Page 27 of The Almost Bride

The kitchen was warm and bright, the sun filtering through the sheer curtains that hung over the window. But the last thing that Luna felt was warm. She sat at the wooden table, stirring her coffee, the liquid swirling lazily in her cup, steam curling up and dissipating.

She didn’t want to think about last night, and yet it was the only thing she could think about. She’d spent an embarrassing amount of time pacing the front hallway, checking her phone, glancing out of the window just to see if someone was walking up the path.

But Mia had never shown up. No text. No call. Just silence.

And in the end, though her grandmother had encouraged her to go to the hotel and see where Mia was, Luna hadn’t. She wasn’t exactly sure why she hadn’t. Other than that it hurt to think about. Other than that it was… frightening to think about.

She let out a long, slow breath, and flipped her phone over on the table so that the screen was hidden.

If Mia had wanted to explain, then she would have. So maybe that was Luna’s answer.

Maybe she’d been expecting too much.

Maybe Mia had changed her mind.

Maybe she should have known better.

Her coffee was growing cold, and she really didn’t care. She wasn’t sure what she cared about just now.

She was brave. She, Luna Truman, was one of the bravest people she knew. She’d bungee jumped, she’d been stranded in deserts and on icebergs, she’d lead any adventure that was going. So why was she so afraid of all this?

It just didn’t make sense.

She looked down at her coffee mug and then shook her head, getting up and pouring it down the sink before she picked up her bag and let herself out through the back door.

Everything in the world was wrong, and she didn’t know how, let alone how to fix it.

By the time she walked into the florist’s, shadows casting across the floor in the coolness of the shop, she’d told herself that she simply wasn’t going to think about it. She wasn’t going to dwell, she wasn’t going to over-analyze. Those things weren’t her. She was going to go about her day just like normal, she was going to be normal.

Which would have been perfectly fine had Jan not seen right through her.

Jan was trimming leaves off a set of violets when she glanced up and immediately narrowed her eyes. “What is it?”

she said, putting her shears down.

“What’s what?”

Luna said, dropping her bag on the small table by the window.

“Whatever… this is,”

said Jan, gesturing at Luna.

“Are you talking about my outfit, because my fashion sense is—”

“Not the outfit,”

Jan said, putting her hands on her hips. “Your face.”

“And now you’re insulting my face, thanks very much.”

Jan sighed, shook her head, and went directly to the kitchen to pour some hot water into the teapot and get the biscuits out. She placed both on the kitchen table, then beckoned for Luna to come and take a seat.

Luna stared desperately at the door, willing a customer to come in, but when no one did, she relented and sat down.

“Alright, now tell me what’s going on,”

said Jan, pouring the tea.

For a second, Luna debated lying, ignoring the question, or just not saying anything at all. But Jan was looking at her so kindly, and last night was weighing on her so heavily, that she sighed and spoke. “I invited Mia to come to dinner with my grandmother,” she said.

“With Evelyn?”

said Jan, eyebrows practically raising off her head. “Jesus, that was brave. This is kind of a big deal, huh?”

“It would have been,”

said Luna dismally. “If she’d shown up.”

Jan hesitated for a moment before speaking. “And… did you talk to her? Find out why?”

Luna’s jaw tightened. “No.”

Jan let out a short laugh, shaking her head. “Well, there you go then, that’s your problem right there, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t what?”

asked Luna, confused.

“You’re jumping to conclusions,”

said Jan, pushing the plate of biscuits toward Luna. “Biscuit?

Luna found herself taking a biscuit, biting off a corner. “I am?”

she said, cautiously.

“There are a million reasons why Mia might not have come, Luna. Maybe she got nervous about meeting your family, I’m sure that you’ve made Evelyn sound like an old battleaxe.”

“Probably because she is,”

put in Luna.

“Or maybe something came up. Maybe she had to work. Or maybe she just wasn’t ready yet, meeting someone’s family is kind of a big thing.”

Luna’s fingers curled around her mug. “Or maybe she just didn’t want to come.”

“Maybe,”

Jan agreed. “But the only way you’re going to know for sure is if you actually ask her.”

Luna puffed out a breath of air. She hated that Jan was right. And yet, the thought of reaching out to Mia made her stomach twist in knots. She didn’t do things like this. She walked away, that was what she was best at.

