Collateral Damage - Giulia Lagomarsino Page 0,122

down, curled a little, but she was right, it wasn’t exactly a wedding look.

“Ooh, I have just the thing.” She ran to her closet and pulled down a box. When she opened it, she pulled out an old fashioned hair comb that would just slide into my hair. She hurried over and pulled my hair back on the right side of my head and slid the comb in. “There, that looks perfect.”

My nerves were fluttering out of control, but we couldn’t delay any longer. It was already way past time for the wedding to start.

“Who’s going to stand up with you?” Kat asked.

“You. I don’t have anyone else.”

Kat nodded and snatched the flowers from Chrissy’s hands. “Alright, mine are downstairs.” She stood back and looked Robert and I over. “I think that’s as good as we can do at the last minute.”

“I got the earrings,” Joe said as he ran in the room.

“What took you so long?” Robert chastised.

“I went as fast as I could. Oh, and I went through her drawers and found some lingerie for your wedding night,” he grinned. “You can thank me later.”

Kat slapped him upside the head. “What is it with you and going through women’s drawers?”

“Hey, I was doing a service for my brother. He should be thanking me, much like you did.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Robert said, grabbing my hand. “Right now, we have to get out there and make this happen.”

“Okay.”

We all rushed down the stairs and I almost ran out the door with him when Kat grabbed my arms. “Hold on, you can’t walk out there with him. You’re supposed to go down the aisle by yourself.”

“Shit! I have no one to walk me down the aisle!”

“I’ll do it,” someone said from behind me. I spun around to see Carter standing there with a grin on his face.

“Are you kidding me? There’s no way you’re walking me down the aisle.”

“Oh, come on. It’s kind of poetic. Me, handing you off to Robert. It’s kind of perfect.”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to start a fight.”

“Do you have someone better in mind?”

I glanced around, trying to find anyone that could walk me down the aisle, but Robert’s brothers had already walked outside to stand beside him or take their seats.

“Fine, but no shenanigans.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I swear.”

“If you pull anything, I swear to God, I’ll beat you with a bat, and I’m pretty sure Jack will stand by and watch.”

“I’m not afraid of my boss,” he grinned.

“Just keep your hands to yourself and don’t do anything stupid.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Alright, I’m going to give the signal for the music,” Kat said, walking outside to take her place.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the flowers off the table where Kat had set them for me. I could do this. It wasn’t a real wedding. I was walking down the aisle toward the man I always loved, but none of it was real. It would be totally fine.

“I always knew you would end up with Robert,” Carter whispered as he took my arm and wrapped it through his.

“Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “You just fit.”

“Then why did you pull all that shit at Thanksgiving?”

“I was giving him a nudge.”

I stopped walking and looked at him. “You humiliated me.”

“No, only your family was around, and they are your family,” he nodded outside. “I knew it would take something big to get him to make a move. You don’t know how hard it is to stand by and watch the woman you love pine for another man her whole life.”

I felt like all the air was sucked out of the room as I took in his words. “You’re…what?”

“Relax,” he smiled easily. “I’ve always known I would never have you. All those years that you were in town, all by yourself, I knew even though you were lonely that I could never replace Robert. That’s why I never made a move. It’s so clear how much you love him. I’m not one to purposely break my own heart.”

That was sort of sweet, and as he stared at me, I finally saw it in his eyes. It was the way he was looking at me, like he knew he was about to lose something he desperately wanted. Suddenly, I felt like this was the worst idea in the world. I didn’t want to be responsible for breaking anyone’s heart. And I wasn’t cruel enough to make him walk me down the aisle, fake wedding or not.

“Maybe this

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