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“I’m very sorry to hear that,” I tell him.
“Maybe you can come home and we can talk about it,” he says. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my choices. I think I was too afraid of settling down. I needed to get it out of my system.”
Oh hell no. “I think you made the right decision,” I tell him. “It would never have worked between us.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, but I do,” I tell him. “You breaking off our engagement has turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Now if there’s nothing else, I need to go. I’m in the middle of a party.”
“Georgia…”
“Goodbye, Patrick,” I say firmly, slamming down the phone for good measure. I take a deep breath. A few weeks ago, this would have brought me to my knees. I’ll call Sam in the morning, but I know he won’t be intimidated by the management. He’s a strong man.
And maybe I’m becoming a strong woman, too. I hope so.
When I walk out of the corridor, I come face to face with Caleb. He’s wearing a black jacket and tie like all the other guests, but on his tall, muscled frame, it looks devastating.
“Hi,” he says. “I was looking for you. Barbara said you were in here. Everything okay?”
The smile comes more easily to my lips than I expect. “Everything’s fine,” I tell him. And it isn’t a lie.
I’m starting to realize what’s important and that phone call wasn’t. It was just the death throes of my former life.
“It was my ex,” I say. “Today was supposed to be our wedding day. He had this stupid notion that I might be inconsolable.”
“Are you?”
My grin widens. “Devastated.”
He laughs, and offers me his arm. I take it and we walk back to the party, my eyes immediately scanning the room for Theo. As soon as he sees me, he starts to walk my way, and it sends my heart soaring.
I’m bored thinking of the past. Of worrying what everybody thinks of me. Right now, I’m more interested in what I think of me. And I think I’m really doing okay.
As I let the warmth of the party and the sound of laughter envelop me, I do my best to push all thought of Patrick and his stupid words away. He’s my past and quite frankly I’d like him to stay there.
Theo reaches us, shaking Caleb’s hand, putting his other on my waist, and every muscle in my body relaxes. This is good. This is right.
I’m so ready for my future to begin.
THEO
“Where did you disappear to?” I murmur, sliding a hand around Georgia’s waist. The silk of her dress is cool against my palm.
“I’ll tell you later,” she says. “But I’m here now.” She grabs a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.
“We should make a toast,” Caleb says.
“What to?” I ask. Georgia looks so bright in here, she outshines everybody else. And quite frankly whenever she’s around, I can’t think straight.
“To new friends and new beginnings?” Caleb suggests.
I lift my glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
The three of us chink our glasses together. Then I lean in to softly kiss her.
“Dear God,” Caleb says. “I think I’ll go find your mum. Where is Penny anyway? You think she’ll dance with me?”
“I think she’d rather cut her arms off,” I say.
