PROLOGUE
Sadie
“Aaaah!” Melinda screamed and held out her hand. We all stared at the beautiful ring on her left hand and started screaming, too, in that way that only girlfriends who’ve known each other for ages do. We didn’t care that people at the other tables in the restaurant were staring at us. We hardly noticed. This was too big. Tremendous, even. We’d been waiting and hoping for this for months now, and Melinda’s dream of marrying Drake was finally a reality. We all knew it would be, but Drake had taken his sweet time officially asking her. As I looked at the size of the rock on my friend’s hand, I thought I had a clue as to why it took so long. Damn. That thing must have cost a fortune! And Drake wasn’t a doctor or lawyer or anything like that. He was an accountant, which paid well, but it still would’ve taken time to save up for that ring. A lot of time.
There were tears of happiness all around, and I was truly excited for my best friend. I looked around our tight little group of friends. I knew it was rare for a group of girls to stay close from elementary school all the way through college and beyond. That we had all decided to settle back in our hometown of Indigo Hills, Georgia, was even more unusual. I think the fact that what we had was special made us appreciate our group all the more.
There was Melinda, gorgeous with her glossy black hair and big, green eyes. We’d been in pre-K together and now we wereboth on the faculty at the high school we’d graduated from several years before. I literally couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t in my life. It was the same with brown-haired, brown-eyed Blair. She’d been a steadying influence on all of us our entire lives. She was probably the mom of our group, and she was the only one of us who was an actual mom so far. She’d married Scott, a guy she’d met in college, right after graduation and brought him back home to our little town. He’d joined a local dentist practice, and she’d stayed home after getting pregnant almost immediately following their wedding. Now they had three kids and she was pregnant again. She was the only one of us who’d always known what she wanted to do, and that was to be a stay-at-home mom. And she was great at it.
Then there was perky, pretty Carrie. With her short stature, blonde ringlets, and brown eyes, she could easily still pass for being in college. Her husband, Thatcher, was from a rich family in Atlanta. On first meeting him, he’d seemed kind of like a douche. He had that preppy, blond-haired, blue-eyed all-American look that screamed privilege. But he was actually a really nice guy. He commuted back and forth to Atlanta from their mansion in the nicest neighborhood in Indigo Hills. It wasn’t that far. He helped run the family business—something in finance—while Carrie stayed home and started working on committees and chairing events like her mom always had.
Carrie and I had cheered together from pee wee football all the way through college. Well… part of college. The part before everything fell to pieces for me. For years after that awful time, I’d worked hard to appear thrilled with my life. But on the inside, I’d still hurt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I didn’t feel that way anymore, but I didn’t like to be reminded of that time, either.
Now that Melinda was getting married, I’d be the last of us to be single. But that was fine with me. After what had happened,trusting a man was one of the hardest things for me to do. I’d dated, sure, but tended to bail after a few dates. I always found an excuse to walk away before things got serious. It drove my friends crazy, even though they understood why I did it.
I was lost in thought, so it took a moment for me to realize that Melinda was talking to me. Blair and Carrie were staring at me, so I assumed she’d said something to me more than once.
“What? I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Shocker,” Carrie teased gently. She knew my mind had a tendency to wander.
Melinda’s eyes looked worried, and I was confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, really, it’s just… well, I want you to be my maid of honor.” She looked apprehensive, like I was going to say no or something.
I leaned over and gave her a big hug. “Of course! I’d be so honored.” I didn’t understand why she was acting strange about it. I’d always assumed I’d be her maid of honor. If I ever got married, she’d definitely be mine.
She studied my face. “There’s just one other thing, Sadie.” She looked around the table as if trying to pull moral support from Carrie and Blair, who obviously already knew what was going on.
I frowned. “Just tell me, already. What’s wrong?”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath, and then blurted, “Drake wants to ask Harrison to be his best man.”
Harrison.
Just hearing his name was a punch to the stomach. It shouldn’t have been. I should have seen it coming a mile away. But I hadn’t. For a moment, it felt as if I couldn’t breathe.
“I told Drake that if it made you at all uncomfortable, Harrison couldn’t be in our wedding party.” Melinda’s eyes were bright with concern.
I tried to answer, but my breath hitched. Why hadn’t I thought of this? All those days and nights Melinda and I talked about her and Drake, the wedding inevitable, why hadn’t I realized Drake would want Harrison in the wedding party?
For a moment, all the old feelings came crashing in—the disbelief, the grief, the anger, the humiliation. He’d broken me and turned my ability to trust inside out.
I forced myself to get it together. I pasted a smile on my face. I acted like it wasn’t a big deal, that the thought of having to be around him wasn’t killing me on the inside. This was Melinda and Drake’s wedding, and I wouldn’t ruin it or make it about me.
“Honestly? It’s been so long now that I barely even think of him. All the drama is a distant memory,” I lied. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” I lifted the heavy glass in front of me and took a gulp of ice water, trying to steady my nerves.
“I know, it’s just we all remember how rough things were…”
“That was years ago. What were we… nineteen? I mean, I’m twenty-seven for goodness sakes. I’ve moved on,” I insisted firmly. Sometimes I thought if I said it enough, it would make it true. I glanced around the table, and the looks on my friends’ faces told me they didn’t believe me.
“Have you? Really?” Carrie asked in a whisper.
I gave them a dramatic eye roll and forced a laugh. “Are you kidding? Of course I have! I realize it was bad there for a while, but I’ve been over him for years.”
Their eyes were skeptical, and I didn’t blame them. We’d known each other too long not to pick up on how each other was really feeling. But I wasn’t about to sit here and answer probing questions about the state of my love life… which was abysmal. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Melinda and Drake change their wedding because of me.
God. Besides not being fair to them, it would probably just stroke Harrison’s ego. He’d feel like a big man knowing that I was still so torn up over him that I couldn’t even handle going through a wedding with him. I’d never give him the satisfaction of thinking I ever even thought of him, much less that I wasn’t over him.
