“Of course I’m worried. You’re so mad at me. It’s obvious, so don’t try and pretend you aren’t.”
I looked down at my hands, unable to face him.
“And I’ve come to the conclusion of I’m sorry,” he said softly.
I tilted my head. “What?”
“I understand if I did or said something wrong. And since you’re the only one who remembers that night, I have to let it go until you’re ready to tell me. So I’m preempting whatever shit thing I said or did with an ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you, Sienna. I had such a great time that night, and you planned a kick-ass party. And here I was, the man of the hour, and I somehow ruined it for you.”
I choked out a laugh and couldn’t help smiling. Warmth spread through me and I started to thaw.
“You mean too much to me. I can’t stand that you’re mad at me. Please forgive me and accept my apology.”
“All right,” I said. “I forgive you.”
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“Can we hug it out?”
Parker stood and opened his arms.
We were not the hugging type of friends. But he didn’t wait for a response. He crushed me against him, and for a moment, I thought about Saturday night. Should I tell him about that night? It seemed we always came back to our friendship, no matter what hurdle we had to get over. But I wasn’t sure if we could get over this. Especially so close to his wedding.
“And now I have something very important to ask you,” he said, pulling away from me.
He dropped down to one knee and held my hand between us. “Sienna Morrow, will you be my best man?”
I lightly slapped his arm. “Get up, you fool. Of course, I’m still your best man.”
Parker beamed at me and my heart warmed.
That feeling quickly subsided when I realized what this meant for me. And now I knew I couldn’t tell him. He was excited about the wedding, and what kind of friend would I be if I tried to put myself between him and his happy ending?
Parker clapped his hands together, still smiling like an idiot. “All right, I don’t want to ruin your whole morning beauty routine.”
I shot him a look.
“I should go.”
“Okay, I guess we’ll talk later.”
“Yes, definitely.” He practically skipped out of my house. “I will call you later. I promise.”
When he closed the door, I sat there for a minute, soaking in my happy mood. It was a relief to be rid of the ugly monster that lived inside of me since Saturday night.
When I arrived at the diner, Tony was on the back stoop. I noticed a lack of smoke circling around his head, which put me in an even better mood than I was already in. Everything seemed to have fallen into place in my life, and I was much happier for it. I even had the capacity to be
happy for Parker and Rachel as a couple. Whatever made Parker happy, made me happy.
“Is that a smile on your face?” Tony said then made a show of checking his wrist which was lacking a watch. “This early? Did you find your way into my stash?”
I punched him in the arm. “Don’t make me put my scowl back on.”
He held his hands up defensively. “Please, not that. That Sienna wasn’t as much fun to work with. So spill, what happened?”
“Parker came over this morning.”