She laughs and twirls. The saleswoman runs over to take the glass away from her but there’s no need. Sydney is practically walking on air and there’s nothing that she can do that will bring her back down to earth.

If she brings her mother here then she will ruin everything and make Sydney feel like shit again. And she deserves a lot more than that. She deserves only the best and I hope that one day she will find a man who appreciates everything about her as much as I do.

“I love you, Olive,” she says, throwing her arms around my shoulders.

“I love you, too, Sydney. Thank you so much for sharing this moment with me.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she whispers into my ear. “Under any other circumstances, I’d probably raise the glass for you to find the same happiness as I have but I want to spare you the misery.”

“Oh, c’mon, please don’t say that.” I pull her closer to me.

She puts her head on my shoulder and starts to sob. The saleswoman quickly swoops in and takes both glasses away from us so that I can use both of my hands to hold her.

“You’re going to be okay, Sydney. And if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”

Instead of responding, she just continues to cry. I wish I could make things better but the more I talk the worse it gets.

Even though I don’t convince her of what a terrible idea it is to marry James, she does agree not to sully the moment by bringing her mother here. After changing back into her clothes, she pulls out her wallet and puts the whole ten-thousand dollar dress on her credit card.

“Wow, you must have one hell of a credit limit,” I joke.

“It’s American Express,” she says.

I furrow my brow, not sure what that’s supposed to explain.

“There’s no limit but you have to pay the whole balance at the end of the month,” she explains. “Besides, Mom checks the bills so I’m sure that I’m going to hear about it early tomorrow morning.”

Walking out of the bridal boutique, I get a notification that I have a new Facebook message. It’s actually about the sixth one but I haven’t had a chance to read them quite yet.

This one is from one of the first guys I contacted on Owen’s friend list.

Yeah, I know Pink Eye. Wow, what a blast from the past. His real name is Robert Bortham. I have no idea where he lives or what he’s doing now.

I stare at the message in disbelief. My heart starts to race and I take a few deep breaths to calm down. I repeat his name over and over again until it’s burned into my memory.