Her eyes grow wide. “You’re going to tell me another secret?”
“Do you swear on your honor as… the bride who asked me to be her maid of honor? As my future sister-in-law?”
Natalie doesn’t answer. She just sits on the edge of her bed and looks at her lap.
I sit beside her. “Natalie, can I trust you to keep another secret?”
I can decide to trust her, but that won’t mean anything if she can’t trust herself.
Finally, she looks at me. She nods and takes my hand.
“You can. I promise I won’t tell. I won’t fail you again.”
I smile. “I know you won’t.”
Then I draw a deep breath. Here we go.
“It’s Ryker.”
Natalie says nothing. I realize she’s waiting for me to say more.
“The man I’m seeing, the man I’m sleeping with, is Ryker,” I tell her.
Natalie’s eyes grow wide. For another moment, she says nothing. Then she smiles as she squeezes my hand.
“I knew it.”
My eyebrows furrow. “You knew?”
When? How?
“I knew it from the moment you two started fighting when Joel picked him to be his best man,” Natalie tells me with a grin. “And tonight, when the two of you were standing on stage, I couldn’t help but think the two of you made a perfect couple.”
My eyebrows arch. She noticed? Does that mean Joel noticed, too?
She nudges my arm. “So you’re the lucky woman Ryker’s seeing who’s good in bed, huh?”
I look at her. “Does Joel know?”
“No.” Natalie shakes her head. “You know how dense Joel can be.”
Thank goodness.
“And I understand why you don’t want to tell him.”
“I do, actually, but Ryker is afraid he’ll get upset.”
“Yeah. He might.”
“And Ryker doesn’t want him to get upset before the wedding. He thinks the two of you deserve to have the perfect wedding, which I do, too.”
Natalie nods. “That’s very kind of him. And you. But it must be hard having to keep a man like that secret.”
I grin. “You have no idea.”
Natalie falls silent. I turn my head and see wonder, joy in her eyes. At the same time, though, she looks like she’s about to cry.
“What?”
“You love him.” She says as she gives my hand another squeeze. “You do.”
I let out a sigh before resting my head on her shoulder.
“I think I’ve loved him all my life and I didn’t realize it until seven years ago.”
Natalie rests her head against mine and rubs my shoulder.
“Aw. That must make things even harder.”
“It does,” I agree. “But at least I have him now.”
She lifts her head. “If you want to tell Joel, I’ll help you. I’ll stand by your side and hold your hand.”
I shake mine. “I told Ryker I’d let him be the one to tell.”
She sighs. “I guess it has to be him since he’s Joel’s best friend. It must be tough for him, too.”
“It is.”
“But hey, I’m here. I’m not going to let Joel do anything stupid like hurting his best friend or never talking to him again. And I’m definitely not going to let him disregard your feelings and your happiness.”
I lift my head to look at her. “Thanks, Nat.”
She tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “No problem. Anything for my amazing maid of honor.”
I wrap my arms around her. She’s the one who’s amazing.
“It’s my honor to call you my sister,” I tell her.
“Aw.” She kisses my hair and strokes it. “Don’t worry. Everything will be alright.”
I nod. I hope so. I sure hope so.Chapter EighteenRyker
I sure hope this works, I think as I go over the document on my screen.
It contains the plans I’ve drawn up for the Hawthorne Foundation, and it wasn’t easy to put it together while still doing my actual job plus planning a wedding shower. That’s why it’s taken so long. But now, I think I have enough information. I have the structure. I’ve laid out a budget. I have a list of potential beneficiaries. I studied the legal stuff. I even have an idea for a logo. I guess Claire’s creativity is contagious.
All that’s left to do is to tell Ethan, which I’m planning to do this week, and then present it to the Board. Then hopefully, sometime after Joel’s wedding, I can leave this office and start living my life with Claire.
Claire. I smile as I remember her in that green dress and in one of my sweaters, which is all she was wearing when I left her in my bed this morning. She was snoring softly, her golden hair spread out on the pillow.
She’s the inspiration for this project. For everything that’s going on in my life right now, actually.
I hear a knock on the door. I think it’s Miller so I yell, “Come in!”
It’s not. It’s Asher again.
I close the lid of my laptop. I don’t want him to find out what I’m up to, even though he helped me come up with the idea. Not until Ethan knows.