waiting area, Helena stops and looks over at me. “Thank you so much, Sofia,” she says, holding out her hand to me. She holds my hand in both of hers. “I’m so happy we decided to go with you.” I make the mistake of looking over to Matthew to see what his face says to this statement, but he avoids looking at me.
“Thank you for putting your trust in me,” I tell her and then look over at Matthew. “I promise to make your wedding amazing,” I assure him, looking into his eyes as I stick out my hand, secretly calling him an asshole and a dickhead. He squeezes my hand a little bit more than he did before. I do the same thing, and when he drops my hand, I can still feel the heat from his.
He turns to look at Helena and puts his hand on her lower back to usher her out of the room. When the door closes behind them, I do what any average, sane person planning the wedding of their first love does. I walk back to my office and open the closet door, grabbing the half-empty bottle of sweet tea.
Kicking off my shoes as I walk over to my desk, I hear footsteps coming closer to my office. I look over to see the three of them walk in, just looking at me. Only after I sit down and take a shot of the sweet tea does Shelby start, “How are you feeling?”
I wait for the burning to subside from the sweet tea, as it burns all the way down to my stomach, and I have to wonder if it’s the tea or the nerves at this point. I exhale a deep breath. “Like a concrete truck just ran me over.” It’s the most accurate description of how I was feeling during the whole meeting. I avoided looking at him and my stubbornness just told me that it’s just another client.
“But was the concrete truck full?” Clarabella asks, and Presley just shakes her head.
“What difference does that make?” Presley asks, trying not to laugh.
“It makes all the difference in the world. With the concrete it would be fifty times heavier, if not more,” Clarabella explains, and I just laugh.
“I think she’s in shock,” Presley suggests, and I just shake my head.
“I don’t know if I’m in shock per se,” I admit to them, putting the cap back on the sweet tea. “But I do know that this might have been one of the hardest days I’ve had in my life.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” Clarabella advises.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Shelby screeches, throwing her hands up in the air.
“I’m not going to lie to her,” she says, rolling her eyes. “What good would that do?”
“I don’t know about you,” I say, getting up and walking back over to put the sweet tea back where I took it from, “but I’m going home for the day.” I slip my shoes back on.
“You should go home and get drunk,” Clarabella urges and both Presley and Shelby hit her arm. “What? It’s what I would do.”
“This from the woman who slept with not her husband on her wedding night,” Shelby says, laughing.
“I wasn’t the only one.” She points at her and Shelby gasps.
“I slept with Ace two days later,” she defends herself, “two days is huge.”
“If you say so,” Clarabella says as they turn to walk out of the room. “Let me know if you need me.”