Page 14 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
I had to give her that. “I should really push that divorce through, shouldn't I?” I tried to distract her from the topic at hand.
“You should,” she agreed. “It might help your children get some closure too. If they see you've accepted that your wife isn't coming back. Youhaveaccepted that, haven't you?”
“For the most part, yes. It's a difficult situation.” I wasn't lying when I said that. Laura was my first love. There was a time in my life when I would have given everything for her—but marrying your high school sweetheart wasn't always the best idea, as romantic as it sounded. Especially when the main reason you got married was that you got careless and knocked her up before the two of you even graduated. I didn't regret having Nathan, but having him at that age? Definitely not a choice I would consider making again. It had definitely been too much for Laura. She'd always dreamed of getting out of this town.
In the end, she chose her dream over me. Over our children. I could forgive her for leaving me—I hadn't always been the best husband I could be—but I would never forgive her for leaving Nathan and Caleb.
“I'm sorry you're going through this,” Cynthia said.
I only nodded. Being my friend since elementary school, Cynthia had been there through all of it.
She'd heard me ramble about my first date with Laura, she'd seen me get excited about prom and she'd comforted me when I first heard about the pregnancy. “Life goes on, right?” I made myself say.
“Sure does.” Cynthia stood to give me a pat on the back. “You'll find someone better for you.”
Would I? I wasn't so sure about that, but I couldn't let my doubts shine through in public. I was a wedding planner, for God's sake. If I didn't believe in love, how could I face my clients? So each day I forced a smile on my face and carried on. “I know I will.”
“So how about that omega working for you?” Cynthia wiggled her eyebrows. “You know, the one who's onlytechnicallymarried?”
“Even if he's only technically married, can you even imagine the scandal it would cause if I got with a mated omega in my position? I can't be seen disrespecting the sanctity of marriage.”
“Ah, but you didn't deny that you're interested!”
Shoot.
Cynthia and I had been friends for so long, she knew how to get the confessions she wanted out of me.
I had to be more careful. “The only reason I didn't deny it is because it's absolutely ridiculous,” I tried. “I'm not going to start anything with my manny, married or not. How could you even think that?”
She shot me a measuring look, as if to gauge how truthful I was being. “Oh, I can think that because I know you. Deep down, you've always been a hopeless romantic, Ethan. I guess in your job, you have to be. But yeah, if you're single and that omega throws one flirty glance your way, you're gonna be drawing little hearts in your planner before long.”
“I'm not that easy! You're making me sound like a love-sick teenager!”
She responded with a half-hearted shrug. “Only because I know you. Why is this omega only technically married anyway? Is he getting a divorce too?”
“It's Rhys Kramer, although I guess his last name isn't Kramer anymore.”
Cynthia's eyes widened. I'd guessed correctly that this was all I needed to say to ring a bell with her.
As much as she loved gossip, she must have heard about Rhys coming back to town with fading bruises on his face and without his cultist husband. “This is even worse,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“You didn't simply hire an omega. You hired an omega in need of rescue!”
“Now you're really being ridiculous.”
“Am I? C'mon. You know there's a part of your heart that bleeds for tragic omegas.”
I rolled my eyes at her, but she simply continued speaking, as if my protests were irrelevant.
“And I remember that Rhys kid had a major crush on you before his family moved.”
“No, he didn't.” At least not that I'd ever noticed. The only thing that ever seemed to interest Rhys where his books and the bugs he found in the dirt behind the school building.
“Dear Lord, for someone who manages to hold several plans and schedules for different events in his head all at the same time, you sure can be oblivious,” she said with an air of disbelief so genuine I was starting to wonder if she was actually being serious.
Rhys used to have a crush on me?
