Page 43 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

“Hi,” I remember to say.

Her smile is bright, and it’s just now I’m noticing the red lipstick she’s wearing.

Fuck me…

“Hi, yourself. Ijust need a few minutes. Come in.”

I do as she says, forcing myself to not stare as she turns her back to me to grab her purse. Fuck…is there a piece of her body that dress doesn’t hug perfectly?

I try to shake away every inappropriate thought that is running through my mind right now. Which includes, but is not limited to, Stella wearing nothing but those heels as her legs wrap around me. Or waking up in the morning and seeing that glittery dress in a pool at the foot of my bed.

“You clean up nice,” I hear Stella say.

“Thanks. You too.”

Thanks? You too? Fucking idiot…

“Ready?”

I nod and cough at the same time, needing to get my bearings back. “Ready.”

Ready to go to hell, that’s for sure.

“Congratulations!”

Applause erupts around us as a man slips an engagement ring on his brand-new fiancée’s finger.

Now I’m really glad I came here with Stella tonight. After what she told me about this restaurant, I can’t imagine how she’s feeling watching a couple get engaged two tables over from us.

“You okay?”

She nods, but considering her eyes are glued to her bowl of seafood linguini, I highly doubt she is.

“That’s how Duncan proposed.”

Fuck, I wasn’t expecting that.

“I mean, not here, but at a restaurant.” She pauses again before going on. I notice she does this a lot. Like she’s picking her words strategically. I don’t know if it’s because it’s hard to talk about her life before she became a runaway bride or because she wants to make sure she says the right thing. But no matter what, I’m not about to fill in the silence when the floor is hers. “We were in Nashville. A steakhouse that he loved. It was where we had our first date.”

“I mean, I guess that’s romantic?”

Stella shakes her head and adds in an eye roll for good measure. “You’d think. But he knew I didn’t want it in public. We’d talked about it. One night we went to a hockey game and a guy proposed on the Jumbotron. Luckily, she said yes. I’d told Duncan that I didn’t want it like that. Too much pressure and I didn’t want to ugly cry in front of strangers.”

“So then he turned around and proposed to you in front of strangers? What a fucking putz.”

This makes her laugh. “Yes. Putz. That’s actually the perfect word to describe him. But it was okay in the end—the proposal that is.”

“Okay? Proposal’s shouldn’t just be ‘okay.’ Plus, he did it in a space you said you didn’t want. Did he even get you a decent engagement ring? I’d like to also go on record that if I ever see him again, I’m punching him square across the face. I’m not asking permission, and I’m sure as shit not going to ask for forgiveness.”

I don’t know why this is making me so angry, but out of all the things that I’ve heard about Duncan, this one is making my blood boil more than anything else he’s done to her.

Apparently my declaration of violent intent is the right thing to say as Stella’s hand reaches across the table and rests on top of mine. And the smile she gives me? I’ll tell her every day how I want to hurt him if she smiles at me like that.

“While I appreciate the hypothetical act of violence, it’s really okay. I didn’t ugly cry. I was ready.”

“Ready? Did you know he was proposing?”

“I did. I saw him put the ring in his pocket when we left for dinner. And even if I wouldn’t have seen that, he was being weird all day. Fidgety. I knew it was coming, so I could stave off the tears.”

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