But now—now, I’m so conflicted that smiling hurts.
“What iswrongwith you?” Sabrina whispers to me while Claire helps Emma pick out aromatherapy scents for her treatments in the spa lobby.
“Do you really think Chandler’s good for Emma?” I whisper back.
Her eye twitches.
My heart sinks. “That’s not a yes.”
“It’s not fair to make Emma suffer because her beloved is on my shit list.”
“If you’d tell mewhy—”
“Do you know what this week is missing?” she interrupts. “It’s missing the kind of guys you hook up with for hot one-night stands.”
I sigh at the obvious attempt at changing the subject. “Please tell me this wedding is a good idea.”
She nods to Emma. “Tell me it’s a bad idea. Look at her and tell me it’s a bad idea.”
I look.
I do.
I look at one of my best friends in the entire world, andI don’t know.
She’s smiling. But are those stress lines around her eyes or is it my imagination because I’m having doubts on Emma’s behalf?
“Did you know that time Theo went to jail over the Snaggletooth statue, it was Chandler’s fault?” I whisper.
Sabrina purses her lips together.
“Does Emma know?” I press.
She presses her lips tighter, making them go white at the edges.
“She doesn’t know?”
“Laney, Em’s been livingfor better or for worse, in good times and badwith Chandler foryears. I know she says they don’t keep secrets, but I don’t know if she knows. If she does, I’m the last person she’d tell.”
I draw back. “I thought we were all best friends.”
“We are. But she hasneverput herself in a position to find out if I know the worst things Chandler’s ever done. I know she knows he cheated on every math test in high school. I know she knows he’s the one who stole the stuffed mink from her dad’s workshop not long after they started dating again after college. And I know she knows he’s the one who trashed Bean & Nugget after Grandma died.”
I gasp.
I gasp loudly enough that Em and Claire both look at us.
“Oh my god, whale penises arenotthat many times bigger than your dog,” I spit out.
Sabrina briefly squeezes her eyes shut but then beams brightly at me. “Surprise!”
Em and Claire giggle and go back to the aromatherapy.
I lower my voice and lean closer to Sabrina again. “I didn’t know that was him.”
“You didn’t need to. She was upset enough that I knew and made me swear I’d never tell a soul because he was sorry and he was never, ever,evergoing to doanythinglike that again. He swore it to me too. It wasn’t just her sticking up for him. And that’s the only time I’ve really thought he hated the café, and Em was just upset because it was…well, it was something Theo would do, and much as she loves him, she doesn’t want tomarryhim, you know?”
“That’s when they almost broke up three years ago,” I whisper.
