“What?” Zach looks from his mom to me. “No, no. You have to. I already asked Tyson, Seth, and Micah to be my groomsmen.”
“You did?” I ask. “When?”
“Like, three weeks ago.”
I raise a brow at him. “Three weeks ago? We weren’t even engaged yet.”
“Yeah, but I asked them first.”
He asked his buddies to be his groomsmen…before he asked me to get married? I’m a little shocked, and very much at a loss for words.
“I knew you’d say yes,” he says, sitting next to me. “Should I have waited until we were engaged to ask them?”
I open my mouth to sayyes, of course you should have waited, but I rethink it. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal as it feels. He probably told his friends he was proposing, and then he asked them if they’d be in the wedding.
I’m overreacting.
I sigh and give him a smile. “No, I guess it’s fine. We probably should’ve talked about it at some point, though.”
“You’re right, as always.” He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me in for a hug. “I’m sorry. But that means you need some bridesmaids, after all.”
“I guess so.”
He points a finger at me. “Not Ryan. I know some people do that whole ‘Man of Honor’ thing, but that’s a little too weird for me.”
I hadn’t thought about asking Ryan to be in the wedding, but I do agree with Zach on that front. Besides, our relationship feels rockier than ever at this point.
I was planning on inviting him to the wedding, but now the thought of him even being there is doing something weird to my chest.
Would he come?
Of course he would, right?
But why does that feel so wrong?
A knot forms in my stomach at the thought of losing my best friend. It’s pretty clear that he pulled away when I got engaged. Is that what I should have done? Pull away from him too?
Am I wrong for having a guy best friend when I’m engaged to someone else?
I turn to Zach. “You don’t mind that I’m friends with Ryan, right?”
I catch our moms exchanging a glance, but I’m interested in what Zach thinks.
He scoffs. “Please. I’m glad you have someone that you can talk to about all your work stuff. This way you don’t have to bother me.”
I nod. It is nice having Ryan at work, so I don’t have to explain to Zach when I’m stressed about Janet observing my class, or when Liam comes shoving his pass rates in my face, bragging about how well his algebra students are doing (even though I know he lets them use a note card on their exams).
But… “bother” him? That’s a weird way for Zach to put it. Was it a joke? Because it didn’t feel like one.
At least I don’t have to worry about Zach feeling uncomfortable with our relationship, though. Maybe that’s all Ryan’s been worried about—that maybe Zach wouldn’t want us to be as close now that we’re engaged.
I hear Julie’s voice rattling off more ideas about centerpieces, but all I can think about is that I need to talk to Ryan on Monday. No more hesitation. I need to clear the air and figure out what’s going on.
CHAPTER 14
Ryan
“Let’s talk about linear approximation,”I announce to my class on Monday afternoon. “What’s the point of making a linear approximation to a curve?”
