Page 119 of Memories By the Shore
Lina flips her hair back. “Of course, a woman like that wouldn’t want to acknowledge that her son is marrying up.”
Bailey rubs her lips together.
Piper pats Lina’s shoulder. “Okay, how about we look at some wedding dresses?” she suggested, lightening Lina’s condescending comment.
“Okay.” Jan pauses. “Alright, well, for what it’s worth.” She lowers her voice and dips her head in my direction. “Your friend is right.”
“Thank you.”
I take the compliment. I appreciate it. But why does it feel like one more thing the universe is doing to twist the knife about Jasper?Dave is marrying up,meaning he typically wouldn’t deserve a woman like me.
Jan leads us into a backroom lined with racks. Each one displays beautifully designed wedding dresses.
Lina slumps over onto the white, silk ottoman. “Why is my champagne hand empty, Jan?”
Piper laughs. “Excuse our friend. It’s three in the afternoon and apparently time to drink.”
“I like that.” Jan straightens her skirt. “You ladies are going to be fun, aren’t you?”
Bailey brings an arm around me. “Do you have bourbon?”
A puzzled look crosses Jan’s face. “Not here, but I can have my assistant go next door and grab some?”
“Perfect.” Piper wraps an arm around my other shoulder, pushing my hair to the side. “I’ll take a sparkling water.”
“I do have that!” Jan exclaims before quickly nodding and scurrying away.
Lina cranes her neck over her shoulder with her palms pressed into the silk. “So, what do you like?”
I shrug. “I have no idea.”
“Let’s look.” Bailey steps away and starts fingering through one of the racks.
“What did you wear to your wedding with Jasper?” Lina asks. Bailey shoots her a warning glance for bringing up Jasper.
Lina looks back at me. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I smile at the warm memory of that night. “I wore a black sundress and sandals.”
Piper’s face softens. “Oh, Avery. That’s so you.”
“True,” Bailey adds. “What’d Jasper think about it?”
“It was his idea for me to wear black,” I say, feeling the heat of Lina’s concentrated stare from across the room.
“He knows you,” Lina whispers.
My friends mean well. We always do when it comes to one another. But I’m not one to beat around the obvious like they do. I’d instead address the awkward elephant in the room now so we can focus on the day.
I place a hand on my hip. “Alright. I get it. It’s clear you guys have never thought Dave was the one for me,” I begin. “But you don’t know how hard it is to move past something traumatic that’s happened to you.”
Bailey walks over with a dress draped over her right arm. “What about what happened to Lina in high school?”
Piper nods her head, glancing at Bailey. “And Bailey with her ex, Tyler?”
“And Piper with her upbringing and her mom,” Lina comments. “We’ve all been through shit. Who hasn’t?”
“It’s not the same,” I argue. My voice remains low because they’re right. What my friends have gone through—what we’ve all gone through—changed us. “Trauma rewires your brain.”
