Pretend We're Over (Pretend 2)

I exhale a deep breath, relief flooding me. “Then, why are you here?”

“To apologize.” Oaklee sits down on the couch in the small living area.

I sit down on the loveseat opposite her.

“There is no need to apologize. We both did what we did.”

She shakes her head. “I’m going to be standing beside your wife when you get married. I need to apologize. I need you to know I have no ill will toward you. That I’m sorry for blaming you for Boden’s actions. I don’t want you to worry that I’m secretly trying to sabotage you.”

“Thank you for apologizing. It really wasn’t necessary. I know why you did what you did. And I’m sorry I couldn’t stop Boden from cheating and hurting you.”

She looks off in the distance, like I brought up painful memories for her.

“I’m sorry. But for what it’s worth, you are a great mother and don’t need that jerk in your life.”

She smiles. “Thank you. And I know. So we’re good?”

“We’re good.”

She exhales an anxious breath and then bites her lip as she stands. “I do have one surprise though planned for the wedding.”

“Which is?”

“You’ll see.”

“Oaklee, I don’t like surprises.”

She opens the door of the suite to the hallway. “I know, but Millie loves surprises. Now, let’s get you two married for real.”

I follow Oaklee into the hallway, where Kade, Larkyn, and their kids are waiting.

“Ready?” Kade asks.

I nod.

Together we walk out of the hotel and down to the beach where a small arch sits near the ocean. That’s when I realize my surprise.

The woman from the club in Las Vegas is standing under the arch. The woman who gave me the wedding rings and told me to be brave. The woman who told me to get married. The woman who changed my life.

My mouth falls open as I walk to her. “What are you doing here?”

She smiles at my shock. “Your friend Oaklee got my number at the club. She thought I might want the rings back when the marriage failed, but I knew it wouldn’t. When she called to ask if I wanted to marry you, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m Grace, by the way.”

I pull the woman into a hug. “Thank you, Grace. You have no idea how thankful I am.”

“I’m thankful the rings now belong to two people who will also be married until their dying breath.”

A roll of thunder jolts us apart. I look up at the storm clouds brewing in the distance. “Not today, clouds.”

But I don’t have time to focus on the weather because Kade and Larkyn’s kids start walking down the beach, dropping rose petals as they walk. Larkyn walks down after in a pale pink dress and bouquet of exotic-looking flowers.

She winks at me before gathering the kids to stand next to Kade.

Next come Oaklee and baby Eddie with a large flower tied around his head. She reaches me and then says, “If you hurt her, we will hurt you.”

I smile. “I’m glad Millie has a friend like you.”

Then I turn back toward the hotel stairs that lead down to the beach, and I get my first glimpse of Millie in her white dress, holding a bouquet of exotic flowers that matches Larkyn’s.