Junie gripped my shoulders and leaned down so we were eye to eye. “What would you tell me if I was in your position?”
The answer came easily. I’d tell Junie it wasn’t toolate. I would tell her she didn’t have to go through with it, and I’d have her back. I’d tell her to leave now, and I’d take care of it.
More hot tears flooded my eyes. “I can’t cancel. It’s too late.”
“Do you love Boyd?” Autumn asked.
I licked my lips, the saltiness of my tears stinging my tongue. “Yeah?”
Wynter exchanged aknew itlook with the other two. “If he loves you, he’ll understand.”
“It’s not a question you have to answer right now either,” Autumn said. My three sisters once again surrounded me like a tripod. “I think you have to tell him to call this off, that you’re not ready, and then later, you figure out if you love him and whether you want to stay with him.”
Tell Boyd the wedding was off. A tremor passed through me. He’d be so upset. I’d be on the end of that coldness he developed when he was angry. “It’s just so rushed.”
I didn’t specify what was rushed, but they all nodded, their expressions solemn.
“Want me to get him?” Junie asked.
I shook my head and carefully took the veil off. Autumn snagged it from my hands like she was afraid I’d put it back on and forge ahead. She hung the beautiful headpiece up across the room, far out of my reach.
I’d made the first, tiny step. I could take another. Then another. I wouldn’t face him in this room, the one that had my veil hanging on a garment stand or my luggage for the Bali honeymoon he wanted to take.
“I’ll have him meet me by the back exit, by the storage room.” The door was closest to the parking lot,but the main entrance was around the corner and would be the one all the guests entered. “Don’t tell the guys yet, okay?”
The last thing I needed was my pushy brothers starting a scene with Boyd and his uptight mom and his dad, who was probably half wasted already.
I rose and my elegant white satin gown draped into perfect place. The lace around my neck and over my chest and arms itched like crazy. I had wanted a simple gown, like what Wynter had worn, but I’d copied her already by fast-tracking a wedding mere months after she’d gotten married.
I was the oldest. I was supposed to lead by example, but my baby sister had found love and settled down. She was expecting her first kid. That was supposed to be me.
Today wasn’t the day to be competitive. I shouldn’t have let Boyd carry me away and hurry a life event I’d been dreaming about since I was a little girl.
My skirts billowed around my legs as I walked to the far door that connected to a different room that my sisters had used to change in. I kept my slippers on, leaving my heels by the veil. I stopped in the hallway and messaged Boyd.
I need to talk to you. Meet me by the exit at the south corner of the church where the big storage room is.
He’d know. His groomsmen had bitched all night about hiding all the church decorations per Corinne’s request so they didn’t contaminate photos.
Someone would have to put them all back and I doubted it’d be Boyd’s friends. My brothers would. In a heartbeat.
I put my phone in a hidden pocket deep in my skirts.My heart rate calmed, having something that was mine, that I’d picked out, on my person. As I ventured into the empty hallway, I liked that my family could reach me. I wasn’t forging ahead alone.
Tate had called me three times in the last month. He rarely called. Since I’d announced the impending nuptials, Teller and Tenor had both made more stops at the family’s distillery in Bozeman to see me.
So, yeah. My family would have my back. Boyd would understand, and if he loved me, he’d want me to be happy. He’d feel bad for pressuring me.
I scurried to the meeting spot, only the sound of my dress rustling to accompany me. Boyd didn’t reply. I waited, shifting my weight from foot to foot, my nerves making me fidgety the longer I stood there. I didn’t look down. I didn’t want to see the silverBRIDEstitched across the tops of my slippers.
Soft piano music filtered down the hall from the chapel. The entrance was down another hallway. My sisters and I had been put in the room the farthest away. The church was large and already filled with murmurs. How many people were in attendance?
Mama would be greeting everyone who arrived. Mrs. Harrington had insisted Mama stay with me, like Mama was too unrefined to greet any of Boyd’s side. My mama might seem meek and subservient, but she did what she damn well pleased. I should’ve taken notes.
“What’s going on?” Boyd’s commanding tone cut through the quiet.
I spun, a gasp escaping my lips. Had he been in the chapel greeting folks? Or was the plan to keep me and my family locked up until it was time to perform?
The clarity I was experiencing today should’vehappened much sooner, but at least it hadn’t waited longer. “I’m—uh...” Turned out, canceling a wedding was hard to announce to the groom.
