“Oh, god.Between you and Sarah, I swear.”Sarah was Audrey’s sister-in-law-to-be.“I don’t want this wedding to be a big deal.It’s not like I haven’t been married before.”
“Yeah, but at least this time, it’s to the right guy.”
Her smile suddenly got a dreamy quality to it, the way it always did when Jackson was mentioned.“That’s true.”
“Ok.If you’re sick of wedding talk, can we at least start planning your bachelorette?I already know exactly which stripper to get.”
She turned serious.“Tiff.”
“What?It’s a perfectly respectable job, Auds.And Marcus can move.His hips are downright dangerous.”
“I’m not having your ex-lover strip at my bachelorette.”
“You know we’re cool.He’s got a boyfriend now anyway.Or an on-off thing from what he tells me.”
“Still.No exes.”
“Fine.But if we try to avoid all the people I’ve slept with, that isn’t going to leave us with many options.”
“I was thinking of something a little less,” she searched for the word, “raunchy.And a little more relaxed.”
“Ix-nay on the dick straws, then.”
“That was never in question.Also, why do I get the feeling you have those lying around?”
“They’re in case of emergencies.”
The couch practically shook with the force of Audrey’s laughter, and a little of her drink spilled onto the coffee table as she struggled to put her glass down.
I grabbed a Kleenex and cleaned up, then topped up our drinks.“So, something relaxed, ok.I can work with that.Drinks are a must, though.”
“As if I’d want anything else.But I don’t want you working all night.As my maid of honor, I want you to enjoy yourself.”
Taking in her bright, happy demeanor, I couldn’t help but reflect on the shift in her from this time last year.So much had changed for her since meeting Jackson, and here we were talking about her wedding.After her divorce, I hadn’t expected her to want to take that leap again, and certainly not so soon, but I was so glad she had.
And what had really changed for me in that same time?
Barely anything.Would I still be here in another year, life unchanged, while the world revolved around me?
And why did it bother me in a way it never had before?
