“Bye, Dean.”

“Hey,” he said. “Can you just promise me one thing?”

“What?” I asked.

“If you decide you need a fake boyfriend to keep everyone off your back after this, you’ll call me first, right?”

It was supposed to be a joke, but it didn’t seem particularly funny at the moment. Still, playing along was easier than arguing. “Sure. You’ll be the first,” I said.

He pursed his lips in a soft smile, gave me one last look, then left the room.

When the door clicked shut behind him, I sank down onto the bed. I laid on top of the covers for a long while just staring up at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around how quickly everything had gone wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on any specific moment. I just knew none of it was ever supposed to happen like this.

40

PEARL

THREE MONTHS LATER

I thanked Mr. McDermit and left his general store with a bag of odds and ends. I had a short walk to my apartment, which happened to be just across the street from the Ashford Inn where I’d stayed that week of the wedding. It all seemed so long ago already, except for the empty spot where my feelings for Dean had been. That spot was still hollowed out and raw. Most days, I managed to not even think about it, but when my thoughts did drift in his direction, it still hurt like it was only yesterday.

I sighed and tried to shift my focus. After all, things weren’t so bad. Steph was in town to visit with Lizzie, and we were about to watch some movie where Sandra Bullock plays a romance writer who winds up on a misguided adventure with her cover model. I’d picked up popcorn, snacks, and sodas for all of us. My hiatus from alcohol was still in full swing.

I came into my small apartment and found Lizzie and Steph on the couch with the phones out.

“Hey,” Lizzie said. “Did they have Sour Patch Kids?”

“It’s a small town,” I said. “Not some post-apocalyptic outpost.” I pulled the bag of candy out and lobbed it at her.

She smiled. “Mmm.” Since her weddinhg, Lizzie had finally started eating more normal foods. She was still in amazing shape, of course, and she still exercised like her life depended on it. But in general, it seemed like my sister had loosened up a bit. She was much easier to get along with now.

“How many of these movie nights need to be Pearl’s treat before you forgive her for dropping a nuclear bomb on your wedding night?”

Lizzie grinned. “Two or three, I think. But I don’t know if Mom is ever going to fully recover. She still gets a haunted look when we talk about the wedding week.”

I grimaced. “Really? When I call her, she acts like it’s all water under the bridge.”

“That’s because she doesn’t want you to feel bad,” Steph said. “You know how Mom is. Everybody else’s feelings first. I think she’s not going to fully get over it until you finally get another boyfriend. Maybe even until you get married.”