Page 42 of The Wedding Crush

Morgan laughs. “That’s all good and fine, but this isn’t just about emotional broadcasting, friend. I stood right there watching you feverishly fawn all over this man because he was talking about cartoon cars with your son.” She cocks her head, every atom of her calling my bluff.

At this I’ve got to laugh.

“MyGod… He’s so damn fine. I can’t even deny it.”

“And single.”

I wave her off because truly, the last thing I need in my chaotic life right now is romance. Sex, maybe. But certainly not a candy-coated man with a gooey center to sap my empathetic heart dry.

“I’m so serious when I tell you, I’m just window-shopping with no immediate intentions to purchase.”

Morgan is bent over cackling in that tulle tumbleweed draped around her body.

“Just so you know, you’re fooling no one.” She gasps for air, still breathlessly laughing at me.

But I’ve got to nip this in the butt right here and now.

“Honestly, that’s the whole truth.”THE LIES!“Absolutely, I’m looking forward to our ChatVideo meeting at two, and I fully expect you and Dante to be there.”

“Uh…

“It’s not why you’d think, though.” Positioning myself behind Morgan, I busy myself, fastening the two dozen buttons trailing along her spine. “I feel like utter shit, holding the vineyard hoax against him, judging him, thinking I know the first thing about him when he’s been through hell and back.”

“Child, that man has been through the wringer.”

“Iknow…” I heave a shameful sigh. “Morgan, I’ve got to smooth things over with him, let him see a different side of me.”

Morgan tosses me a suggestive stare over her shoulder.

I swat her arm.

“MyLord, relax. I’m not trying to hook up with Stefano Fortemani—”

“Yet,” she creatively supplies, as if I don’t know her mind has a second home in the gutter. Plus, fairy tales are my territory. Mine might’ve been cut short, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help other people find theirs.

“What I’m saying is, we’ve got this meeting coming up. I’m thinking…maybeI’ll ask him to show up early. Share my story about Justin, you know? Encourage him to share his, so it sinks in how much we’ve got in common.”

She inhales sharply.

“Wait a doggone minute.” Morgan hikes up the hem of her dress and twists around. Her expression is all open-mouthed fire and ice as she stares at me in disbelief. “Avery Ellis, are you, by chance, saying that Dante and I were right and you two should be friends?”

I let out a howl of a laugh straight from my gut.

Here I’m thinking I’ve said something wrong, and she’s just being dramatic to deliver that unspokenI told you so.

Except, the howl alerts the rest of our pack.

Next thing I know, Seneca, Valerie, and Monica are squishing themselves into this sardine-can dressing room with us and the fluffiest dress from hell.

“Why are y’all hiding in here and leaving us out?” Monica asks. “We want to know what all the whispering is about?”

“Is it Victoria?” Seneca asks.

“Girl, I was thinking the same thing. What if you want to wear a sexy, second-skin dress?” Valerie’s lip curls as she tilts her head examining the ball gown. “Not when Dante’s mother might think you’re some uncultured floozy… And who picked this hideous tissue wad?”

We all fall out into a fit of giggles, shushing and holding on to each other.

“Shh… that’s Georgia’s pick,” Seneca explains.

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