“So, anyway, he brushed my hair away from my face and gave me this whole speech. Started with ‘You’re my whole world, April. Ever since you came into my life, everything’s been brighter.’”
She takes another sip of wine. “Funny thing is, I can’t remember a single thing he said after that. My heart was racing so fast. As soon as he started talking, my stomach dropped.”
Tears prick my eyes, and I take a deep breath to stifle them.
April is undeniably the soft one of our group. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and that’s what makes her so beautiful.She loves love. Her parents passed when she was only twenty-two, and she went through hell with Lucas. To see her finally get her fairy tale, to find someone who cherishes both her and her turd-slinging cat—it makes even my cynical heart swell with emotion.
Anna chuckles. “Same thing happened to me. I remember where Mason and I were. He got down on one knee and everything, but I couldn’t tell you anything he said to me.” Her voice goes quiet, distant, like she’s recalling a different time in her life. She reaches across the bench to top off her glass, avoiding our eyes.
April glances at me with a flicker of worry.
I give a tiny shake of my head—not now—before pulling her into a tight hug.
“I’m so happy for you, sweetheart,” I whisper, rubbing my hand over her back in a soothing circle.
“Thank you, Gem,” she says, her voice choked.
I can’t imagine how she must feel. Last time she was engaged, Lucas destroyed her. She was completely broken after that, a shell of the woman she was before. God, I remember holding her while she cried, watching her try to piece herself back together.
Seeing her like this, happy and trusting and completely in love again… it means everything.
“Right. Well”—Anna perks up, a twinkle in her eye—“I think this calls for something more celebratory than red.”
“I wholeheartedly agree,” I say.
We settle onto Anna’s sofas with our celebration spread—a platter of assorted cheeses, dried fruit, quince paste, and crackers—and sip on bubbly.
“So,” April says, fiddling with the stem of her glass, “I know this is mental, but we wanted to get married in two months. James’s manager knows someone who works at the botanical gardens, and they managed to get us a spot aftera last-minute cancellation. With James touring for the new album next year, it was either now or wait eighteen months.”
Anna’s eyebrows shoot up. “April getting married in April. Adorable. But thatisfast. Can you even plan a wedding in two months?”
“Well, with my two bridesmaids by my side, I think we can pull it off.”
Anna fake gags.
I set my flute gently on the coffee table, pressing a hand to my heart with exaggerated emotion. “Are we your bridesmaids?”
“Of course we are, you boob. She doesn’t have any other female friends,” Anna deadpans.
April chokes on her champagne, spraying it all over my lap.
“Hey! My shirt’s already ruined. Don’t take my skirt down with it.”
We burst into laughter.
The rest of the evening is spent mapping out weekends for dress shopping, cake testing, and other tidbits.
“Oh,” April says. “Since Max will be around, tell him to come. He was always like a big brother growing up—I’d love to have him there.”
April and Anna have been friends since the age of five, so they have a long history together. I became the third musketeer thirteen years ago after meeting April in the romance section of our local bookstore. She introduced me to Anna, and the three of us have been inseparable since.
Anna shrugs. “Sure.”
For Christ’s sake, I can’t escape this man. He’s like a venereal disease passing from person to bloody person.
Ping.
My phone chimes with a message. I pull it from my pocket—Henry.
