The Designated +1 by Ellie Cahill

Author:Ellie Cahill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-07T03:00:00+00:00

17

Public Humiliation on the Rocks

Anna Kelly’s wedding was as Irish as anything I’d ever seen outside St. Patrick’s Day. The groom wore a kilt, the ceremony music was played on a fiddle, and the bridesmaids wore green. More than one person commented on my red hair, telling me I fit right in.

I wanted to tell them there were more redheads in Scotland, thank you very much—redheads know facts about red hair, and we are not afraid to use them. And furthermore, I wasn’t even Irish. And neither were kilts! But I did the polite thing and laughed and smiled instead.

Anna and I had grown up together, along with the Bradys, Maddie Weiss, and Mike Radnor just to name a few. So the wedding guests were a familiar group. Lots of neighbors and other childhood friends. My own parents were there, as were the Bradys. And although Will and I were seated at the Singles Table, there were a few other familiar faces. It was more like a reunion than the usual social nightmare that is a table full of people without dates at a wedding.

Still, Will and I were committed to being each others’ +1 for the night. We chose seats next to each other and spent the cocktail hour taking turns getting drinks. No handholding this time, and as far as I knew, Will hadn’t told anyone we’d slept together. It felt like being there with a friend. Exactly the sort of evening you’d expect with someone you’d contracted to be your platonic +1. It was nice.

Except for James, it could have been a perfectly nice evening.

James Brady and his fiancée were at the wedding.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course they were invited. James knew Anna and the Kelly family as well as I did. But he knew Maddie too, and he hadn’t been at her wedding. I’d just kind of assumed he wouldn’t be at this one.

No such luck. I spotted him at the ceremony. A few rows ahead of me. It had been years since I saw him, and still I could recognize him by the back of his head.

Pathetic.

Worst of all, he looked good. I’d tried to convince myself over the years that he hadn’t been all that. That it was only because I was young and inexperienced that I’d thought he was so good looking. But, no. He still was. There was a resemblance to Will, but no more than a basic one. Something about the mouth. But where Will had dirty blond hair, James was dark, with clean-shaven cheeks, and a more groomed, put-together air. He was the kind of man that suits were grateful to be on. He looked like a J. Crew model. Or James Bond.

And his eyes. The most perfect shade of sapphire blue, surrounded by thick lashes.

Why did he have to be here?

Of course his fiancée was stunning. Tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, and pretty white teeth. No freckles. No scab on her forehead.

Will introduced me to her at the cocktail hour.

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