Don't Kiss the Bride

“You can leave Fupagus here until you come back if you want. She feels safe here. I’ll take care of her.”

She looks over at the cat curled up contently on the bed and ponders my offer. “I’d rather she come with me. I can’t risk you changing your mind a week after I’m gone.”

Stab. Stab. Stab.

Without her laughter, and without Cassie and Gus chasing each other from room to room, this house is going to feel like a fucking tomb again. I’ve missed eating dinner with her and watching movies together at night, but at least she was still here. I could still hear her, see her, catch the sweet scent of her perfume.

I chew the inside of my cheek as she goes to her nightstand, takes something out of the drawer, and then steps in front of me.

“Here,” she says, holding her hand out to me. “You can have this back.”

My eyes focus on the small, rose-gold ring in her hand, and my gut sinks with dread.

“No.” I shake my head, refusing to take it from her. “That’s yours. It was a gift.”

She stares at me with her lower lip quivering. “It’s a band of lies,” she says. “I don’t want it anymore.”

I swear, I want to solder that ring onto her finger and just end all this craziness.

“Fuck, Skylar. Don’t fucking do this.”

“Do what?”

“Any of this.” I throw my arms up. “Running to your father. Moving out. Giving me the ring back. Why are you doing this?”

Her cheeks flush red with anger. “Because it’s what I should be doing.”

“I think you’re in shock or something from winning all that money. Why don’t you take a week or two and just chill out before you make all these decisions.”

“I don’t want to chill out. I’ll go crazy if I have to sit here trying to read your damn mind every day.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t do this with you anymore. I’ve had it. This back and forth and all the confusion. It’s making me sick.”

“Wow, jugular, much?”

Her eyes soften. “I don’t mean you make me sick, I mean this whole situation.”

My shoulders slump and I stare down at the floor before meeting her gaze. Everything she’s saying is reinforcing every fear I have about us. I am bad for her. “Do what you gotta do, then.”

She grabs my hand and shoves the ring into my palm.

“You should go,” she says, whisper soft. “So I can finish doing what I have to do.”

Chapter 48

Skylar

Seeing my father is surreal.

He looks better than I remember from the faded snapshots in my mind. He’s lost weight, and now looks athletic and healthy. I realize I have his eyes. Lynn, his new wife, is even prettier in person than she was on the video chat. Her hair is long and chestnut brown with blonde highlights and she has deep-brown, wide-set eyes. She has a thirteen-year-old quiet son named Sam, who calls my father Dad. Lynn works as an accountant and my father is an electrical engineer, which I didn’t know when I was younger.

It’s obvious from their house on a cul-de-sac of identical houses that they’re financially comfortable. The house is big and beautiful with a pool in the backyard and bright-green grass that looks too perfect to be real.

My first few hours here so far have been awkward but friendly.

I’m not sure how to feel about my father starting over with a new life while I was left behind, possibly forgotten. I wonder if he found an old picture of me in his wallet and suddenly remembered I existed, or if he’s been thinking of me and missing me for the past almost twelve years.

When I arrived, we talked casually for a few minutes before Lynn showed me to the guestroom so I could unpack and get Gus settled before dinner. The cat immediately ran to hide under the bed, and I wished I had left her home with Jude, where she has all her favorite spots, and Cassie to snuggle with. My dad’s house is way too big to let her just wander around loose. I’m afraid I’ll never find her.

Lynn gave the cat carrier a big side-eye when I took it out of my rental car, and she mentioned that Sam might have allergies—especially to a longhaired cat. My father neglected to tell me that when we talked over the phone about my visiting.

Men.

Before I venture back downstairs, I send Jude the text he made me promise to send.

Me: Just letting you know I’m here, safe and sound.

Jude: Good. I hope you enjoy your visit. Text or call me if you need to talk.

As I’m fixing up my hair, another text comes through.

Jude: For what it’s worth, I already miss you guys.

His bittersweet words cause tears to burn in my eyes and my chest to tighten around my heart.