“Listen,” Kiki said, looking at Laina squarely. “I feel like I’ve been really carried away with the adoption thing and the wedding lately. I’ve hardly asked about you. I mean, how are things? How’s work?”
Laina moved to a display of delicate necklaces and started fingering through them. “Well, let’s see. I was up at five to finish a drawing for a client meeting this morning, I checked in on a condo project to find exactly one tradesman working, I spent an hour on the phone talking a client down from the ledge, and then I paid the bills and bought a veggie dog with my entire profits for the month. But I love it,” she said, finishing with a grin.
Indeed, three years into setting up her own Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—LEED—architectural firm, Laina’s work often felt like a labor of love. Great progress had been made in recent years with green construction, but passive design was still in its infancy. Even though she’d done nine major residential projects since opening shop and won an award for the city’s most promising architect, convincing clients that a LEED certification would save them more money than they could count in the long run was no easy feat—and her bank account showed it.
“Mmm. Sounds like you need an assistant,” Kiki said, accepting a necklace Laina was holding out to her.
“I wish. Running a one-woman show isn’t easy, but I keep telling myself it won’t be like this forever. At least I’m my own boss—I wouldn’t go back to working at a big firm for anything.”
Kiki fastened the bow-shaped pendant around her neck and glanced in the mirror. “A bit too sweet for me, I think,” she said, taking it off again. As she passed the necklace back, her eyes met Laina’s. “Okay, I have to ask,” she said with a sigh. “Do you ever hear from—”
“Asswipe?” Laina interjected. “No, never.” As she flicked her eyes away from her friend, they landed on a row of dresses on display. A high-necked, sleeveless bodice with a full skirt of lace. A pale aqua strapless number that reminded her of a mermaid. And a soft, drapey column with sweeping layers—exactly the type of dress Laina would have chosen if she’d gotten married a year ago like she was supposed to.
It had been twenty-two months since Ward left her, and though she didn’t have a shred of feeling left for him, the memory of his departure still stung. To think she had actually loved someone who would be that cruel to her...it made her wonder if she could ever trust her judgment again. It wasn’t enough that Laina had found her fiancé in bed—their bed—with another woman on a day she’d come home from a canceled lunch date. It was that after the woman had left, he’d acted like the whole thing had been Laina’s fault. I’m sorry you’re hurt, he’d said, as if that were any kind of apology, and then he’d shifted to a passive-aggressive stance. I blame myself. I knew you’d only been with two other men when we met, but I guess I didn’t realize that meant you’d only ever want to do missionary.
Laina had slapped him across the face when he said that, shocking even herself. And it wasn’t just because she’d been pushed to the depths of humiliation. It was because they’d started out so sweetly, with him leaving love notes in her pockets and cooking her dinner when she came home tired. Because she’d remained patient with him as she busted her butt to get her firm going while he stayed home “just waiting for the right opportunity to come along.” Because they’d planned their wedding and talked about forever as if it were a done deal. And because what he said was true: she really wasn’t that int
erested in sex, and she sometimes wondered if that meant there was something wrong with her.
But never again. She’d learned her lesson. Men were more trouble than they were worth, and her time and energy was much better put toward rewarding pursuits, like her career. And it certainly wasn’t Kiki’s fault that she’d introduced her to Ward and was now the one getting married instead.
“Seriously, though,” Laina said, “you know how you’re supposed to go through all those stages after a breakup? I’m finally at indifference. I feel like I could see him now and it would barely faze me.”
Kiki bit her lip. “Well, I’m really glad to hear you say that, because...”
Laina stared at her. “What?”
“I’ve been dreading telling you this,” Kiki said, dropping her face into her hands. When she spoke again, it was through her fingers. “First you have to promise me that no matter what, you’ll still come to the wedding and be my bridesmaid.”
Laina looked at her warily. “O...kay.”
Kiki heaved a deep sigh. “Asswipe is going to be there.”
Laina’s heart plummeted. “You’re joking.”
“I know,” Kiki moaned. “It’s horrible. It’s just...you know that his parents are my dad and stepmother’s best friends. They were the only family he asked me to invite, and...my father’s done so much for me. I just couldn’t say no. I’m so sorry.”
“I suppose he’s bringing a date,” Laina stated flatly.
“Yeah, he did check the plus-one box.”
Lifting the trailing skirt of her dress, Kiki dropped onto a satin-covered bench. Laina sank beside her and took a deep breath. “You know what? It’s fine. This is good, actually. I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever, and I’ll be so busy helping you I probably won’t even...” She trailed off unconvincingly as Kiki’s hand landed on top of hers.
They sat in silence for a few moments, and then Kiki turned to her with an excited expression on her face. “What is it?” Laina asked cautiously.
“I just got an idea. What would you say to a little revenge?”
Laina shook her head firmly. “You know me—not my style. I believe in karma, remember? It’ll all come around.”
“Oops, did I say revenge? What I meant was...fun. As in going to my wedding with the world’s hottest guy. And just as a fringe benefit, making your ex wild with jealousy.”
“When you say ‘world’s hottest guy’—”
“I mean my cousin James. Honestly, it’s probably against the law to say this about a blood relative, but he’s ridiculous. And single. And supersmart. And loaded—not that you care about that.”
“So what’s wrong with him?”
“Wrong? Um, nothing, as long as you don’t let him put you under his spell. Let’s just say he’s...got a way with the ladies.”