I had a very hard time imagining a woman such as Molly jumping into a marriage for a tax deduction. Then again, I had thought the same of Harry as well, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more of Harry’s brilliant idea.
Harry paused in massaging his temples. He gave me a long and disbelieving looking.
“Is that disappointment I see on your face?”
“Yes,” I said. “I don’t recognize who you even are, Harry. You’re a completely different man than my friend back in university.”
“Oh, please. How can you come down on me for this?” I looked away to adjust my tie one last time. “You were a complete ladies’ man here in England, but also over in New York. How many women have you slept with over the years?”
“More than I care to admit,” I said, tightly. “I grew up too, Harry. I haven’t slept with anyone in over a year.”
Harry arched an eyebrow. “That much is obvious. You’re a real tight ass now, mate.”
“I’ve been busy with my own business,” I gritted out and turned to look at Harry, who rightly looked away. “Don’t mess with me about my past. I’m here because you asked me to be here. I’m just disappointed in you is all.”
“If it comforts you,” Harry said, opening the door when someone knocked on the other side of it, “it’ll be the last time I’ll ever be looking at another woman the way I did last night.”
I didn’t take it to heart. I could see that change in Harry, and it didn’t sit well with me. Years of being in business, I could pick up on deception even among silver tongues. I knew Harry was lying about never cheating on Molly again.
It wasn’t my business though. I didn’t care.
The other groomsmen piled in with loud cheers. I could smell the alcohol wafting off of them as well.
“I can’t believe you’re up,” Jacob, the closest one I sensed, said to Harry. “We thought for sure that you’d be with that love of yours still.”
Harry shushed him as he shut the door shut in case someone walked by. I sat down on the bench away from them while they tried to sober up by drinking water and eating a few tea biscuits one of the groomsmen had found.
“We tried to find you a love last night,” Jacob said and turned to look over at me. He didn’t bother hiding the contempt in his eyes. “You left the celebrations a bit early for the best man.”
“I’ll gladly hand this honor to you,” I said, coldly. I smiled darkly at Jacob. “Although, I’m sure it was your brilliant idea to find a woman for Harry to sleep with.”
Jacob hackled defensively. “Hey, mate. I don’t appreciate the implications behind your words there. Harry has done this on his ow—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Harry said, flatly. “I asked Alfie to be my best man because it’s traditionally childhood friends who have these honors.”
“Whatever,” Jacob quipped and turned to look over at the other groomsmen. “I threw one hell of a bachelor party last night though. At least, I can say that.”
The wedding planner stepped into the room. She glanced over all of us with relief before informing Harry that the groomsmen needed to line up.
“For pictures,” she said. “All of you, chaps. Except for the groom himself and his best man for now.”
They filed out of the room with Jacob giving me one last withering look. I rolled my eyes when the door closed shut. In an hour, the entire ceremony would be over, and I’d gladly slip away from this mess.
Childhood friends. I shoved down the bitter taste in the back of my throat as Harry, a bit nervously, fiddled with various sections of his clothes. There were times to hold onto friendly ties and times to cut them loose. I didn’t want to think of Harry as a tie that I would have to let go of, but I couldn’t stand next to this type of lie.
“I’m sorry that you are disappointed,” Harry said. “People change over time. You know that as well as I do.”
The tone of Harry’s voice suggested otherwise. He didn’t care what I thought. That much was obvious from the bored look he had on his face as he sat down in the chair opposite of me to wait.
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing too,” I said. “Molly would be—”
“Molly doesn’t need to find out about it,” Harry cut in, harshly. He gave me a warning glare that did little to phase me. “Pick a side, Alfie. You’re either on a side with me, or you’re on a side with yourself.”
“I really don’t have much of a choice,” I replied, dryly. “Those groomsmen are pretentious douche bags. I can see them egging you on to behave like a douche bag yourself.”
“For the last time, Molly knew what she was getting into when I asked her to her marry me. She’s a smart woman.” He stared at me coldly. “Do you honestly think this was all my idea today?”
I didn’t bother replying. The wedding planner returned to get us both for pictures and to line up in our places in the chapel.