Page 129 of Bridesmaid Undercover
She tilts her head to the side, confusion in her brow. “You want to ask me out?”
“Yes,” I say on a laugh. “Has it not been obvious?”
“Uh, not even a little,” she says. “Especially after the other night.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“The dinner at The Beard.”
Oh, that.
“I mean, I thought maybe Timothy was a touch quiet if that’s what you’re talking about, but I don’t see how?—”
“Hardy,” she says, as if I’m not saying something I should be saying.
“What?” I ask.
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Uh…I’m being as serious as I can be.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that you’d rather date me than the person you should obviously be dating?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask.
“Everly,” she says simply.
“What about Everly?” I ask.
“It’s obvious that you two have something.”
“We’re friends,” I say, but she shakes her head.
“You’re more than friends.”
“Uh, no, we’re not,” I say. “We’ve only ever been friends.”
“Maybe physically you’ve only ever been friends, but there’s so much more to your friendship. It was obvious the other night, and I’d already glimpsed little signs here and there.”
I shake my head. “No, you’re wrong. We’re just friends.”
“Timothy said the same thing,” she continues. “That’s why he didn’t stay long—because he saw exactly what I saw.”
I shift uncomfortably. “Sure, maybe we talked a bit more that night and joked around, but it’s because you two weren’t really talking at all,” I say.
“Because you didn’t give us much of a chance,” she replies. “And please don’t think that I’m mad at you or anything like that, because I’m not. I’m actually happy for you.”
“Happy for me, for what?”
“For finding someone you so easily meld with.”
“Maple, listen?—”
She places her hand on mine. “Let me ask you this. Why did you want to get to know me again in the first place, in all honesty? Was it because you’ve truly missed me all of these years, or was it because…I don’t know, you saw what Polly and Ken have and you thought you might go for the same thing?”
“I…” I pause because I know what the right answer is—the answer every person would want to hear. They were missed.
But did I miss her?
