Page 132

I smiled, a cautious excitement seeping in. “Anything you want.” I checked my watch. “If we want to do this today, we have to get going. You can probably take a few minutes to change.”

“Okay, and I’ll call Sloan,” she said, reaching for her phone.

My stomach dropped. I knew this was coming, and my heart ached preemptively with what I had to tell her. I put a hand to her wrist. “Kristen,” I said gently. “Sloan knows that I was going to propose to you. She doesn’t want to be there.”

Her happiness bled out in front of me, and my own joy at the situation sank. I hated to see her hurting. I wished I could give her all the things she wanted today. But Sloan wasn’t for sale.

I looked at her softly. “She’s supportive. She was rooting for me. She asked me to text her with your answer. But she can’t go to a wedding.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, her brown eyes glossing just enough to make my heart break. “No. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. Of course.” She smiled up at me, weakly this time, trying to put on a good face. I loved her for it. But I knew how deeply this hurt her. It hurt me too.

We finally had each other, but both of us had lost our best friends.

FORTY

Kristen

We sat on brown wooden benches on opposite sides of the hallway of the courthouse, waiting for our names to be called. We’d gotten our marriage licenses and rings and managed to get the last appointment of the day for a civil ceremony.

It cost thirty-five dollars to be married by a justice of the peace, plus an extra twenty bucks for two court-assigned witnesses we didn’t know to sign our marriage certificate.

I didn’t have flowers or a cake. I wasn’t in a wedding dress. My ring was so loose I’d had to put tape around it to keep it on. It rained on us in the parking lot. We wouldn’t have a first dance or photos or the mawage guy. My best friend wouldn’t stand next to me and neither would his.

It was the lamest, saddest wedding in the history of weddings—and I was so excited about it I couldn’t stop smiling.

Now that I’d let it go, I realized how exhausting my crusade had been. Like fighting to stay awake when you want to just let go and slip into a dream.

Letting him love me was natural and easy—it was keeping him away from me that was hard. It had drained me to the core, taken everything out of me, and I was relieved that it was over.

Josh wore the brewery shirt from the day we met, under a sport coat, and I wore the black dress from Sloan and Brandon’s party, by Josh’s request.

I glanced at him, and he looked up from the paper in his lap and grinned at me, his dimples flashing. We were writing our own vows.

This man was about to be my husband.

He’d been my boyfriend for about three minutes, my fiancé for the last two hours, and he was about to be my husband for the rest of my life.

I was going to be Kristen Copeland.

I don’t know what he was thinking as he watched me from across the wide courthouse corridor, but I’d never seen him look so happy.

“Kristen Peterson and Joshua Copeland?”

Our names being called shook us from our private moment. Josh got up and gave me his hand. Then, just before we went inside, he pulled me into him. “Are you ready?”

God, I was so ready it wasn’t even funny.

“Yes.” I drew my bottom lip into my mouth and smiled.

He caressed my cheek. “You know you’re the best thing to ever happen to me, right?” His eyes blazed with emotion. “I love you, Kristen. You are the one great love of my life.”

His words gripped my heart. “I love you too, Joshua. Forever.”

* * *

The ceremony was in an office. We stood in front of the desk as a gray-haired clerk confirmed our names and checked our IDs. Our witnesses stood against the back wall as the ceremony started. We were a few minutes into it and I was just about to read my vows when the door burst open and Sloan spilled inside.

My jaw dropped.