“So you got everything?”

“I think so,” Drake said. “I’m going to pay last instalment on the tuxes, then I need to do the same for the bakery, and then I swing by the caterers. Then I go cry into my empty wallet.”

“Funny.” Reese unbuckled her seat belt and then leaned over to give him a quick peck on the lips. “So I’ll see you at my mom’s later?”

“Yes. I might be a little late, got to swing by the garage first.”

“Okay,” she replied, distracted. “I’ll see you later.”

“Love you baby, have fun.”

Reese was so preoccupied with the list of jobs in front of her that she forgot to reply or wave goodbye as she got out of the car. Her eyes were firmly on her lists as she started walking off towards the dress shop. The wedding plan was like a hydra – you crossed one task off and five more appeared in its place. Drake merely shook his head and smiled wryly to himself, wondering how much slower the time could pass until they’d said vows and he got his other half back. She was so buried in the planning she sometimes forgot to come up for air. He pulled away and gave a fruitless wave to his fiancée who still wasn’t watching.

She rushed through the door into the dress shop only to be met by the sight of two bridesmaids already in their dresses. They were peering in the full length mirrors, twirling and strategically readjusting the material. It all looked lovely, but the picture was strange because they shouldn’t have started already. They should only just be getting there, not already be in the dresses and looking ensconced in the fitting. Was she late? A quick glance at her watch told her otherwise, so why were they already dressed?

“I see you started without me, what gives?”

“Sorry, sweetie, didn’t you get my text?” Jenna asked. “Dean had to change his shift so I’m on borrowed time, we thought if we got here earlier then we could get me over with and then I could scoot while y’all finish up.”

“Oh, okay. No problem. Phew, was thinking my watch had stopped or something.”

It was meant to be a joke but it fell flat – not because she didn’t mean it as a joke, but the mood was entirely wrong. Jenna and Nadine exchanged glances, not failing to notice. Reese had pushed a hand through her chestnut hair and was frowning down at her wedding binder, which Nadine referred to as the Doomsday Book. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was not in a great headspace. Stress was coming off of her in waves, so potent that it filled the room with a palpable tension. Hard set lines creased her face and made her look tired. The girls had been giggling excitedly before she came in, now in the blink of an eye the atmosphere had completely changed. They were immediately concerned and on eggshells; Reese could be a little highly-strung when she was worried about something.

“Everything okay?” Nadine ventured cautiously.

“Yeah, just stupid busy.” Reese rolled her eyes and gave a shrug, a strained smile on her face which tried and failed to be jovial. “So, anyway, y’all look great. How they fitting?”

“Good, good,” Jenna tried to sound perky, swishing the skirt in her hands and twisting so Reese could get a multi-angled view. “Karen said she still wants to take them up a little so she’s gone to find the shoes to put us in first. They won’t be the right colour but she says she has the same kind as the ones we’re waiting on.”

She eyed the lavender chiffon critically and nodded. “Yeah, I can go for that. I know you’re in bare feet but even so that looks like a little much bunching up on the floor.”

“Speaking of which, I dropped into the salon on my way here and they said no problem for the appointments. Manis plus pedis day before and they’ll send a couple of girls over to do our hair morning of.”

“Oh you’re a lifesaver Nade, thank you!” That was one more place she didn’t have to go this afternoon. She grabbed the pen which she had tied to the binder and scribbled it off of the list. “Anyway, seriously, how are they feeling? They comfortable, can you breathe, any concerns about bras?”

Jenna jokingly grabbed her breasts. “These things are practically like scaffolding, I think we’ll be okay. Yours are going to be at your chin if these are anything to go by, you got even more corset on yours.”

“Yeah, think you should definitely do a sit down and bend over test in yours because I gotta say, I physically can’t slouch in this,” Nadine said. “Must be doing wonders for our posture.”

“Yeah, well, my turn to be trussed up soon!”

There it was again – something was obviously bugging her. It was the tone more than anything that gave it away. Reese obviously wasn’t being rude or standoffish, but the tone spoke volumes. It said that her mind was elsewhere and that she was less than thrilled to be there. The mood she’d brought in with her was fractious and it was strange, given how much she’d talked about the dress appointment. She’d been so excited about wanting to see the three of them together in their dresses for the first time.

