Her Best Men

Bethany just kept staring at me. She wanted more details, that was obvious.

“And?” she pressed impatiently.

“He owns his own company,” I said. “Making tools for oil rigs and things like that.”

“Wow.” Bethany nodded approvingly. “Wealthy?”

I nodded. “Extremely.”

“Hence the fancy-ass Christmas party,” Bethany said with a knowing nod.

“Yup.”

I hoped she would let the subject drop, but I should have known better. As we fiddled w

ith the dresses, her eyes kept returning to my face.

“What?” I finally snapped. “What else do you want to know?”

She laughed. “Everything!”

“Fine.” I groaned and turned to face her head on. “He’s amazing, okay? I’m completely smitten, and I feel like a total idiot for it.”

“Why?” Bethany asked. “Smitten is a good thing.”

“Not right now.” I sighed. “I just got my heart stepped on. I don’t know if falling for another guy is the best decision right now.”

“You can’t control when these things happen,” Bethany said. “Sometimes, you just meet someone and boom. The rest is history.”

“Easy for you to say,” I said. “You met the love of your life while you were still a kid.”

“I got lucky,” Bethany admitted. “This thing with Michael, is it serious?”

“We—”

Before I could finish my sentence, a familiar face caught my eye. Joshua was walking past the shop. He stopped right outside and looked around for a few seconds. My feet were frozen in place. I told myself to move, to duck behind the rack of dresses and hide, but I couldn’t. I just stood there and stared until, finally, he kept walking.

“Was that Joshua?” Bethany asked, her eyes wide.

“Yup.” I shook my head and exhaled slowly. “That was close.”

“You haven’t seen him since the breakup?” Bethany asked.

“God no,” I said. “And I don’t plan on it.”

“How do you feel about everything?” Bethany asked. “I mean, now that you’ve met someone new? Do you miss Joshua at all?”

I paused to think. My immediate answer would have been no, but this was my sister I was talking to. I wanted to tell her the truth, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself.

“Sometimes,” I said softly. “But it’s not really him that I miss. Just the routine we used to have. Honestly, I barely think about him anymore.”

“Really?” Bethany asked. “So, then… Michael?”

“I don’t know how serious we are,” I said. “But I like him a lot.”

“Are you sleeping with him?” she asked.

“Personal much?” I laughed.