“How did you?—”
“Is always man problems.” She digs her thumbs into a particularly stubborn knot near my shoulder blade, making me wince. “You love him?”
“Yes,” I admit. “I think I do.”
“Then tell him.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Is always complicated.” She moves to my other shoulder, giving me a brief reprieve before starting in again. “But life is short. You tell him. He loves you too, probably. Men are stupid but not blind.”
I want to laugh. Or cry. Or both.
When she finally finishes—patting my shoulder in what I think is meant to be an encouraging way but feels more like a warning—I’m ushered into another room for the facial. This one smells like cucumber and roses, the air humid from the facial steamers. Maya’s already there, lying on a table with her face covered in what looks like green mud, cucumber slices over her eyes.
Maya lifts one of the slices and peeks out as I settle onto my own table beside her. An aesthetician, who introduces herself as Amber, starts cleansing my face, applying some kind of exfoliating scrub with her fingers. I close my eyes, trying very hard to focus on relaxing, keeping my mind from wandering back to?—
“So,” Maya says from her table, “I didn’t tell Mom, but you and Brody…in the same room?”
“He slept on the couch, so don’t go crazy.”
“Well, for the record, I’m happy for you, Chloe. You deserve someone who chooses you. Who makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the room.” She’s quiet for a moment. “That’s how Derek makes me feel. And I think Brody does that for you.”
Brody doesn’t just make me feel like the most important person in the room. He makes me feel like the only person in the room.
Amber wipes off the exfoliating scrub and starts applying a mask that smells like honey and lavender.
“Can I tell you something?” Maya asks.
“Of course.”
“When Derek proposed, I was terrified. Not of marrying him—I wanted that. But of the wedding.” She laughs softly. “Sometimes I feel like Mom and Dad…and just about everyone else, put me up on this pedestal. Expect me to be picture perfect.” She pauses, letting out a breath. “It’s a lot sometimes. And I was so nervous about the wedding. I just wanted it to be…different. Not something for anyone else, but something for Derek and me.” She reaches out, her fingertips brushing my wrist. “I couldn’t have pulled any of this off without you. Everything you’ve done, from the bridal-cation to the meet-and-greet party to the couples shower, you somehow managed to make them truly about us. About our story. It means so much to me.”
My chest tightens.
“You’re really good at what you do, Chloe. I know I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you. Of your business. Of how hard you’ve worked.”
I’m going to cry. Right here. With a honey-lavender mask on my face and cucumber slices I haven’t even gotten yet.
“Thank you,” I manage. Barely.
“I mean it. You’re talented. And you’re brave. And you deserve all the good things.” She pauses. “Including Brody.”
“Oh, this is wonderful,” someone says, though I know the voice instantly. Our mom appears, settling into the chair next to me with a contented sigh. Like us, she’s got on a plush white robe, her hair wrapped in a towel. But unlike me, she looks like she’s actually gotten some relaxation in. “It’s so nice to see my girls together, getting pampered before the big day.”
My girls. She said my girls. Plural. Including me.
Something in my chest loosens.
She reaches over and squeezes my hand. Smiles, warm and genuine. “Everything is perfect, by the way. All the events you planned were beautiful. You really outdid yourself. I think you’ve finally found your calling.”
And there it goes again. Whatever just loosened tightens right back up. A few months ago, I would have given anything to hear her say that. But now…there’s a scared dragon and a blind princess calling too…
She squeezes my hand again. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart. Really proud.”
Thank goodness for the cucumbers Amber presses to my eyelids, because I was about to be known as that one guest who cried during her facial.
The rest of the afternoon passes in a blur of beauty treatments and girl talk. We get our nails done—I choose a soft pink that makes my hands look elegant. We sit in the relaxation room afterward, sipping cucumber water and eating those fancy tiny sandwiches you only see in movies. The bridesmaids show up too, chattering about the wedding and their dresses and their dates.
