Or would be perfect if the bride didn’t have a nervous breakdown.
“Sure you don’t want a gummy or something?” I spread the veil over her shoulders. “Maybe just a half?”
“Of course not! I can’t be stoned when I say ‘I do.’”
“Kevin might be. I doubt anyone would blame you.”
Megan’s big brown eyes popped open. “Oh my God, don’t say that. Do you really think he has to get high to marry me?”
Oof. Bad maid of honor.
“Megs.” I sidled in front of her, set my hands on her shoulders, and willed her to look at me instead of the mirror. “Listen.”
She did, though the terror in her expression only dissipated slightly.
“I love you,” I told her. “Your family loves you. Kevin love you. Everyone is here to celebrateyou.”
“But—” She sucked in a sharp breath as one of her hands pressed the corseted bodice of her dress. “Oh my God, Laney. I can’t breathe. Crap, is this what you feel like when you?—”
“Probably, but that’s not important,” I interrupted. “Do you love Kevin?”
At that, she physically reared. “Oh my God, of course. He’s amazing. How could you even ask?”
I tucked a strand of blond that had come loose back into its pin. “And does Kevin make you feel loved?”
She nodded. “Of course. He worships me. Has since we met in Mr. Fleshman’s bio class and I threw a frog at him.”
I nodded with her. It was true. Kevin had only ever had eyes for her, even when they were kids. “Then you’re good.”
“Okay, yeah. You’re right. I don’t know why I’m freaking out so much. All I have to do is go up there and say a bunch of words and get a kiss. In front of all those people. And change my life forever in an irrevocable way. Oh God, I’m gonna faint.”
“You can walk down that aisle into a full-on typhoon—which isnotgoing to happen, so don’t even start worrying about that—and you’ll still be his wife at the end of it, all right? So, just breathe with me.”
With a smile, Megan followed me through the breathing exercises we’d been doing together since my mom had taught her how to guidemethrough the same ones in case I had an attack at the park or something. Clearly, she understood the irony that today she was the one who needed them.
“Okay,” she said four rounds later. “I’m good.”
“It’ll all be over in the blink of an eye. Do yourself a favor and stay present. Otherwise, you won’t remember a thing.”
“Like you don’t remember a thing from your wedding?” she teased.
I rolled my eyes. “Brat. You only get a pass because you’re the bride today.”
“Speaking of your ‘husband’, do you know if he came?”
It was the question of the hour. Last night, that had been the plan, of course, and I’d provided Ronan with the information he would need to attend before finally allowing him to drop me off in front of my apartment sometime after one. Since then, it had been radio silence. And now I was wondering if he would actually show up to play the date he promised.
“Who knows?” I did my best to sound nonchalant, but Megan wasn’t buying it.
“You never did tell me what happened last night.” She batted my hands away from her veil. “Stop. I’m fine. You can distract my nerves with the story you evaded all morning.”
I sighed and briefly considered sitting down before remembering that it would ruin the green satin of the bridesmaid dress. Megan would kill me if it wrinkled before the photos.
“Nothing happened. We just… talked.”
Understatement of the century. How could I explain the monumental sense of connection I’d felt strolling up and down the beach of my youth alongside a man who felt eerily like my future?
It was so simple. Just a walk.