“Allyson is the friend you came with?” he asked, recalling her mentioning that name earlier.
She nodded.
“And Ethan?” Preston had never suffered a day of jealousy in his life, but he didn’t like knowing there was an Ethan that she couldn’t live without.
“They are my two best friends. Because of the age difference, I’ve never been particularly close to my sisters. So, Ethan and Allyson have become the siblings of my heart. I honestly couldn’t have survived the past six months without them.”
Preston still couldn’t understand how anyone could date someone as cool as Joy and walk away. More than that, there was a special place in hell for the kind of man who would jilt a woman at the altar. The fact he didn’t even show up to offer an explanation or apology proved the guy was a loser with a capital L.
“They’ve been dragging me out since June, trying to help me get my head back in the game. Rick really did a number on me,” she confessed, though he could see it was hard for her to admit.
“How long did you date the asshole?” Preston asked.
“Forever.”
He tilted his head, waiting for her to give the correct answer.
“Seriously,” she said. “We grew up together. We were high school sweethearts. He was my first kiss, my first boyfriend, my first everything.”
And that just catapulted Rick the Dick from merely a loser, to the world’s biggest prick. “That’s a long time.”
She nodded. “Our mothers were—are—best friends, so we’ve always known each other. I think that’s why I was so blindsided when he…” She paused. “Jesus. I’m sorry. You don’t want to hear all of this.”
Actually, he did. He wanted to know everything about her. “I don’t mind…if it doesn’t bother you to talk about it.”
“It doesn’t,” she replied, and he could see she was telling the truth. He could also see she was surprised by it.
Preston sank deeper into the cushions, pleased when she followed suit, the two of them quite cozy on their couch. “Why did he let things go so far? I mean, it was your fucking wedding day.”
“He met someone else at work. He swears he never cheated on me—physically—but I guess it turned into an emotional affair. We didn’t speak for months after the…” She blew out a long, sad sigh. “Jilting.”
Preston frowned. “Months?”
“He ghosted me. Blocked me completely on everything.”
“Fucking coward,” Preston muttered.
“Totally,” she agreed. “While I was at the church, waiting around in my white dress, he was packing all his shit and moving out of our apartment and in with Ms. Emotional Affair. I probably could have tracked him down at work or at his parents’ house, but Ethan and Allyson insisted seeing him would only drive the knife deeper.”
“What’s Rick’s last name and where does he live now?”
She laughed at his questions, but Preston wasn’t fucking joking.
“Turned out, my best friends were right. I bumped into Rick on the street a couple months ago. He was with Vanessa.”
Preston was amused by the way she said Vanessa, pursing her lips like the name was made out of shit.
“It was a quick conversation, where I failed to say one single fucking word. Why is it you can only come up with zinger lines afterward? I mean, I had a ton to say to that asshole and none of it came out.”
“It was the first time you’d seen the guy, and as you said, it wasn’t a planned meeting. You had no time to prepare yourself. I suspect the next time you run into the prick, you’ll find your voice.”
“I hope that’s true. It feels like I’ve gone through every stage of grief since the almost-wedding—angry, depressed, sad. For a while, I was stuck in the bargaining stage, trying to figure out how to win him back. Thankfully, that stage was a short one because Ethan and Allyson were NOT having it, telling me they would never let the shithead back into my life.”
“They’re good friends. So how do you feel now?” he asked.
She didn’t respond right away, and he liked that she was taking time to consider the question. “I’ve finally hit acceptance.”
“Oh yeah?”
