Chapter 16
Lacey
Today was the last day before the wedding, and I was finally beginning to enjoy myself. What happened last night was unexpected. I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but should I have? After tomorrow, I would never see Matteo again. The last thing I needed to do was to develop feelings for him.
I got up and was ready for the day. We had to meet the family downstairs for breakfast. I walked out of the bathroom to find Matteo still fast asleep. The covers were covering half his body, and drool was running down his cheek. I laughed, but instead of waking him, I allowed him to sleep in. Something told me he didn’t get to do that often. I left a note on the nightstand and headed downstairs.
My mind wandered a lot during breakfast. I couldn’t stop thinking about last night. It probably meant nothing to him. No need to get ahead of myself. The best thing I could do was act like it never happened. It did! Casual sex wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, and because of that, the last time I had been intimate was about two years ago.
“Earth to Lacey. Are you there?” Abigail asked, snapping her fingers to capture my attention.
Who knows how long I had been sitting there in deep thought. Apparently long enough for Matteo to show up and fix himself a plate.
He smiled as I looked over at him. “Did you sleep well?”
He gave me a huge grin and replied, “Like a baby.”
Abigail went on to discuss last-minute wedding stuff. On and off, I found myself smiling at him and not as a part of the façade but genuinely. What was wrong with me? I couldn’t be drooling over him. It looked good for our fake relationship but not for our real one. What did this mean?
After breakfast, everyone went to the church where the wedding was set to be held. The church was breathtaking. It was gigantic and made of stone. The pews inside instead of being wood were dark red.
When the pastor showed us around the church, Matteo took my hand. The next thing he showed us was the bridal and groom suites. It was two separate rooms with couches, chairs, and two floor-length mirrors. From the look on Abigail’s face, she was happy.
The last thing he took us to view was the reception hall which was huge. Nothing had been set up yet. That’s what we were there for. We had to help set up for the wedding and reception. At first, I wasn’t excited, but after getting started, it wasn’t so bad. We set up the tables and laid red table covers over them with gold runners as the men came around, placing all the plates and silverware on the tables.
Next was the name cards. I’d heard the seating arrangements were the hardest to work out for the reception. As I quickly placed all the name cards on the tables, I came across mine. This was going to be our last moment together before I went home.
Guilt started to consume me, realizing how close I had become with Abigail over the last six days. How was Matteo going to explain my leaving to his family? I cared about what his family thought about me. I wished it were possible to still be friends with Abigail when this was all over. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t. Whatever story he came up with was sure not going to make me look good.
“Everything okay? You haven’t been yourself today,” Abigail asked me.
No, everything was not okay. It sucked to get close to people only to leave them in a couple days. Matteo’s family was so accepting. Sometimes I wished his family were mine.
“I’m just not feeling so hot today. I’m sorry. What else do you need me to do?” I asked her because I didn’t want to abandon her today. There was still a lot more to set up. We had gotten the reception hall decorated.
“All we have left is the church. We can do the rest if you need to go rest,” she replied, looking at me like I was fixing to vomit all over the floor.
I followed everyone into the church without hesitation when Matteo came up behind me. “What’s going on with you today? You are acting weird.”
I knew he was being genuine, but I couldn’t talk to him about it. He would think I was crazy. Hell, I thought I was going crazy. I didn’t expect this to happen, but it did. All I could do was go about the day and hope tomorrow didn’t go as bad as I imagined in my head.
“I’m fine. Just been a long day. You don’t have to worry about me.”
He looked at me like I just punched him in the face. He was worried about me. I had never seen this level of concern before last night. Did this mean he was interested in me? Did last night change things between us? This wasn’t the place to talk about it. I needed to get away from him for a little while and clear my head. Being so close to him wasn’t helping. I walked over to Abigail and helped her hang the flowers on the pews. The next thing I knew, everything was done.