Page 51 of Prince of Her Heart
She could cry later.Right now, her best friend needed her.
Tucking her phone inside the velvet clutch, she glanced in the mirror.Her hair was curled, her lipstick flawless.Her dress elegant.Her heels appropriate.
She looked like the perfect wedding guest.
Not like a woman who had just watched her heart walk away.
Chapter 24
“What’s wrong?”Stacy demanded, hands on her hips as she gave Tabitha a narrowed, no-nonsense glare.
She was dressed in only a white lace bustier, satin panties, silk stockings, and garters, looking like a bridal fantasy.Her dark blonde hair had been swept up into an elaborate twist—courtesy of one of her co-workers at the salon—and her makeup was so flawless it could’ve been airbrushed.Tabitha made a mental note:If I ever get married, Stacy is absolutely doing my hair and makeup.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Tabitha lied brightly, forcing a smile that didn’t even convinceherself.She carefully nudged the veil out of the way on Stacy’s bed to find a spot to sit.Her body ached—in all the best and worst ways—after a second night of near-sleepless, soul-bending sex with Ramzi.She was also slightly… tender.Because apparently, Ramzi had no interest in restraint.
And she’d loved every second of it.
Stacy sat on the stool in front of her dressing table, still watching her with suspicious eyes.“We met in kindergarten, right?”
Tabitha’s gaze wandered the room, momentarily catching on the layers of soft white fabric draped across the nearby chair, the sparkle of a tiara in its case, the pale pink heels neatly lined up beside a velvet ring box.
Would she ever get this?
“Yeah,” she replied quietly.“What’s your point?”
Stacy chuckled, crossing her arms under her bust.“My point is: you’re seriously going to sit there and tell me nothing’s wrong?I was there when you got a B on your first math test.You cried so hard your nose turned red.I held your hand the whole afternoon.”
Tabitha exhaled, trying to blink back the pressure building behind her eyes.
“I was there for your first crush in seventh grade,” Stacy continued softly.“And I was the one who sat behind the bushes with you while you ugly-cried after you got into your first choice school for university.”
She leaned in closer, her voice gentler now.“And I’m here right now, watching you drown in foundation and mascara and hiding behind slumped shoulders.That’s not you, Tabs.So don’t insult my intelligence.You’renotokay.”
Tabitha laughed, but the sound cracked on its way out.“It’s your happy day,” she whispered, swiping at a tear with a tissue before it could undo the careful makeup.
“Yeah,” Stacy said with a shrug, “but I’ve got an hour until showtime, and frankly, hearing about your drama is way more fun than babysitting my three bridesmaid cousins who are currently arguing about spray tan streaks and heel height.”
Tabitha laughed again, this time more genuine.
Then she sighed, and the truth spilled out.“It’s a fake engagement.”
Stacy blinked.
“Don’t youdaretell anyone,” Tabitha warned quickly.“Ramzi only agreed to this to protect my mom from the town’s gossip machine.My mother laid it on thick—told Ramzi that people were whispering I hadn’t come home because I was still pining for Martin.”
Stacy let out a sharp laugh, eyes wide with disbelief.“OnlyLeandrasays that crap.Everyone else in town knows she’s a drama queen with a bad dye job and an even worse attitude.”
Tabitha froze.“Wait—are you saying the whole town isn’t still talking about me and my so-called unrequited love for that walking pile of cardboard?”
Stacy held her hand to her heart.“Not even a whisper.You’ve been elevated to mythic status.The prodigal daughter turned corporate goddess.”
Tabitha squinted at her, suspicious.“Then… my mom made it up?”
Stacy grinned, slowly raising both hands like she was being arrested.“Don’t look at me.Thiswasn’tmy scheme.If your mom said the town was gossiping, she lied through her teeth.”
Tabitha shot to her feet, pacing like a storm cloud with high heels.“Mymotherlied?!”
“Like a Persian rug,” Stacy confirmed, eyes sparkling.“The only gossip about you is that you’re killing it in Philly and work for some fancy company.Andthat you might be secretly rich.I may have helped that rumor along a little.”
