“Maybe.” I blew my nose into the paper towel she handed me. “I don’t think he can ever love me like he loved his wife.”
Autumn’s eyebrows lifted. “Whoa. Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know,” I wailed. Maybe I did know. It had been the pain I’d seen in his eyes when he’d talked about her. “I’m such a hot mess.”
“Tell me this. If he asked you not to go, what would you do?”
“He’s not going to ask that, so it doesn’t matter.” Would I stay, though? Maybe. Probably.
“If he does, you need to ask yourself one thing. If you gave up your dream…because it was that along with your promise to Natalie, right?”
“That’s true. Wanting to travel the world has always been more than just my promise.” I glared at her. “You were supposed to go with me in her place.”
“And I would have if I hadn’t met Brian. He’s my soul mate, Jenn. Choosing him was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” She took my hands in hers. “Can you honestly say that if Dylan did ask you to stay, that you’d never resent him for it someday?”
Tears pooled in my eyes again. “I don’t know. What if he’s my soul mate but I’m not his?”
“Only one way to find out. Talk to him, tell him how you feel.”
“I’ll think about it.” I probably wouldn’t, though. The thought of Dylan never loving me like he had his wife was a brick wall I couldn’t tear down. And did I even want to try? “Do you think you only have one soul mate in life?”
“No, but I do think you love each one differently.”
I laughed through my tears. “That makes absolutely no sense.” I poked holes in the last half of my cheesecake. “We were just going to be a fling, you know? I’m not supposed to be sitting here talking about soul mates and crying over the thought of leaving him.”
Autumn put her hand on my wrist, holding it still. “Stop killing your cake. You can’t leave until after my wedding, so spend the time between now and then with him, see how it goes. Nothing says you have to step on that plane when it takes off.”
I smiled at my friend through watery tears. “I love you, you know.”
“I know. Let’s see if we can run down Savannah. Then I need to head home and get ready for my first appointment in the morning. A couple retiring here from New York bought the Miller house and want a complete redo. I hope Brian can love a bald woman because I have a feeling I’m going to pull all my hair out before I’m done with them.”
“You’ll be brilliant as always, and she’ll be thrilled with it when you’re finished.”
Autumn laughed. “I love your faith in me. Call Savannah.”
I picked up my phone, putting it on speaker.
“’Lo,” a sleepy voice said.
Autumn and I exchanged glances. It was midafternoon. Savannah had never been one to take naps. “Hey, Savannah.”
“Jenn! Is Autumn with you?”
“I’m here,” Autumn said. “Sounds like we woke you.”
There was silence, and we heard the rustle of bedsheets and a man’s voice. “Oops,” I whispered to Autumn.
“Hold on a sec.” A few moments later we could hear a door close. “Hey, you two. This is a great surprise.”
Yet it didn’t sound like she was all that happy to hear from us. When she’d first arrived in New York and we would call her, she would scream when we called, and would excitedly tell us everything going on in her life. Now we couldn’t get any details out of her when we called.
“How’s the wedding planning going, Autumn?”
“Everything’s pretty much done. We can’t wait to see you. It’ll be like old times, the three of us together again.”
“About that—”
“No!” Autumn and I both yelled together.
