When Natasha’s voice blared over the line, the tears Claire had been holding back all day erupted like a volcanic explosion.
“Oh my God, I knew you’d get cold feet!” her best friend exclaimed before Claire even had a chance to say hello. “Don’t worry, I wrote up a little speech just in case. Hold on, hon, let me go find it.”
Claire laughed through her tears. “Don’t bother. It’s already done.”
“What’s already done? The ceremony?”
“The relationship.”
“Wait. What?”
A breath shuddered out. “Chris and I didn’t get married. He called it off.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“Nope,” she said glumly.
There was a long pause, and then a heavy sigh reverberated over the extension. “Start from the beginning.”
It took ten minutes to tell Natasha everything, and she finished by reluctantly admitting that Dylan had been a good friend to her today, a confession that elicited a laugh from her friend.
“So the asshole brother ended up being the good guy, and the good guy ended up being the asshole,” Natasha mused.
“Oh, like you’re surprised. You’ve never liked Chris.”
“Not really, no,” Natasha said frankly. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t support your decision to marry him. As long as you were happy, I was happy. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know.” She sniffled. “I feel like such a loser, Nat. Like one of those chicks from a bad rom com who gets left at the altar.”
“I knew the dude was a pompous jerk, but disappearing like that? That’s fucking bullshit.”
“I know.” She hesitated. “But…”
Natasha’s tone sharpened. “But what? And don’t tell me you’re thinking of forgiving the asshole!”
“No, it’s not that. I’m furious with him, I really am, but there was this moment earlier… It was right after Dylan told me that Chris was gone. I was shocked and hurt and embarrassed, but a part of me also felt…relief. God, Nat, I was actually kind of relieved I didn’t have to marry him.”
“That’s because he wasn’t right for you. I tried to tell you when you first started dating him, remember?”
“He was different then,” she protested.
“Uh-uh, no way. The man was a phony, Claire. I knew it from the moment I met him. He was too slick, and his stories about helping others and wanting to make a difference were pure BS.”
“What does that say about me then? For not seeing it?”
“It says you’re a good person with a big heart,” Natasha said quietly. “I think Chris told you everything you wanted to hear, and you believed it because you always try to see the best in people.”
“Maybe,” she murmured.
“But the fact that you felt relief today says it all, hon. Deep down you must have known it wasn’t right.”
“I guess. I just wish it didn’t have to end in such a humiliating way.” She sighed. “Shit, I’m really not looking forward to seeing him and listening to his excuses. I’m pretty sure it’ll take all my willpower not to slap him.”
“Don’t fight the urge. The bastard deserves a good slapping. I can’t believe he went to Aruba! Who does that?”
“I know, right?”
“Selfish dick.”
The outrage in her friend’s voice made Claire laugh, and the giddy sound was only confirmation that she would be lost without Natasha. They’d known each other since they were five years old, attended the same schools all the way through to high school graduation, and although their paths had branched off when Natasha enrolled in med school and Claire went for her MBA, the two of them had remained close.
Claire still remembered the day Natasha had come out to her as a lesbian, back when they were seventeen years old. Natasha had been so worried things would change between them, that Claire would freak out and pull away, but the confession had only strengthened their bond. Claire had wanted so desperately for Chris to love Nat as much as she did, but he’d never warmed up to her best friend, and now she had to wonder if that had been a warning sign all along.
“Seriously, though, how are you doing?”
Natasha’s soft inquiry cut into her troubled thoughts. “I’m fine,” she said truthfully. “But…shit, I’m so embarrassed. I’m dreading having to explain to everyone why we cancelled the wedding.”
“You don’t have to explain a damn thing. You and Chris broke up. End of story.”
She laughed again. “My parents will want more details than that.”
“Fine, you can give Nora and Ron the deets. But nobody else needs an in-depth explanation. They can mind their own business.” Natasha paused. “I really wish I could fly home and be there for you, do something to cheer you up.”
“You’ve already done a lot.”
“Well, I want to do more. I promise you, the second the plane touches down on the runway a couple of months from now, I’m picking you up, bringing you to my place and giving you an epic cheer-up session. We can get really tipsy, sing some awful karaoke and dye our hair blonde just like we did after Sandy dumped me. Deal?”