‘How desperate,’ Caitlin said, giving Laurel a look.
Melissa tutted, and wrapped an arm around Laurel’s shoulder. ‘Now, Caitlin, don’t be catty. Not everyone is as lucky as me, you know, to find such a perfect true love so easily.’
Laurel’s shoulders stiffened under her half-sister’s touch. Why was she doing this? Why bother pretending she was still sweetness and light? Surely everyone had to have at least glimpsed the real Melissa by now.
But from the way Iona was smiling at Melissa she knew they hadn’t. They still believed that Melissa was on everyone else’s side. That she wasn’t a stone-cold witch who’d do whatever it took to take down anyone she perceived as a rival for her attention.
Of course, they were very, very wrong.
‘Really, Laurel, what were you thinking?’ Iona asked. ‘Everyone knows that fake relationship plot device never works out well in the movies.’
Except it hadn’t been a plot device, or a movie. It had been her life. Her heart on the line in the end.
She’d offered him a chance at a future, a shot at a happy-ever-after when the credits had rolled on Melissa’s wedding. Their own story—together—without worrying about anyone else.
And he’d turned her down. He’d made it abundantly clear that all he was interested in was a few days of fun before he got back to his real life.
Which either meant he was an idiot, or he really didn’t feel the same connection she did. Or possibly both.
Melissa and Caitlin had turned to look at her now, waiting for her to answer Iona’s question.
Laurel took a breath and realised that her next words were in some way her first line. The first sentence of her new story—after Melissa, after Dan, after everything. Just her.
‘Honestly?’ she said. ‘I was thinking that this was going to be the week from hell, and it would be nice to have some friendly company while I endured it. Now, if you two don’t mind, I need to speak to my sister. In private.’
Iona and Caitlin both looked to Melissa, whose expression had turned flinty.
‘Why don’t you two head up to the hotel and wait for us in the lobby with the ushers? See if you can find my maid of honour, too,’ she said. ‘Dad will be here to walk me down the aisle at any moment, anyway.’
The bridesmaids didn’t look happy about it, but they gathered up their bouquets and headed out to find their opposite numbers amongst the groomsmen. As the door shut behind them Melissa smoothed down her wedding dress once more and turned to Laurel.
‘Well? What on earth do you have to say to me?’
‘First off, you made a mistake inviting my ex-boyfriend to your wedding.’
Melissa rolled her eyes. ‘That’s what all this is about? Really, Laurel, when are you going to grow up and understand that it can’t be all about you all the time?’
The hypocrisy was almost enough to make her choke, but Laurel managed to go on. ‘Not because of me—although, actually, any sister with a hint of empathy wouldn’t do that to a person—but because he’s engaged to a gossip columnist. One whose magazine has offered anyone who can get a shot of your wedding dress in advance a really hefty fee.’
Melissa sniffed. ‘No one here would do that to me. They love me too much. Besides, they’ve all signed non-disclosure agreements. I’d sue them.’
Laurel restrained herself from pointing out that if she was so sure they all loved her that much then surely they wouldn’t have needed the non-disclosure agreements.
‘Not everyone signed one.’
‘Well, they should have done!’ Melissa sprang to her feet. ‘That was your job. If you let a guest RSVP without signing, or a member of the hotel staff—’
‘Not a guest,’ Laurel said calmly. ‘And not the hotel staff. Me. You never asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement.’
‘Well, of course not! You’re my sister. You wouldn’t...’ Uncertainty blossomed in Melissa’s eyes. ‘What have you done?’
‘Nothing. Yet.’
Laurel moved to sit in the armchair at the centre of the room and motioned for Melissa to take the sofa opposite.
‘Sit. I have a number of things I want to say to you.’
Frowning, Melissa did as she was told, and a brief surge of satisfaction bloomed in Laurel’s chest.
‘I am getting married in ten minutes. In case you’ve forgotten.’
‘This won’t take long,’ Laurel promised. ‘Besides, it’s the bride’s prerogative to be late.’