“If Mia’s important to you, then you’ll give her a chance to explain herself,”

Jan said sternly.

Luna closed her eyes and nodded. “Fine.”

She couldn’t avoid this forever. Maybe there was a simple explanation. And if she wanted answers, then she needed to go and get them. She opened her eyes again. “I’m going now though.”

“Go on,” said Jan.

The road to the hotel was busy. So busy, in fact, that Luna didn’t see them until she was almost at the hotel itself. She was so busy rehearsing what she was going to say, calming herself down, telling herself that communication was important and that there had to be a good reason for all of this.

And then the crowds cleared a little and she could see them.

Mia was standing at the entrance of the hotel, her arms crossed, her head tilted slightly as she spoke to him. Luna couldn’t hear the words, but she could see the look on Mia’s face.

And she froze.

***

Mikey looked tired, with gray shadows under his eyes. He must have gotten up early to drive all the way down here, Mia thought as she watched him.

“It was a lot of pressure,”

he was saying now. “I understand that.”

“Getting married?”

asked Mia.

He shrugged. “All of it. So much change. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t feel it too.”

“It was a lot,”

she agreed. “Dress fittings and flowers and all those expectations.”

He snorted. “Getting a whole new job and knowing that I’d have a family to support with it soon.”

She laid a hand on his arm. “I can’t promise you anything, Mikey.”

He nodded. “I know. I just… I wanted to see you. Wanted you to know that the more I think about it, the more I kind of understand. It’s not that I don’t love you, I do. I really do. But I see that we let other people make our plans for us, that we fell into the way things were supposed to be, which might not be the way we want them to be.”

“We did,”

she agreed. “And I don’t know if I’m ready to go back to those things.”

Mikey swallowed, but nodded. “I understand.”

He shuffled his feet. “We, um, we don’t have to. If that’s not what you want. I mean, I understand that you might not want me at all now. But if you did, if it was better, we could live differently. Not get married at all.”

He glanced up at her. “Or we could just go back to the way things used to be and never mention all of this again?”

She smiled at him then, almost laughing, shaking her head. “You’re trying really hard.”

“I am.”

“But, and I hate to say this, but it happens to be true, it’s not you, it’s me.”

He pressed his lips together but nodded. “I get it.”

He sighed. “And I’m here for you. I love you, Mia. However you want that love to look. Maybe I was blind before, but you going has opened up my eyes. I’m here for you, however you need that to be for you.”

And she couldn’t help herself. She stood up on tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, breathing in the scent of him as she did so.

***

Luna’s breath caught in her throat and suddenly, all the fight drained out of her. She watched as Mia pressed her lips to Mikey’s cheek and the worst-case scenarios unraveled before her eyes.

Of course Mia hadn’t come to dinner.

Mia was choosing her past. Choosing the safe, predictable life that she’d had before. And why wouldn’t she?

Luna had been nothing but a temporary distraction. An arrangement. A blip on the radar.

Her stomach twisted again, more painfully, her hands clenching and unclenching as she tried to catch a full breath.

And then she couldn’t watch anymore. She couldn’t wait and see what happened next. She couldn’t get her explanations. She turned and walked away before anyone could see her.

Before Mia could see her.

She didn’t cry, not letting herself lose control. But when she got back to the flower shop, it felt suffocating. It had always been a place of comfort for her, a calm, quiet place. And now it felt wrong.

“Well?”

Jan said, looking up from the order form she was filling in. “What happened?”

Luna grabbed her bag from the chair she’d left it on, avoiding Jan’s gaze. “It’s over.”

“Wait, what?”

asked Jan. “What do you mean it’s over? What happened?”

Luna’s grip tightened around the strap of her bag. “She was with Mikey.”

“And?”

“She kissed him.”

The words tasted bad on her tongue, bitter, and she could barely get them out.

Jan’s face softened. “Luna…”

But Luna had no bandwidth for this conversation. She shook her head. “I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

“Luna, wait—”

It was too late. She was already walking out of the door. She didn’t know where she was going, what she was going to do, only that she needed to get away. From the flower shop. From Mia. From everything.

Running away.

Just like she always did.