Nadine gingerly decided to poke the bear again. “Are you sure you’re alright, hon? You look a little tense.”

“Ahh, I’m sorry.” Reese shook her head as if to shake free cobwebs, looking apologetic. “It’s just been non-stop all damn day and we’ve haemorrhaged a ridiculous amount of money in the last few hours. I knew it was coming but it still hurts.”

“Been there!” Jenna was sympathetic. “I promise though you won’t give a shit when you’re having an amazing day.”

“God I hope so,” she laughed. “At this rate I’m not sure Drake remembers why he wanted to marry this really pissed off lady who looks like his girlfriend but doesn’t act like her.”

“Come on, let’s go get you into your dress and then you’ll feel better.”

The bridesmaids exchanged another glance – one that silently added ‘we hope.’

**

Of all the jewellery stores in all the world, his ex-fiancée had to be in the one he’d just walked into. In fairness there was only one in the town, she couldn’t go elsewhere, but did she have to be there when he was? He’d already had to swing a quick and unexpected left to avoid the dress shop when he’d seen her walk in there, which had already put him behind schedule. The problem was that he had to pass it to get where he needed to go but didn’t want to catch sight of her through the window. The last thing he needed was to catch sight of her in a bridal gown. Even though they’d never set a date she had gone on some initial fact finding missions for dresses and it was painful to remember how happy she’d looked when she came home after. For how little they’d managed to plan their doomed wedding there seemed to be way too many details of it swimming in his brain.

Justin knew full well he’d never have been able to prevent himself looking, masochistic as that was. So he had instead completely re-ordered his errands into an entirely illogical sequence to avoid temptation (he’d figured she couldn’t take more than an hour), and thankfully that had worked. Or it had worked until he’d walked into the same store as her. There she was, in jeans and a plaid shirt and the battered brown boots he’d failed to get her to toss away even though they were falling apart. Life clearly hated him; this was what he got for being from a small town. There wasn’t enough room in it for both of them, but he was just going to have to suck it up.

So was she, despite the cantankerous look she immediately got on her face. Justin had never liked it when Reese scowled. It was the way her lips pushed together. They became thin and pinched; it gave her the look of an old schoolteacher. Even so, she had to know that they still needed to co-exist and if she insisted on living there then it meant running into him. He had as much right to be there as she did.

“Hey, Justin.”

“Hey Mr Walker,” he tried to keep it light. No need to let her know he was bothered. “Came in to pick up my dad’s watch, was just a glass replacement?”

“Sure thing, son, I’ll go grab it. Think Reese here needs a little more thinking time anyway.” He smiled kindly at her before disappearing into his back room. 

Reese was pointedly staring down at the choices in front of her, refusing to acknowledge him or look him in the eye. She’d already been dithering for about five minutes straight over a simple choice and Justin’s presence really wasn’t helping. She was too aware of him. Even when she couldn’t see the body she could sense him moving and even catch a whiff of leather jacket. It was distracting and an irritant, as if she wasn’t already on edge as it was.

It wasn’t long before Justin cracked. He was getting itchy in the quiet.

“Hey. Umm… how’s it going?”

Very slowly her head turned in his direction and she looked up to glare at him. “Really? You’re going to pretend to be friendly now?”

Ouch – oh well, he’d earned it. “Not pretending. Just… I don’t know. Trying to be civil.”

“That must be difficult for you.”

The sarcasm felt like drops of acid hitting his face. His skin was hot and prickly. “Okay, I deserve that, I was a jackass at the party. I’m sorry.”

Reese was completely unprepared for the apology, and doubly unprepared for its sincerity. There was no trace of guile in his face and his voice had borne no lie. It threw her off balance and her default reaction was to continue hitting out. “He admits it. Wonders never cease.”

“Look, Reese, I know you hate me and I know you have reason to, I’ve been a dick about pretty much everything, but this town’s too small to avoid each other and it’s just more painful for the both of us if we keep sniping at each other. Could we maybe dial it down to awkward politeness?”

She was taking this to mean that Trace had said something to him or that he was up to something. There was no way in hell he was showing that kind of humility of his own volition, especially after everything. He had delighted in making her uncomfortable and taking shots at her ever since the break up – apparently breaking her heart wasn’t enough fun by itself, he had to twist the knife – so this turn around couldn’t be taken at face value. Something was going on behind it.

