How to Steal Your Best Friend's Fiancé - London Casey Page 0,62
You just want to sit there, settle and hang out with Jackson and your other loser friends. I’m living my life. I’m getting somewhere. You’re not going to hold me back.”
“Trust me, babe, I’m not holding you at all,” I said.
I heard a groan in my head at how mean that sounded.
Miranda laughed. “I should have told you everything when I was drunk. Of how many times I’ve woken up in our apartment and felt like a stranger. And how many times you’ve felt like a stranger to me. Or the fact that you’re okay with planning our wedding with someone else. I just wanted to see what would happen. That was your moment to say no and do something bigger…”
“You know what, Miranda? Maybe instead of being manipulative all the time and setting up these scenarios in real life that play through your head… just talk. You have no problem with that. Unless it’s something serious.”
“Well, fuck you then,” she said. “I’m staying in Boston. Your ring is on its way. I hope you enjoy being alone. Because today? I’m going to take a shower, eat something, and go live my life. And the best part? Now I don’t have to worry about you. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“Good luck with that, Miranda.”
“I guess we both dodged a bullet then,” she said. “We would have just ended up as those people who get married for a month.”
“You think I’d spend a month married to you?” I asked, throwing another nasty comment her way.
She laughed again.
She fed off it.
I knew that though but I couldn’t help myself.
“Sit by the mailbox, Liam,” she said.
“For a ring? I don’t even care about it. Why don’t you pawn it and use that for an apartment?”
“With this ring? Please. What you paid for this couldn’t get me a decent meal.”
Miranda hung up.
I stood there, sort of numb, staring out the window.
My engagement - and relationship - just came to an end.
I hadn’t sat down yet.
I paced the office, talking to myself, talking to Jacob as I made him take notes on another case.
My goal was to keep my mind focused on work.
When I saw David, I made him make copies of projects I didn’t need copies for.
For Marie, I had her go through some depositions and come up with a new strategy.
It had been a couple hours since Miranda’s phone call.
I checked my phone a dozen times.
The thirteenth time, there was a text message from Miranda.
Ring is on its way. Thanks for nothing. Asshole.
That’s when I left the office.
I told Jacob to find something else to do and that was it for me.
I went to a bar and took care of my emotions the best way possible.
With whiskey.
I wasn’t sure what I cared about anymore or not.
Miranda. Emily. The ring. The wedding.
What actually mattered.
I paid my tab and when I stepped outside, I realized how late it was.
How long I had been sitting at that bar.
Hours had gone by.
Hours.
I told myself to go talk to Jackson.
He and Callie were probably fucking each other’s brains out.
I laughed out loud with nobody around me.
Drunk.
If I barged in on his apartment, he wouldn’t be the only person not fucking the woman they love…
After all those hours and all that whiskey…
I still couldn’t stop thinking about Emily.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Emily
I hugged the guitar with my right arm and took a selfie with it.
The first person I sent the picture to was Liam.
Then I sent it to a group text with Carla and Faye.
The original group text included Robin, but she got pissed when we would text all night and she just wanted to sleep because she had been feeling ill due to the pregnancy.
Faye replied with an excited face emoji.
Carla was a little more subtle.
Her text read FUCK YEAH!
Liam didn’t reply to me.
In fact… I hadn’t heard from Liam in almost two days.
Which was odd.
Part of it was probably my fault. I was so caught up in talking to Carla and Faye. Picking out songs. Getting to know each other. Both of them showed up to the bakery today and insisted I buy a guitar. Of course, they recruited both Lucy and Ember, and the four of them made it impossible for me not to go buy a guitar.
Not that I had the money or anything, but that’s what credit cards were for.
The second I touched the guitar, I smiled. I was happy.