Page 112 of If This is Love

“Since first grade,” Chloe corrected, turning toward the mirror and smirking at her reflection.

“Yeah,but,” Liza countered, pitching forward and tipping her glass toward Chloe, “hesays he doesn’t really remember much before first grade anyway. So inhismind he’s loved you his whole life.” She gave a triumphant lift of her chin as though that settled that. “Furthermore, look what you did to him. It’sepic.”

Chloe chortled. “What epic thing did I do to him?”

“You literally forced him to grow up,” Liza said. “And he grew upfast.” She swept her gaze around to look at each of us. “Y’all just don’t know because you weren’t here for pre-Chloe Luke.”

“Hey!” Skye pouted. “I was here for some of the pre-Chloe Luke.”

“Actually,” Chloe cut in, “I knew himpre-pre-Chloe, because I am Chloe.” She spread her palms open in front of her. “I am the epoch.”

Liza snorted. “Yes, youare. I’m just saying Luke was a damn wild child until the moment he saw you in that church, and then he was suddenly a grown man.” She snapped her fingers. “Just likethat.” She turned to me. “You should have heard the very first words he ever spoke to me. He’s ridiculous.”

I had to laugh. “With Luke, I can only imagine.”

I picked up my glass of champagne, swirling it before taking a small sip. I’d never had champagne before coming to this high-end bridal boutique, but I decided I was going to start keeping champagne in the house just because. Because why not? It was something to enjoy in the evenings since I’d ruined—

No.

No, I wasn’t talking like that anymore.

Just since I didn’t expect to see much of Gabe anymore. He’d disappeared a little more than two weeks ago, and all Luke said was,“He’s just off clearing his mind at his buddy’s ranch.”I hadn’t seen him or spoken to him since the night we were together. I knew he was mortified and feeling every shade of uncomfortable because I was too. I didn’t know if I’d be able to face him even if he was here, and I knew he had to be feeling that way too. And I was scared that the mortification from that was just too much for him. He’d put himself so far out there and wound up having an awful episode.

Maybe he wouldn’t be gone forever, but I had a sinking feeling that whenever he was back, our friendship wouldn’t be the same.

I turned to look at Chloe and threw my attention at the real reason we were here. “I love that one, Chloe.”

Chloe sucked in a sharp hiss through her teeth. “I know,right?” She clasped her palms on her cheeks and stared intensely at her reflection. “I love it, too. But what does that mean? Does that mean this isthe one,or should I try on the other ones again?”

“Maybe since you’ve tried on all the ones you picked first, you should take a pause and think about them,” I suggested, setting my glass down and standing up. “So why don’t you change out of that one and take a breather?” I gestured between Liza and me. “And we could look for our gala dresses while you’re thinking about it.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a great idea!” Chloe chirped, grabbing large fistfuls of the lace and underlying satin and hoisting up the skirt before she stepped off the pedestal. She stopped directly in front of me. “Will you come and unzip me?”

“Sure.” I moved behind her to gather up the cascades of fine ivory fabric and carry it for her.

I followed her, and we wove through tall racks packed with gowns in various shades of white until we got to the mirrored hallway of dressing rooms. Chloe led the way inside one room, and I stepped in after her.

“Okay, I lied a little,” she blurted out just as I clasped the zipper.

“What do you mean?”

She gripped the top of the dress, holding it against her chest while I pulled the zipper down. “I need to tell you something… er, I guess maybe show you something.”

I wrinkled up my nose. “Something like what?”

Chloe spun around to face me, her palms flattened on her small mounds of breasts, holding up the beaded-lace bodice. “Gabe finally sent me his video introduction.” One of her arms shot forward as she pointed at something behind me. “Can you grab my phone out of there?”

“Sure.” I turned around and saw she was reaching for her purse, which was hanging on one of the clothing hooks. I pulled out the phone and handed it to her.

“I’m going to send it to you,” she went on, now holding the dress up with one arm wrapped around her waist while she texted with one hand. “I wanted to give you a chance to watch it before all two-hundred-fifty-K of Destination Destiny’s followers did.” She cut a somber glance up at me. “Because I think he made this video specifically because he wanted you to hear what he has to say.”

She tapped her screen a couple more times, and then my phone chirped with an incoming message in the back pocket of my jeans. The dressing room suddenly felt like the AC had been cranked up to arctic levels, but somehow my hands felt clammy. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped to open the message. There was just a link to a hosting site, but in the little message preview, I saw Gabe staring at me through a camera.

I looked up at Chloe. “So you watched it? Is it long?” I winced. “Is it bad?”

She flicked her eyes sideways like she was making sure we were alone, but then she just kept staring in that direction for several seconds before uttering a shaky, “Umm…”

I touched the side of her shoulder. “So it’sreallybad.”

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