I just wanted to stop by. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is!” I said, happy to have a distraction from my own depressing thoughts.
“Great.” She breathed a sigh of relief.
We left the office and went to the banquet hall to examine the space. We did a walk around and I instructed her as to the layout for the reception; the dance floor, the DJ stand, the bar, the head table for them plus their wedding party. Emily smiled, but the more we talked the more I noticed there was something behind her eyes I didn’t expect to see. Her grin was forced, voice caught in her throat, and the rims of her eyes looked to be doing overtime to hold back a heavy flow of tears.
At first I had every intention of ignoring the obvious signs. Not because I was some heartless bitch that didn’t care. Actually, it was because I had been on the verge of tears myself and if she started I didn’t know if I could have kept myself from holding back. Seeing her though, I couldn’t just ignore it. Emily didn’t come here to check out my progress—she came to talk.
“Emily, why don’t you tell me what’s going on,” I pressed, and her face scrunched up before a wave of tears poured out.
“Oh Danielle, I am so scared!” Her hands covered her face. I pulled her into my side and lead her to some chairs.
“Why are you scared, Emily?”
It took a couple more minutes of sobbing before she calmed enough to respond. “This is just such a big step. What if my Benny isn’t the one and we have this big wedding and end up divorced in a year?”
My first reaction was to say, that was the whole reason I didn’t even want to think about marriage. Saying that would NOT have been what she wanted to hear. Instead I reached over and pulled her hands away from her face.
“Does Ben make you laugh?”
“Yes.”
“Does he make your day better just by being there?”
“Always.”
“Do you have moments where you could strangle him because he is so damn stubborn or frustrating?”
She let out a loud laugh and nodded. “Oh yeah.”
“Your life seems empty, when you look back to before you were together.”
After a moment and a long sigh she agreed, “Yes.”
“And without realizing it Ben has become your best friend? The first person you want to share something good with. The first person you want to have there when you’re having a meltdown. And the only person you want to be with at any given moment of the day?”
Emily nodded, while the tears continued to stream down her face. “I do hope we can have what you and Corey have.”
“What?” Hearing his name sent a searing pain through my chest.
“You know all this because you found the one, right? I mean—you have the one you want and there’s no other?”
“Oh Emily…” The look on her face made it impossible to turn her down. Damn Corey for putting that thought into her head—he was the last one I had wanted to talk about.
“Don’t tell me you broke up?” The terror on her face pained me. Why was she so invested in us, and why was the question even more painful to think about?
“No, no, nothing like that. Just a big fight but those happen and you work through it. The way you and Ben will if something happens because your relationship is so much more important than any little thing that might come up.”
“It’s just that easy?” Emily asked with a smile. I shook my head. “No, it’s work and you have to fight like hell every day to keep hold of what you want. The point is— you found the one you want to fight for and from what I saw—he’s going to fight for you too.” Emily smiled and placed her hands over mine.
“You’re right, Dani, I knew there was some reason I ended up here out of the blue.” I smiled too but inside I hurt more than before. The empty feeling was in direct relation to Corey no longer being a part of my life. I ached to call him, wrap myself up in his arms and forget our ugly fight ever happened.
“Now why don’t you go on home and let Ben show you how much he loves you.” Emily wiped off her mascara stained cheeks as best she could.
“I think I will.” We stood and she pulled me in tight for a hug. “I