My eyes land on the enormous diamond ring on her finger. What the hell is she talking about? Since the day I met her she has been anti-commitment and now, she is getting married to a man she hasn’t even been with for a year? Brittaney must be out of her fucking mind. “When did you get engaged?”

I haven’t even met the guy, and that’s ludicrous. You don’t get engaged to a guy that your best friend has never even fucking met. I’m becoming a little flustered now, and it seems she is waiting for me to say congratulations, but I can’t.

“What are you thinking? You are not a long-term person, remember? I mean, you just said that three months ago. And now you are engaged? Did Chad drug you or something?”

Her neck cocks back. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re in love. You should be happy for me.”

Maybe I am being too hard on her, and need to cut her some slack. However, I’m still stuck wondering how she could fall in love with this guy in such a short time, enough to get engaged? “When do I get to meet him? I mean, being your maid of honor, I think it should happen soon. We will have so much to plan.”

The smile comes back, and she pulls out a binder. “Already started. I’m going to send this with you to look over, and maybe we can have you over for dinner next week.”

Have me over? Did she move in with this guy and not even tell me? What the hell has she been doing since we last went out for girl’s night? My gut feeling tells me something is wrong, because this is out of character for Brittaney.

The waitress brings our food, and I flip through the folder while plucking at my food. My appetite is gone, and now I’m just worried. She could make the biggest mistake of her life, and she isn’t about to listen to me. Why? I’m a thirty-five-year-old divorcee. Maybe this is the guy she’s been waiting for all along and she is ready to settle down. It’s just a hard pill to swallow for her entire persona to change in such a short amount of time. I never thought this day would come and sitting here looking over her wedding ideas is preposterous. She will change her mind in a couple weeks, and be back to sobbing on my shoulder again.

“Listen, I’m happy that you are excited about this, but aren’t you jumping into this too soon?”

She crinkles her nose, and grabs the binder. “I knew you wouldn’t be happy for me. That’s why I waited to tell you. Why can’t you just be happy for me? Fuck.”

How can I be happy knowing this isn’t who she is. Something has to be causing this, a chemical imbalance in her brain, or hormones. Brittaney is not a settle down type of woman, especially after spending three months with someone. How can she expect to just stand by and not say anything? Isn’t that what best friends are for? Pointing out when things aren’t right?

“All I’m saying is not to rush into marriage. Have a long engagement. Don’t you want to make sure that he isn’t some creep? How well do you even know this guy?”

She gets up from the booth, and clutches the binder in her arms. “I told Chad you would be against it. When you are ready to come to terms with this, give me a call. I don’t need anyone dampening the most exciting time in my life. Best friend or not.”

Brittaney struts down the aisle and out the door, leaving me sitting there like a fool.


Tags: Ashley Zakrzewski Rough Edges Romance