Page 6 of Always a Bridesmaid

Jane opened Elle’s file to the first page, which was a running list of the basic info, and double-checked what she’d written. “Shit. I never make mistakes like this.”

“Exactly,” Roxy said smugly, then kicked back in her chair and started cleaning under her nails with a pocketknife.

“I never should have taken this on. It’s a rush job.”

“It’s a career-changing job,” Roxy corrected, and she was right.

Not only was this a weeklong, international destination wedding, it was the longest and most high-profile wedding in Bride Buddies history. What had she been thinking when she’d put Roxy, a woman who wore all black, in charge of her disguise package?

“Maybe this was for the best. Maybe I was meant to dye my hair. That leaves no room for mistakes,” she said. “I’m going all in on this one. Taking the method acting approach.”

She would be Elle from the moment she exited the room in the morning until the day she left the wedding. Average,ordinary, military brat Jane with the wheat-blond hair and random outbursts, like at the airport, were behind her now. At least until she landed back in the States.

She plopped on the bed and rested the computer on her lap. “No more slip-ups for this bridesmaid for hire.”

“That’s why I’ve pushed your flight back four days after the wedding. You’re staying at the Continental, and I have an itinerary of things for you to see in London, including a day at a wellness spa so you come back rejuvenated and refreshed.”

“Our business is ramping up. I can’t afford four days off right now. We have three weddings to prepare for over the next few weeks.”

“Now is the perfect time, and if you try to bail on even one day of your personal time off, I will sign you up on Bumble and say you like candlelight dinners and long walks on the beach.”

“I hate sand.”

“You hate being wrong even more,” Roxy said, and Jane moaned. She loathed being wrong. Nothing said weakness more than not being prepared, and preparation was the answer to everything. “This is serious, Jane. You haven’t taken time off since your breakup. And that was two years ago. You need a break, and maybe an orgasm or two.”

Her hands clammed up at the thought, because dating meant exposing her true self and she hadn’t been that person since she was twelve and her dad died. In fact, she didn’t even know who she really was anymore.

She’d spent so many years giving people what they wanted—Happy Jane, Funny Jane, Together Jane—she’d forgotten who Just Jane was. It had started when her mom had stopped grieving the death of her husband and became concerned that Jane’s emotions weren’t on the same timeline, so instead of worrying her mother, she’d just started pretending. And that pretending then extended to the kids at school, her teachers, herfriends, even strangers. Now, Jane was in her mid-twenties and pretended for a living. She didn’t want to have to pretend for a partner.

She’d tried that and had her heart crushed.

“I’m not looking for anyone right now.”

“Not everyone is Adam,” Roxy said. “All you do is help brides have the best day of their life. And this isn’t about you, this is about your job and putting a roof over your head. The fact that Adam couldn’t see that says more about him than you.”

“You should have seen the way he looked at me with disgust when I told him what I did.”

Adam had known about Bride Buddies, he just hadn’t known how far Jane would go for a client. So when he learned that she was playing roles for a living, he’d called her a scam artist. He said he couldn’t trust someone who lied for a living and then he’d left her without even a backward glance.

“It almost made me forget that true love exists,” Jane went on. “I’m just not ready to put myself back out there yet.”

“Could you get hurt? Sure. But what if it works out?”

“You mean what if I found my Knox?” she said, referring to Roxy’s boyfriend.

“Yeah.”

Her friend just didn’t get it. She had the perfect boyfriend. On the outside he looked like the head of a biker gang, but on the inside he was a big teddy bear who loved and cherished Roxy for exactly who she was.

“Not everyone has a Knox. He’s a unicorn among donkeys.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t get out there. And no relationship is perfect. Knox is wonderful, but he’s a thermostat guardian—no one is allowed to touch any of the settings for fear of spontaneous combustion. He also has DIY delusion and an acute case of refrigerator blindness. But none of that matters. Allthat matters is the love and respect between us. That’s what I want for you.”

“I’m okay with being the bridesmaid for now. I don’t need to be the bride.”

“Don’t let one dickwad define you.”

“I’m not. I just have no plans for a relationship unless one comes up and smacks me on the head.” Which was about as likely as finding a unicorn.

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