“Clearly I was planning on leaving that part out.”
“Shame. Really adds to the story.” Ben finishes his beer and flags down the waitress. “Hey, beautiful. We’ll take another round.”
“Sure thing. You boys celebrating somethin’?”
Ben slaps on a cheeky smile. “We sure are. My buddy over here is in love.”
The waitress sighs. “Aw, that’s so sweet.”
I roll my eyes and drink. “It sure is.” More like absolute hell.
“Yeah, he found the one. But he messed up and now she won’t talk to him. Any advice for the poor guy?”
She offers me her puppy dog eyes. Great, now I have the damn waitress feeling sorry for me. “You poor thing. Well, for starters, girls don’t want flowers or chocolate. That’s sooo old school. Make her feel special. Buy her diamonds. Or a purse. My ex-boyfriend bought me heels once, and we made up right away.”
Great. Wonderful advice. Ben is holding in a laugh, and I’m about to smash my beer bottle over his head. “Diamonds and shoes. Got it.”
“Hope it helps. And you? What’s your girlfriend like?” Lamest trick in the book. Anyone who has a brain knows she’s fishing for information. Even Ben, who sports his cheeky grin.
“No girlfriend here. Still searching for the right one.” I almost gag on my beer. Who does that line actually work on? A million chicks. You’re the one who taught it to Ben. Man, I was pathetic.
The girl hands Ben a napkin and he scribbles his number down, telling her to call him sometime, then she runs off to fetch our beers. “You kidding me? You’re supposed to be helping me, not landing dates.”
He rolls his shoulders in a carefree shrug. “I just did a nice girl a favor. Plus, these hookup apps are getting stale.”
“Fucking the entire subscriber list of Tinder would get stale for me too.” Ben laughs and stretches out his arms. “Whatever. I’m not picking up this tab. You didn’t help me worth shit.”
“Yes you are. Because you owe me. Because I’m going to confess I know for a fact your girl is going to be at Levi’s engagement party and you can stalk her then. I’ve solved all your problems. Now, shots?”
Chapter 21
Bridget
“I think my mom went a little overboard with all these decorations,” Hannah says, looking around her parents’ living room.
“I mean, who doesn’t want two billion balloons at their party?”
Hannah shakes her head and laughs. “Talk about love being in the air. Literally. I don’t even know where all these heart balloons are going to go?”
I gaze around the room, fighting to hold my smile. While love is bringing her such happiness, it’s tearing me apart.
“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” I say, admiring all the beautiful details my aunt has put into her daughter’s special day.
I bury my face back into my project of assembling the bridesmaid bags, envious of the Matthews’ bond. Hannah has never known what it’s felt like to fight for attention. Unlike the unconditional love she’s always felt, mine was worked for. I lived in a household based on duty. As the daughter of a pastor, it was embedded in me to love the lord and you shall be loved in return. I turned my back on that belief when Jax died. And in some way, my parents turned their backs on me. How could the daughter of a pastor not believe in God? And it wasn’t that I didn’t. I just no longer believed he was here to save. He took the only thing that made my heart beat with life.
My parents saw my resentment with God as rebellion, and their disappointment hurt. How could they not understand my disgruntled views? I wanted them to love me for me. See that I was hurting and that my morals had been tested to the point that I struggled to believe. Even when Jax was alive they didn’t approve. They couldn’t see past the troubled boy from the wrong side of the tracks. It didn’t matter that he was good to me. He treated me with respect and even though he didn’t follow the word of God, he respected his values. I fought so hard to show them our love was honest, and we deserved to live our life together. We were destined for our very own happily ever after.
But life doesn’t work that way.
At least not in the eyes of parents who dedicate their life to the church.
“Bridget, this is nonsense. Is his family even around? Does he have a solid home?” Dad demands.
“Why does that even matter? What matters is he loves me. He treats me with respect.”
“I will not allow my daughter to lose herself to someone who does not have good intentions, and in my eyes, he is not what you need.”
“You know nothing about what I need.”
“Bridget, watch your mouth,” my mother interjects.