Page 73 of Marry Me

“I know.” She’d never found their sex life wanting, exactly, but then she’d never met Megan before either. There was before Megan and after. “Maybe it’s more about the person, for me. But I can definitely tell you that my attraction to women is not a fluke or a phase. It’s real. But so was what we had. None of this erases our life.”

“And Megan Kinkaid is the one?”

“Maybe.” She hesitated. “I don’t have all the answers.”

“No.” He seemed to concede. “I can’t imagine you do. Just hard, you know. I’m not ready to give you up.”

“Well, you haven’t. Here we are, taking a walk. Shooting the breeze.”

He grinned. It wasn’t what he was asking for, but wasn’t it something? She didn’t want him to vanish from her life altogether. Maybe there was some wiggle room for a real friendship. “You have a point.”

They walked on and talked about work, the changing seasons, and whether Brent should bite the bullet and get that dog he’d been talking about getting for years. But just one. Shocking how natural their exchange was, given everything that had happened.

She went home that night feeling a little lighter for having reconnected with Brent and that part of her old life. She dived into bed and grabbed her phone, ready to tell Megan all about it.

Just got home. I missed you today, Megan’s text read.

She grinned like a kid and typed back.Me, too. Gonna kiss you into next week tomorrow. Get ready.

Now that’s all I’m thinking about.

Join the club.Ally bit her lip and typed back, wishing Megan was there with her.Sleep tight. Until tomorrow.She set her phone on the nightstand and turned off the lamp, snuggling in for bed, fully aware that she’d not told Megan about her walk with Brent. She wanted to keep their good night light.

They’d get to it.

Eventually.

* * *

They had two days before what Megan called Wedding Weekend would hit, where they’d booked themselves to slightly over capacity. Five high-end weddings happening simultaneously throughout the city, with her team divided into subgroups, her top vendors splitting their time, and Megan acting as quarterback with an eye on all the moving parts. It would be quite the weekend, and she’d scheduled a Soiree meeting to make sure all the ducks were in a row.

“What about Take the Cake? Are they on top of it this time?”

“Seem to be. Delivery for the Sherman wedding at two p.m., well in advance,” Kelsey said. “The country club will get them set up. I’ll be with the bride at the church for pre-photography.”

Cade looked up from his laptop. “The Fairmans are also using them. Delivery is cutting it a little close for my liking, but we’ll manage. They only have the one driver, so I’ll have Demi at the Hilton to meet him, and I’ll stay back for formal photos at the church postceremony.”

“Good, good. But stay on top of them. They always understaff on busy days, and I don’t want a late cake.”

Both Cade and Kelsey nodded and typed.

As a group, they came up with a schedule for their part-time junior planners to move from one event as it closed to another, midway through. They were all going to be exhausted, but she had faith that her team was up for the challenge.

As they gathered their things, Cade lagged behind, practically toeing the ground. She watched him, waiting for whatever he had to say.

Finally, “I saw Allison in Lakeside Park yesterday. She looked great.”

Megan perked up at the mention. “Oh yeah. I didn’t know she went.”

She watched as a series of emotions crossed his face. “She was on a walk with Brent. Carmichael.”

“Oh yeah?” Megan played it cool, but the information surprised her. Why in the world wouldn’t Allison have mentioned that? It seemed like it would have been a headline, given all the Carmichael falloutshe’d been through, and they had talked the night before. Allison hadn’t said a word.

“Seemed very casual,” he added, “no big deal.” She imagined he’d weighed whether to say anything or not. Everyone knew the story by this point and saw Allison as Megan’s plus-one.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it was.”

Later, though, as she packed up and headed home, the information clung to her like a monkey on her back. Of course she wouldn’t want Allison to stay away from Brent if she chose to spend time with him, but the secrecy of it cued alarm bells sounding quietly in the distance. Nothing horribly concerning, but at the same time, she took note.

---