Still, conveniently enough for him if she refused she would then look like the unreasonable one. He’d always had a way of that, twisting everything to make her look like the bad guy whenever they fought. Even now when he was patently the one who’d screwed everything up he was still making her sound like the ass for being mad and expressing it. The only thing left to do was to keep silent and refuse to answer, so that was what she did She turned back to the rings in front of her, wondering why it was so hard to pick between plain gold and gold with a very tiny pattern around the rim. There was little difference, and surely she either liked the pattern or she didn’t (Drake had left the choice entirely to her). Why was this taking so long, even before her ex walked in to aggravate her?

“I thought you didn’t like yellow gold?”

If Justin had considered that sentence for even a millisecond before he opened his mouth he never would have uttered it. Any amount of thought about it would have immediately warned him that she would take it as an insult. Damn his inability to take the silence.

“Fuck you, Justin, I’m trying to pick my god damn wedding ring and I don’t need you bitching at me about it. Nobody cares what you think, you are no longer the groom and you no longer get a say.”

That last jab hurt, a lot. “I didn’t mean it badly, I swear, it was just a genuine question.”

“Like I believe that coming from you.”

“Yeah and I guess I earned that too but honestly, Reese, I wasn’t saying it to be an ass. I just didn’t think you liked it that was all. There’s nothing wrong with it if you changed your mind, I know you’ve changed your mind about a lot of things since… you know.”

Thankfully she didn’t pick up on that one. That one did have an edge creeping into it, though he did his best to swallow it down.

“Sorry we can’t all afford platinum.”

If it was possible he was even less comfortable than before. It boggled his mind to think that she had gone from being a woman with a pretty sizable salary in her own right to someone who had to buy a wedding ring in a metal she didn’t like because she couldn’t afford it. What’s more, it was her choice. She had made the choice to move out of LA completely and to move back home to a job that was completely beneath her talents and pay scale. He could understand her moving out, but he really couldn’t understand why she’d given up her entire career when she’d always enjoyed it so much. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford to live in LA herself. Maybe she wouldn’t have had the benefit of him paying the bills any more, but she could have done fine. And if not in LA, somewhere more commensurate with the person she was than the backwater part of Tennessee they called home. It was a big country and he couldn’t live in all of it.

“Actually…” A thought occurred to him. “I can’t believe I forgot about this but you know there’s still the money that you put in our joint account, right?”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I hadn’t even given it a second thought until now, but I can imagine with the wedding costs and everything you could really use it. And no I’m not saying that to be an ass about your income either.”

Reese wasn’t even able to muster sarcasm this time. She blinked at him in disbelief, unable to process what she was hearing. After waiting a little too long for a reply that wasn’t forthcoming he rushed on anyway.

“I mean, what with how fast you left and everything I guess neither of us… umm, anyway, it’s got to be a decent amount and you should have it back. No need for you to get stuck with a ring you don’t like, I mean, you… got to wear it the rest of your life and all. You should have one you want.”

Her lack of verbal response was beginning to unnerve him. She was actually gaping.

“I, uhh… I guess if I give them a call later and I can just have them wire it? They can probably check the records for how much went in there from you.”

Something about the practicalities finally broke her from her stupor. “Uhhh… okay. Yeah. Please.” The words she knew she ought to be saying were ‘thank you’ but she was too stunned. He’d actually said something helpful instead of nasty; that took some adjusting to.

“Okay. I will. Good luck with the rings, though, whatever you pick.”

If that change of topic seemed sudden all became clear when Mr Walker reappeared – apparently Justin had heard him coming. She continued to stare down at the rings in front of her in a stunned hush as Justin paid for the repair to his dad’s watch and mumbled an awkward farewell to both her and the owner. She didn’t see him leave, just heard the tinkling of the bell and the light click of the door behind him.

“So, we made a decision?” He asked cheerfully.

“Umm…” Reese bit her lip and then shook her head. Her fingers rubbed at her aching temples. “You know what, I need a second opinion, I’ll bring Drake back with me another time.”

“Sure thing, I’ll…” She was already departing and had flung the door open even before he started the sentence. “Never mind.”