He just stares at me, dumfounded.
Men.
I’m not jealous about the fact that Austin is still with her, or that they’reactuallygetting married and having a baby together.
I’ve moved on.
But does she really not know?
Can I let this girl marry a man who was lying to her and cheating on her, too? Who proposed to her with the same ring he proposed to me with while they were together?
Does girl code even exist in these types of situations?
Fuck,I don’t even know.
"Sorry, I just need to step away for a moment." I’m as polite as I can be, squeezing Harley’s hand as he calmly takes over, going through our gallery and menu with our new potential bride, while I power walk toward Jenna, who’s staring at me with a look of horror on her face.
"Is that who I think it is?" she asks, her mouth making the perfect 'o'shape, and I nod.
Jenna wasn’t there for the end of Megan’s wedding, so she didn’t get to see what Alison looked like, but a little social media stalking can go a long way, and Jennifer Rogers is like the damn FBI.
"What the fuck do I do?" I hiss through a clenched jaw, trying to not draw attention as my hands anxiously move from my sides, across my chest, to my back pockets until Jenna holds them still.
"Are they engaged?" she whispers back.
Nodding, I say, "She’s wearing my old ring, too." I shrug and Jenna barks out a laugh so loud I swear the entire expo can hear her. I feel terrible for Alison. He couldn’t even buy her a new ring, but I guess that’s partly my fault.
"What do I do?" I ask again, agitated, because I genuinely don’t know if I should be a good person and save this girl from any future heartache and embarrassment, or do I let her suffer like I did, hoping she figures it out on her own?
"You tell her," she urges me. I know she’s right. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to break that sort of news to someone.
"How am I supposed to tell her that herpersonisn’t who she thinks he is?" I sigh, picturing how this is going to go. "Oh myGod,what if I stress her out and she goes into early labor?" Now I’m completely terrified at the thought of potentially being the reason that this woman has her baby prematurely.
"Cassandra Herring. Take a deep breath." Jenna lets go of my hands and snaps her fingers in my face before giving me a play-by-play on how this is going to go.
"You are going to ask to take her for a coffee, and you are going to tell her the truth. Because you would rather her find out before they get married and before the baby is born. She’s already going to be stuck with him forever because that poor, innocent baby has that man for a father, but she doesn’t have to be tied to him through marriage on top of it."
Ah, Jenna, the wise one.
I heard her clearly, but my mind is constantly repeating, 'please don’t go into labor, please don’t go into labor'.
"Who knows? Maybe she knew about you all along and being the other woman is like…a kink of hers, or something." She wiggles her brows, lightening the mood, and I tap the back of my palm against her chest to get her to stop joking around.
"Okay. I can do this," I tell myself, straightening my back, puffing air into my cheeks.
"Atta girl. Go get ‘em, tiger," my best friend says, slapping me on my ass and sending me on my way.
"Sorry about that." My voice shakes as I hide my hands in my pockets to disguise that they’re doing the same.
I’m about to potentially ruin this girl’s life, and she doesn’t deserve it.
"Alison, I was hoping you were free right now for a coffee?" Her red, curly hair bounces as she turns her attention to me, blue eyes wide, like she misheard what I’d said.
"Uh, sure." She nods reluctantly, looking back at Harley for some sort of reassurance, but his expression is blank. His emerald eyes are less enthusiastic than they were. "It’ll need to be decaf, though. I’ve hit my caffeine limit for today," she jokes, easing the tension, and I squeeze Harley’s hand discreetly, letting him know that everything will be fine.
"I won’t be too long. Call me if you need me," I whisper in his ear, planting a soft kiss on his cheek before walking away, with Alison right by my side.
thirty-one