‘So? What do you need to say to me so desperately?’
Laurel thought about it for a moment. She’d never expected even to get this far. Now that she had Melissa there...listening to her...she didn’t think there was enough time in the world to make her understand everything she needed to.
So she decided to focus on what mattered most.
‘I want you to know that I could have sent this photo to Coral’s magazine and made a fortune—but I didn’t.’ She flashed the screen of her phone at her, showing the shot of the wedding dress hanging from the staircase. ‘Not because you’re my sister, or because you’d sue me, or anything like that. But because that’s not the sort of person I want to be. Okay? But there was a part of me...not a small part of me, either...that thought you’d deserve it. For not paying me a decent wage for organising this wedding. For being so awful to people when the people who matter to you aren’t looking. For what you did to Eloise. And for what you just did to me.’
‘What did I do to you?’ Melissa cried, indignant. ‘You’re the one who lied to us all.’
‘I did—to start with,’ Laurel admitted. ‘But after that it was more than the lie, even if Dan can’t admit that. But you know what? I was putting my heart out there. I was having a moment with the man I...’
Laurel swallowed, feeling as if there was a Christmas tree bauble stuck in her throat. But it wasn’t a decoration—it was the truth, bubbling up inconveniently when she couldn’t do a thing about it.
‘The man I love. And you made it all about you. About your wedding, and your thunder.’
‘You’re in love with him?’ Melissa looked incredulous. ‘Why? He’s just a stand-in. A stuntman.’
‘He’s more than you’ll ever see,’ Laurel said. ‘He’s real in a way you’ll never be. In a way that I want to be.’
Dan wasn’t a prince, wasn’t a fairy tale. This wasn’t the right time, or the right place. But he was the right man. And she knew in an instant, even after he’d turned her down, that she’d rather have him here, now, always, than some mythical prince who might never arrive.
It was just a shame she wasn’t enough for him to take the chance.
She got to her feet, almost done. It was time to walk out there, watch Melissa get married, and get on with her life—with or without Dan. A
nd apparently it was to be without.
‘So, here’s what I want you to know most of all,’ she said. ‘It’s not all about you. Life isn’t the Melissa Sommers show. We all get our own starring roles, and we don’t just have to play supporting actress to you. You can’t treat people like they don’t matter just because they can’t give you something, or do something for you. And that means that I don’t have to pay for your childhood any longer. I’m not responsible for what our father did, and it’s not up to me to make you feel better about that. From now on I’m only taking responsibility for my own actions. And the only things I’ve done this week are try to give you a perfect wedding and fall in love. Okay?’
Melissa’s eyes were wide, astonishment clear in them. But she nodded.
‘Great. Then let’s go get you married.’ She held out a hand to her sister and helped her up.
At least then she’d be officially Riley’s problem and not Laurel’s.
CHAPTER TEN
DAN MADE HIS way along the frosted drive, back to the main hotel. His head was still spinning from everything Laurel had said, and that was all tied up with Melissa’s laughter, echoing through his brain. A chance. A future. Everything she’d offered him he’d wanted to take. But he’d known he couldn’t.
He wasn’t good enough. He couldn’t live up to the sort of expectations Laurel had for her future. She wanted everything—love, forever, happiness. And for the first time since Cassie had left he wanted to give that to someone. He wanted to be what someone else needed him to be.
But he couldn’t. How could he promise Laurel everything she wanted when he already knew he wouldn’t be able to deliver? He’d never been enough for anyone before—and he had no faith that he’d suddenly be able to be now.
Dan fought the urge to go and get lost in the woods—to escape, to run. His little brother was getting married. So he couldn’t.
He couldn’t do anything, it seemed, except what he’d always done. Rebel against expectations. Go the opposite way to the one people wanted him to. Carry on being who he was, with the little he knew he was allowed. Financial success, business success, friends, an estranged family and a series of women for whom he would never be ‘the one’.