I watch as she so clearly battles with whatever it is she’s about to say.

“I read the message. It said” — She closes her eyes, recounting word for word — “I miss you. I’m so empty. I wish you were here. I need you.”

I gasp, remembering that exact text message. It was a stupid mistake. I’d been drunk and lonely, and I’d been thinking about the night we spent together over New Year’s. “He never responded …” I think out loud.

Anna’s face tells me without words exactly why Nash never responded to me that night. She intercepted and she deleted the text before he even had a chance to see it. And I nod, not needing her to clarify any further. “You did some shitty things this week, Murph.”

“I know,” I whisper, bowing my head.

“But I get it.” She smiles and, most unexpectedly, she reaches out and takes my hand in hers. I look down at our hands a moment before my eyes meet hers. “Don’t worry about Nash. He’ll get over it,” she continues. “And I promise, no matter what, I’m never going to take him away from you. I might be his wife, but you’ll always be his Murph.”

I manage a smile, although it’s difficult to smile when all you really want to do is cry. But I won’t let her see me cry. It’s her wedding day. She doesn’t need to deal with my emotions, especially when I’m the one who’s caused my own tears.

“Please consider coming today,” Anna says as she pushes herself off the island counter. “It’ll mean more than the world to Nash if you’re there.”

I exhale a sigh.

“It’ll mean a lot to me, too.” She smiles.

I don’t commit to anything, instead I push off the countertop, and I lean in to return the hug she’s pulling me into. With her arms around me, I can’t help but feel as if this exchange between us is genuine and, for a moment, I become lost in our embrace.

“Now,” Anna says with an exasperated huff as she pulls away. “I must get back. Mother will no doubt be beside herself when she realizes I’m not at the club getting ready.” And, with an air kiss to each of my cheeks she turns back toward the doorway before pausing and looking at me over her shoulder. “Oh, and Murph? I bet Harley would like to see you there today.” She flashes a knowing smile, and then she’s gone almost as quickly and unexpectedly as she’d arrived.

And, in an instant, my heart is left stammering in my chest at the mere mention of Harley, and I glance across the room, to the framed photos hanging on the far wall. Photos of Momma and me. Photos of me and Nash. Photos of me, Nash and Harley. My life up on the wall in the one place where my heart lives.

But then my eyes move to a set of photobooth pictures, from a night I’d almost forgotten about. I walk across the kitchen to get a closer look. It was the night Harley surprised me for my twentieth birthday with tickets to the sold-out Taylor Swift show in Nashville. He knew how badly I wanted to go, and how bummed I’d been when I’d missed out. But then he showed up on my doorstep with two tickets, and drove me all the way to Nashville. I smile as I look at the two us in the photobooth that had been at the stadium, and I can’t help but laugh at Harley wearing his Taylor Swift tour T-shirt, smiling like a total dork. He’s done so much for me over the years. I hate that I’ve wasted every opportunity to tell him how I feel because I’ve been so caught up on something that was never meant to be. Something that has been holding me back for far too long.