“I think this is the one.”
“Go try on the others,” she ordered.
“Fine,” I grumbled but did as she asked.
The next one was an off-the-shoulder dress which was nice, but Liv didn’t like it. I tried on the mid-length black dress with the sweetheart neckline. I liked it, but not as much as the first black one I tried on. I sent a photo of this one to Blaise too. Liv made me try on the one I liked the best again, and she circled around me, inspecting it.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
BLAISE: Um…on my floor, right?
ME: Maybe if you’re a good boy!
BLAISE: Fuck…woman…
BLAISE: The black one. That’s your color.
ME: Duh, but which one?? Help me! You’re supposed to be my date!
BLAISE: The sexy one.
ME: BLAISE!!!
BLAISE: The one you already like, and you’re just asking my opinion, so you can choose the opposite.
ME: You’re so smart!
When I looked up from my phone, Liv had her hands on her hips. “Okay, I haven’t seen a smile on your face like that in a really long time. Are you sure this thing between you and Blaise is just for show?”
I nodded. “He’s helping me go to this wedding and not murder everyone, and I’m helping his family see that he’s over his ex and for them to stop babying him.”
She arched a dark eyebrow at me. “So you had sex again?”
“I tried to say we shouldn’t, but he proposed a friends-with-benefits situation. And, oh my God, Liv, he’s like the hottest man I have ever been with. How could I say no?”
Her eyes widened.“Jesus, V!”
“I can’t help it. I forgot to tell you the most ridiculous part.”
“What?”
“His dad didn’t know we were there.”
She gave me a confused look.
“He still lives at home.”
“Really? On his salary?”
I nodded. “I don’t think it’s a money thing. I think Blaise worries about his dad, but he didn’t want to tell me that.”
I noticed Blaise walk into the bar last night, but before he walked over to me, I saw him in a heated conversation with Hal. They disappeared behind the employee's only door for a few minutes, but then Blaise snuck up behind me and got needy about wanting to leave. Something had been bothering him, but I wasn’t his girlfriend, so it hadn’t been my business to ask.
“Hmm. So what happened? Was Hal pissed?” Liv asked.
She knew about my mental breakdown at Eileen’s Tavern because I called her to come get me. She’d met Hal at the bar before and knew he was protective of me.
“Nope. It’s worse.”
“What do you mean worse?”
“He made a joke about ‘hearing’ me.”
Her mouth hung open. “No…”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing! I had to jet for that no-show interview. I wanted to melt into the floor, though. How will I ever look Hal in the eye?”
“Was Blaise embarrassed?”
“No. He didn’t seem to care.”
She shrugged and pointed to the dressing room door. “Go get the rejects. I think this is the one.”
I went into the dressing room and changed back into my street clothes. It surprised me she didn’t make me try on eighty-thousand more. The black dress was perfect, and I looked hot in it. I’d show up at Seth’s wedding with my head held high to prove to him that my life was better without him. I wanted to prove to him that abandoning me didn’t change me, even though it did. Even though he made me scared to open myself up to love again.
Liv helped me put the rejected dresses back where we found them, and she linked her arm with mine. “I’m glad we could do this today. You’re working too hard lately.”
“Hey, anyway, what are they doing without a shop manager today?” I asked.
It was a Saturday, and that was a busy day for the shop.
“Eds and Alex were fine when I told them what was up. They can manage without me for a day,” she explained as we walked to the shoe department.
No, they couldn’t. A good tattoo shop could be made or broken by a shop manager. Liv was amazing at keeping our shit together. That’s why we stole her from my last shop.
Liv walked over to the display of a pair of black wedge heels. “These won’t hurt as much as a stiletto.”
I groaned. Why couldn’t I wear my docs or chucks all the time instead?
“I hate wearing heels.”
She sighed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know, honey, but Blaise is huge. He’ll tower over you when you’re dancing.”
“I don’t—”
She gave me an annoyed look, and my protest died on my lips. “If you’re taking that hunk with you to this wedding that you’d rather die than go to, make him dance with you. You should still try to have a good time.”
She was such an optimist. Sometimes I wondered how we were friends.
“Liv, I…”
“What?”
“I think I know why Seth left,” I blurted.
Her eyes were saucers. “Did he tell you?”
I shook my head and felt tears pricking my eyes.
No, go back in there. I don’t have feelings!
“No, but when I talked with Blaise about how this would work, he looked at their wedding webpage.”
“Yeah?” Liv asked. But she wasn’t paying attention, having gotten distracted by a pair of sparkly pink heels.
I bit my lip and clenched my hands into fists. “They have a baby together.”
“What?” she screeched. “Show me!”
I pulled up the webpage. I read through it a million times while I ate breakfast this morning. I shoved my phone at my friend, and I had to smile at how her face turned from confusion to anger. Liv was such a good friend.
“What the fuck!” she exclaimed. “Oh, V, I’m so sorry.”
“I guess it’s good he left,” I muttered.
She raised an eyebrow and fixed me with a concerned look. “Are you sure about that?”
I shrugged.
She sighed and ran a hand down her face. “V…”
“It’s fine.”
“Do you think she knows?”
“Who?”
“The woman he’s marrying.”
I swallowed and tried not to look at her. I looked down at the shoes in my hand, pretending I was going to buy these ridiculous heels. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s why she told him not to invite me. She said it was inappropriate.”
“Hmm.”
“What?” I demanded.
“If she doesn’t know, if she’s another woman that got played by him and the only reason he chose her was because she got pregnant, maybe she deserves to know what sort of man she’s about to marry.”
I shook my head and gave her a stern look. “No, Liv. I’m not getting involved.”
“But—”
“No. End of story. That’s not my business.”
But on the drive home, it was all I could think about. Even when I spent my Saturday night alone working on a new painting. I couldn’t focus on how to mix the colors right for this landscape because all I thought about was if this poor woman was also getting played.