JULIAGetaway Car
After being blown out, airbrushed, and Spanxed into my fitted lace wedding gown, even I had to admit that I looked amazing. I didn’t really look likemeper se. But the woman in front of the mirror looked like she belonged on Hayes’s arm.
Last night, at our rehearsal dinner, I had been that woman. I had laughed at our friends’ toasts, cried at my father’s, and sobbed as Hayes made a speech in my honor so beautiful that I felt as though he didn’t even need to say his wedding vows. I knew he loved me. I was sure of it. And wasn’t that what really mattered?
Now, Sarah, in her maid of honor dress, caught my eye in the mirror. “You look too good in that,” I said. “You aren’t letting me shine.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are practically the cover ofMarie Claire Weddings.”
I bit my lip.
“What?” she whispered.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
She held up her phone again and, for what had to have been the fiftieth time, we played that grainy video. I’d watched it so many times I could now pinpoint the exact moment Hayes would lean down to the girl he was dancing with—a girl who wasn’t me—and start making out with her like she was his last meal.Oh my God, I thought.Shewashis last meal.
I started to feel nauseous, the horror of the day before washing over me again. In the mauve and green back room of the church I whispered to Sarah, “Am I an idiot? Do you think he’s lying to me?”
Sarah sighed. “You know, Jules, it’s hard for me because I’ve known Hayes almost as long as I’ve known you. I can’t even imagine a world where you two aren’t together.” She paused. “When you used to walk into parties holding hands, it was like time stopped. The way he would skip class to get you peanut butter M&M’s…”
I smiled and bit my lip. “And remember when he had flowers delivered to AP Bio?”
Sarah smiled. “Oh, I remember. Everyone remembers. He worshipped you, Jules, even then.”
Before I could say anything else, Aunt Alice, in a breathtaking navy gown, burst through the door with Mom and Babs on her heels. “All right!” Aunt Alice trilled. Evidently, the MOB, GOB, and AOB hair and makeup portion of the day was over. I had, in the interest of pretending to be a low-maintenance bride, told my bridesmaids not to come to the church until an hour before the ceremony. But really, I just couldn’t face my friends after yesterday. I knew they were all talking about this, debating whether I was making a mistake. And I knew it came from a good place. Mostly. But I couldn’t handle it.
“It’s time for the first look!” Alice said excitedly.
With their pinned-on fake smiles and particularly high-pitched voices this morning, the effort Alice and Babs were putting into pretending they weren’t horrified I was still going through with this was truly heroic.
“It’s happening!” Mom said, clutching her hands over her heart.
She wasn’t pretending. This was definitely the best day of her life. She loved Hayes.Lovedhim.
“Do you believe him?” I had asked my mother the day before. Despite the cool mountain air and her sleeveless silk sheath, she had looked uncomfortably close to sweating.
That was when I realized how desperatelyIwanted to believe him.
“One hundred percent,” Mom had said so firmly I was almost convinced. “There isn’t a woman in the world who wouldn’t kill for a man who loved her like Hayes loves you.”
Those words rang in my head now as I was about to make what was either the best or worst decision of my life.
Mom always took Hayes’s side. She loved him. Who didn’t? He was gorgeous and cool; he was brilliant. He smelled like Irish Spring and Old Spice and had rows of straight white teeth. He had a great job, impeccable manners, and while his choice in friends left a little to be desired, we could not keep away from each other. We had a sort of electric spark that, even after all these years, made it impossible to walk away. We had tried.
I turned to Alice, who was shifting anxiously from one foot to the other, the photographer by her side. “Could you give me just a second alone with Hayes before the pictures?” I asked.
Alice and the photographer looked puzzled. “But that’s kind ofthe point,” the photographer said. “I’m supposed to capture the first moment you see each other.”
I smiled sweetly. “We can reenact it.”
“But then…” Alice said.
“It’s all right. If Julia wants to see her fiancé alone, she should be allowed to do so,” Babs said, stepping beside the photographer. “It’sherwedding day,” she added tersely.
The photographer looked lost, and Alice took a deep breath. I was certain she was counting backward from ten in her head.
I hadn’t been sure about a first look, but Hayes had insisted. He didn’t want to be too emotional when he saw me walk down the aisle. I had agreed under one condition: I would wear the dress, but I wouldn’t wear my veil. That was the part that carried all the good luck anyway.
