28. Sophie

CHAPTER 28

SOPHIE

" I really needed this," Amy groaned as the lady massaged her foot.

"Me too," Sophie agreed.

Today she and her maid of honor were getting a full pampering. They had just received an hour-long full-body massage and were now getting manicures and pedicures.

They sat side by side in the chairs, each of them with one woman working on their hands, another on their feet.

The lady doing Sophie's pedicure removed her feet from the hot water and began exfoliating them with a scrub that smelled like coconut.

"So," Amy said. "How have you and Noah been? Is he getting nervous?"

Sophie shrugged. "Everything's been pretty normal."

Normal in the sense of their agreement, at least. Roommate, coworker, and occasional friend.

"And what about you? Getting excited?"

"Definitely excited for it to be over," Sophie responded.

Amy side-eyed her in concern.

Sophie rushed to continue. "We've just been really busy since this whole thing started. It will be nice to be able to relax for a while, ya know?"

"That's fair, especially since you'll have your hands full when the baby arrives."

"Exactly," Sophie agreed.

She hoped she had recovered from Amy's question. The last thing she needed was for her friends and family to start questioning whether or not she and Noah were happy.

Sophie just needed to get through the next couple of days until the wedding. Then everything would be back to normal.

Though, she didn't really know what her new normal would be. She had been so busy with everything that she hadn't really considered what would happen when everything slowed down again. Once the wedding was over, she and Noah would barely have a reason to speak to each other apart from work.

Her body had begun to tense up and the woman doing her manicure asked her to relax her hand. Sophie sighed and closed her eyes, trying to relax back into the seat.

Everything was going to be fine.

It seemed that time went by regardless of whether or not you were having fun. Their wedding day was in two days, meaning in less than forty-eight hours she would be Mrs. Birch. It didn't feel real. Maybe because it wasn't.

Sophie laid awake, restless in her bed. Her feelings about Noah and the wedding were complicated. She had started to feel numb. Detached from everything.

She supposed it was normal to have doubts before a wedding, even for those who are in love. So it would only make sense that Sophie's doubts would be greater, considering that she and Noah were not in love. Unable to take her racing thoughts any longer, she made her way to the kitchen for a cup of tea.

To her surprise, she found Noah there as well, sitting at the island. It was late, almost one in the morning.

"Didn't you get the memo about beauty sleep?" he asked.

Sophie laughed. "I guess not."

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah, the baby's good."

"I meant with you," he countered.

Sophie avoided looking at him and began making her tea. "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Annoyance bristled inside her. It was a little late to be asking how she was considering they had barely spoken since the night they had sex.

"Maybe because we're getting married in two days?"

"Are we? I must have forgotten," she said sarcastically. The kettle began to shriek and Sophie pulled it off the stove, pouring it into her mug.

Noah's voice was serious this time. "Time kind of flew by, didn't it?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "It did."

"Feels like only yesterday we made this deal…"

"Yeah," she agreed again. "I guess this is our last time seeing each other before the wedding."

"It is?" he questioned.

"I got us each a hotel room at the venue." Sophie wrapped her hands around her mug and leaned on the island. "You don't have to stay there, of course, but the room is booked. You could always sleep here and get ready there in the morning if you want. The girls and I have a day planned tomorrow and our dinner reservations are right beside it, so I'll probably just sleep there."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I have plans with Bradley to go golfing tomorrow, so we'll see."

"No strippers, then?" She raised a dark eyebrow.

Noah laughed. "No strippers."

"Well, I should probably get some sleep," she told him.

He nodded, getting to his feet. "Me too."

She made her way back to the hall.

"Sophie?"

She turned. "Yeah?"

Noah looked as if he were about to say something but changed his mind. "Good night."

Sophie held back a sigh. "Night."

There was no use wondering what he was going to say. She flicked on the light when she entered her room, her eyes snagging on a blue box under her bed.

Sophie paused, blowing out a long breath before bending down to pick it up. She took out the book one last time, flipping through a few pages before tossing it into the trash can.

After the wedding, there would be no use for it.

Sophie turned off the light and crawled back into bed.