Page 222 of Bridesmaid Undercover
But it looks like I’ve been found.
Leaning my forearms against the bar counter, I stare down at my glass of water—far too depressed to even consider alcohol. “Sorry, man. I swear I’ll get it together for tomorrow.”
Though I have no idea how I plan on doing that, since I’ll have a hard-as-fuck time not staring and pining after Everly during the entire wedding ceremony and celebration.
I half expected her to show up tonight to the rehearsal, but Maple said that she had another event she had to tend to, which I don’t fully believe. I think she’s skipping out on tonight to avoid me. Polly was okay with Everly missing the wedding rehearsal because it’s not like Everly needs practice walking down the aisle; she’s the one who tells people how to properly do it.
“Want to talk about it?” Ken asks.
“Not really,” I say as I lean back in my bar chair.
“Well, I don’t think you have a choice.”
“Why do you say that?” I ask.
“Because Polly and Maple are on their way over here, and they don’t look happy.”
“Christ,” I mumble just as they walk up to us, both of them standing on my right-hand side, arms crossed.
“He doesn’t want to talk about it,” Ken says, and I’m grateful he’s taking the lead.
“And I don’t want a moping best man at my rehearsal dinner, so it looks like he doesn’t have an option,” Polly says.
I let out a huff and drag my hand over my mouth. “Can we just…not? I promise I’ll be good for tomorrow, and if you want me to leave early tonight, I can.”
“Leave early? You’re my ride,” Ken says.
Oh…right.
Jesus, I really need to get it together.
Sitting up, I shake out my shoulders and then spin on my barstool to face my friends. “Okay, right, I’m sorry.” I slap on the fakest smile I can muster. “So, those oysters, they were…slimy, huh?”
“They were,” Polly says with a skeptical look in her eyes. “But we didn’t come here to chat about my mother’s poor taste in horsd’oeuvres. We came here to see why the hell Everly is avoiding the rehearsal dinner when you had a chance to patch things up yesterday?”
“Those tuna tartare bites though,” I say, ignoring Polly completely. “They were great.”
“I had five,” Ken says, patting his stomach.
“Kenneth,” Polly snaps at him. “We are not engaging in his topic avoidance. We are getting to the bottom of this Everly thing.”
“Right.” Ken clears his throat. “Sorry, dear.” Then he nudges me with his elbow. “I get to marry that spitfire tomorrow.”
That seems to soften Polly, only slightly, but just enough for her to say in a calmer tone, “Okay, what happened?”
I sigh, knowing I’m not going to avoid this conversation. “It’s just…not going to happen between us. I fucked up too many times. Hurt her too many times. She’s done with me. Said it to my face, and honestly, I think I should just let her be. She was…she was really upset yesterday, and I don’t like seeing her upset. I want her to be happy, and if moving on without me makes her happy, then that’s what I want.”
“But how did you mess up?” Maple asks gently. “I thought everything was good with Haisley.”
I slowly nod. “Yes, it is, but I didn’t tell Everly that until yesterday and that was after, well, I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say we did some things in that store.”
“Dear God,” Polly says. “So, you fucked her.”
“For lack of a better term,” I say.
“And you didn’t tell her about Haisley until after that?”
“When she was trying to walk away from me.”
