“Wasn’t supposed to say anything about what?” I asked. Where had she moved to? Felix didn’t even have to answer me though, because I knew. Suddenly, it all made sense, and I felt...crushed. Tricked. Slightly betrayed. Why hadn’t anyone told me? Why was I the last to know? Her moving shouldn’t have been a secret. It was just...moving.
“She’s here,” he said finally. “She works downtown.” Felix looked over at me. He shrugged, as though he didn’t know what else to say. I felt a little bad for him. He’d tried to keep his sister’s secret, and he’d tried to keep his bride’s secret. He’d kept them both, for a little while. It was a lot of pressure for one guy to live up to.
“Really?” I asked, trying to be calm. “When did this happen?” I knew, realistically, that it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t, right? Just because she’d moved to the city where I lived, and nobody had told me, that wasn’t a personal jab. Only, it kind of felt like it was. It kind of felt like I didn’t get to know where Zoey lived because of what had happened between us.
“Last month it was all finalized,” he said. “She’s here now. I think she’s getting ready to start working on a big marketing project for some firm. I don’t know. My mind is just all over the place with the wedding and the baby,” he shook his head, and I felt bad for my friend. This wasn’t the time to wallow that his kid sister didn’t like me. Okay, so Zoey wasn’t exactly a kid anymore, but this still wasn’t the time to wallow.
“Hey,” I said, patting Felix’s shoulder. “You’re going to be great.”
“Really?” Felix asked, looking over at me. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” I said. “This baby is going to be so lucky.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s going to have you as a dad,” I told him.
“You’re right,” he nodded, and then smiled. “But don’t let Lauren hear you use the word it.”
I chuckled and shook my head.
“Sorry,” I said. “That’s my bad. Do you know what you’re having?”
“Nope,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“Got it.”
A car pulled into the parking lot and Lauren got out. She was accompanied by her mom and dad, as well as her sister. Felix’s dad also climbed out of the backseat. They’d really packed everyone in there, hadn’t they?
Lauren’s eyes were bright with excitement. She was grinning wildly, and she was touching her belly. Some secret. I looked for a moment, but then I realized nobody else was getting out of the car with them.
“No Zoey?” I asked.
“She’ll be here,” Felix said confidently. “She’s supposed to be riding with Heath.”
“With Heath?” My head swung around. “The other groomsman?”
“Yeah,” Felix said. He didn’t seem to notice the fact that this rankled me because his attention was focused solely on Lauren. She really did look beautiful. She was wearing a pink dress that showed off her cleavage, and her dark hair was down. She was looking at Felix like he was the last man alive, and that made me happy.
Good.
My best friend deserved to be happy.
He deserved to have someone who made him smile and laugh and feel great.
And me?
Well, I just wanted to get a chance to talk to Zoey and to explain. I’d tried calling her, texting her, and before I’d given up, I’d even tried emailing her. She’d never responded. She’d just been radio silent. It was the ultimate ghosting, and part of me felt like I deserved it. There was another part of me that thought she was being an idiot.
If she’d given me a chance to explain, I would have just told her that Debra and I weren’t together. My story for Zoey had been true. It hadn’t been part of some ploy to sleep together. Perhaps more importantly, I hadn’t really understood why I’d told her what I did. I wasn’t exactly the kind of person who talked about my feelings. Not often, anyway. I certainly didn’t talk about my feelings with the women I dated.
Debra had hurt me. She’d been horrible to me, and I had frozen when she’d come into the office. She’d had a simple legal question and I’d been polite and helpful to her, but when she’d left and Zoey had seen...well, I should have been much clearer that Debra and I weren’t a thing. We had not been a thing for a very, very long time. More importantly, we were never going to be a thing ever, ever again. Never. There was no reality in which I would ever consider getting back together with her. That was done and over.
“Hey,” Lauren waved as she approached us with her parents, her future father-in-law, and Sally. Everyone hugged Felix and spoke excitedly about the plans for the evening. I couldn’t tell who was more excited: Lauren or her mother. This was the last wedding in their family, after all, and she was very excited to play mother-of-the-bride. Lauren was the last of their kids to get married, and I had the feeling that Lauren’s mom felt this was a little bittersweet.
“Great to see you,” Sally told me, catching my attention. She smiled and gave a little wave.
“Likewise,” I said. Sally leaned in to give me a polite hug, and I accepted. She was married with three kids of her own. She wasn’t exactly a threat when it came to giving Zoey the wrong impression. Why did I care so much about that, anyway?