Page 3 of The Longest Wait

“You all look like you might vomit.” Jack grinned. “But Ipromise, one day you’ll meet the right person and it will click.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen to me.” Dominic was disgusted.“If there was one thing I try to avoid, it is a relationship. Wait, letme revise that: I avoid relationships and babies. That combinationis what nightmares are made of.”

“I agree,” Alex chimed in. If he wasn’t sold on dating, there wasno way he was opting in for a kid.

Not that he didn’t believe in marriage. His parents were happily married for over forty years. His brother was obsessed with hiswife, and they have been married for over ten years. And now, Lucywas about to join the club of marital bliss. The problem was thathe thought, many years ago, maybe he had met the right person.He met a woman who made him want more.

It didn’t take long for that to blow up in his face.

Conversation turned to when Jack’s best man, Cole, wouldarrive at the wedding. Jack laughed about his friend being fiveminutes away because in typical Cole fashion, he was late for everything. They even told him the wedding was an hour earlier so hewould be on time.

Weddings, Alex shuddered at the thought.

Love was a joke. For him, it was casual all the way.

SOFIA KNOCKED BACK a shot of tequila. Obviously. Shewas in Hawaii on a beach vacation surrounded by palm trees andsurfboards. Tequila sounded like the appropriate drink. Alright,she wasn’t in Mexico, but she was at a bar on the beach, so thatcounted. While some people loved Mai Tais, for Sofia, she neededsomething a bit stronger. Tequila was required.

She was not only on vacation, but she was in the Hawaiiantropics celebrating. One of her best friends just got married to aman who deserved her and now it was time to shake her tailfeatherat the reception. It made her smile that her friend Lucy, was married on the beach, to the man they once referenced as a walkingorgasm. Guess that was enough for Lucy to lock it up. Not thatSofia believed in commitment, but what Lucy and Jack shared didlook pretty great.

They gave her a reason to believe in love.

Not for herself of course, she knew better, but they showed her,for some people, love did last. For some people, believing in forevermade sense. Lucy and Jack shined with happiness they found ineach other. Like Tess Prescott, her other best friend, who was soin love with the idea of love, she planned weddings for a living.

Seriously.

She was a fairytale-acholic and probably fell asleep listening tothe “Wedding March.” It was enough to make Sofia gag when Tesswent all starry-eyed over anything romantic. Sofia and her two bestfriends met in college freshman year and have been inseparable eversince. It shouldn’t surprise Sofia anymore, but somehow, Tess hadn’tbeen jaded yet. She dove into each date she ever went on like theman might be her soulmate.

She wasn’t bitter none of the dates were her Prince Charming.It was all about the fantasy of finding a true love that kept Tesslooking for the one.

Sofia took another shot, not at dating, but of tequila.

She made a promise to herself this would be the last one.Any more and she was bound to have a bad night, followed by aworse morning. Lately, hangovers were a three-day affair which wasnever worth it. Sure, she could be lazy on a Sunday, but to havethe hangover roll into Monday and Tuesday… No bottle of winewas worth it. Besides, she was celebrating, not mourning. Jackwas perfect for Lucy. Sofia even participated in the scheme to getthem back together after their ridiculous breakup, so she wasn’topposed to him joining their circle of friends. He even brought histwo friends, Connor and Dominic, to the table, so no complaintsthere. They all got along fabulously.

No. Jack wasn’t the problem.

She debated taking another shot, but if she couldn’t keep apromise to herself, then who could she keep a promise to? Thisday was about Lucy, not Sofia trying to ignore the biggest mistakeof her life. Sofia embraced her dramatics and thought her performance of being nice to everyone at the wedding deserved her anOscar nod. In fact, she has been handling her mistake for years, itwas about time she got some credit for it.

The ceremony ended twenty minutes ago, and the newlymarried couple giggled and told everyone they had to take morepictures. Odd, since the photographer didn’t follow them, but noone said a word. Especially when everyone saw them head towardthe honeymoon suite. Those two had no shame in their game.

Sofia figured they went to consummate the marriage and havesome fun in the privacy of their own room. If someone voluntarilydecided to only have sex with one person the rest of their life, it hadthe be worth it. Not that she thought anyone was worth spendingthe rest of her life with, but she was happy Lucy found someoneshe loved.

She leaned toward the bartender, and much to her dismay,ordered a water. A promise was a promise.

While she sipped on her drink, Tess joined her at the bar.

“Can you even believe this all started because she didn’t wantan Easy Bake Oven?” Tess laughed at their shared memory.

It was a great one to make them smile. At the beginning of itall, Lucy met Jack because Sofia kept badgering her about needingmore fun in her life. Sofia’s advice for Lucy was to put herself outthere and have a one-night stand because the woman was pulled ina million different directions at a stressful job. Lucy was in a direneed of a distraction. Sofia threatened to purchase her an Easy BakeOven if she didn’t, because duh, sex was always on the back burnerto her. Lucy hated cooking so much, she took a chance with Jack.

And now look at them.

Sofia and Tess stood together, reminiscing over that one nightover a year ago when they met Jack. The two of them, and Lucy,were at a bar and Sofia and Tess were pushing Lucy to go out andfind someone. Sofia meant a random hook-up, while Tess thoughtof finding a husband. Once they spotted Jack at the bar that night,they coerced Lucy to waltz over to him. Turned out, Sofia and Tesswere both right. Lucy got some sex and a husband out of the deal.

Ever since Lucy found Jack, there was something differentabout her. Not in a bad way, like a horrific haircut or something.No, it was like Lucy was fulfilled. Sofia chugged her water, wishingshe had more tequila.

“They’re back!” Tess exclaimed as the married couple rejoinedthem at their reception on the beach. Immediately, they went tothe dance floor and began their first dance.

Sofia put her empty water glass back on the bar. “If I remembercorrectly, Lucy’s hair was down during the ceremony. Looks likeshe pulled it back. I wonder why she did that.”