She covers her mouth as she starts hysterically laughing. “Oh my god, that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Especially when he told me he didn’t get the hype but was willing to ask for one, knowing it would be a popular item.”
“Classic. Wait until he finds out it’s you.”
“If he ever does…”
“Here, zip me up the rest of the way.” She turns, and I do up her classic long black silk gown. Then I run my fingers over her hair. “Your hair came out amazing, the hairdresser did it perfectly to suit your outfit.”
It’s waved and slicked back to look wet. Addie is going as a dark siren, a goddess of the sea.
My phone pings. “Our car is here. Are you ready?”
She puts one last swipe of lipstick on, then turns to me, holding it up, and I nod. She lines my lips first, then puts the same shade of red on me, before we head downstairs.
“Ms. Cunningham?”
“That’s me. Thank you, sir,” I respond as the driver holds the door to the Suburban open, thankful for my forward thinking in booking a larger vehicle to accommodate my dress.
Addie gets in on the other side and looks at me pointedly when the car starts moving.
“What is the game plan tonight?”
“Game plan?”
She rolls her eyes. “With Nate?”
I hunch my shoulders because I don’t have one. I’ve thought about this nonstop, and I’ve come up with nothing.
“I don’t know, Addie. I’m worried that if I tell him I’m no longer engaged, he’ll think I called it off for him.” When she sucks in a breath to speak, I continue, “I know I need to tell him. I’m going to do it tonight.”
“You need to rip off the Band-Aid, and, if I’m being honest?—”
I raise one brow. “When are you not honest?”
“Ha ha. As I was saying.” She widens her eyes. “I think subconsciously, you did do it for him.”
I knew she’d think that, because sometimes I wonder if I did too.
“He hurt me.” I state the obvious with little heat behind it.
“But you forgive him.”
I nod and swallow down my emotions about Nate’s past. It’s not my story to tell, even if I hate keeping things from Addie.
When Nate explained everything, it didn’t ease the sting that had permanently pierced my heart, but my anger diminished almost immediately. After that night, I realized how much it had affected me and how much resentment I had been holding onto; I finally had a reason to let it all go.
Instantly, I felt a heaviness that had been weighing me down lift, and the black cloud that had followed me overhead for so many years disappeared.
“I want to enjoy tonight. When the time is right, I’ll tell him.”
Suddenly, the car jostles, hitting a large pothole, and we both bounce up and down.
Addie glares at me and points to my chest as the aftershock makes my boobs jiggle lightly.
“That’s it, I’m getting a boob job. Yours threw a party over there, dancing all around, mine barely RSVP’d.”
I burst out laughing.
