13. Bailey

My ovaries tingled,and my heart was in my throat as I watched Cole walk away in his white shirt, faded blue jeans, and Timberlands. Instead of looking like he just walked out of the pages of GQ, he looked like he had just walked off a construction site. I had to admit, I preferred blue-collar Cole to white-collar Cole.

There was something so sexy about a man who did manual labor.

The summer I started dating Simon, we met through our volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. I will never forget the first time I saw him. It was after a long day's work. He'd been dressed almost identically to Cole; his hair was sweaty, his muscles were pronounced, and when he walked by, all the hormones that had lain dormant for fourteen years came to life. It was the first time I'd sneezed at anything not cold or allergy-related.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I wondered if that was how my brain had been rewired to think the two were related. Simon had been really dusty when he introduced himself. We talked for about half an hour, and the whole time I was tingly from my head to my feet. Before he left, he hugged me goodbye, and I sneezed.

Holy shit.I may have just solved one of the greatest mysteries of my life, all thanks to Construction Worker Cole.

As I put the key into the glass door, I noticed a piece of paper beside my foot on the sidewalk. I picked it up and was going to throw it away when I saw that it was the receipt that was on top of the pink box that held Cole's sister's cake. His phone number and address were on it. Without running it past the moral authority in my brain, I folded it up and put it in my pocket before going inside and locking the door.

I told myself I'd only kept it so I could return it to him, not because I wanted the information on it. Whether or not I believed myself was a moot point. I tried to shake all thoughts of Cole the Builder out of my head as I set up for the appointment I had with Devin, the stunning girl who had walked in off the street without an appointment two weeks ago.

I'd barely sat down behind the desk when the bell on the door rang. I wasn't expecting Devin and her fiancé for another thirty minutes, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was early. Her wedding was just two weeks away. I'd wondered to myself if it was a shotgun wedding, but when Birdie offered her a mimosa while she was trying on bridal gowns last week, she'd had three glasses.

I walked to the front door, still high from the epiphany I'd had as to why I sneezed when I was attracted to someone and wondering if I'd ever get the chance to tell Cole that he had facilitated me solving a great mystery of my life. When I turned the bolt, I told myself to focus on the job at hand and stop thinking about Cole the Builder.

"Hey, you're a little bit early, but…" My words trailed off when I lifted my head and saw that Devin wasn't alone. And it wasn't her fiancé standing beside her. It was Simon. "Simon, hi."

"Hi." His lips flattened into a straight line.

He was here, finally here, and he didn't even look happy to see me. My stomach plummeted. I'd have to ask Devin if she could wait so I could find out what was going on.

"I know we're early," Devin remarked as she snuggled against Simon's arm. "When I told Matty who we were meeting with, he insisted we come early."

Wait.

What?!

What was going on?!

"Matty?" I breathed out, my voice barely audible.

"I hate the name Simon!" Devin's face contorted. "I mean, what is he, a chipmunk?"

Right, and one of his middle names was Matthew. His dad, who was the third, was actually called Matthew.

"So you two are…"

"Engaged! Yes! And it's the funniest thing. I didn't know that you were the Bail—" Devin stopped speaking before she even finished saying my name. "Actually, can we come in?"

"Oh, um, sure. Sorry, yes." I stepped back, holding the door, as Devin and Simon walked inside.

My head was so light, I was afraid it was going to float off my shoulders. Or maybe it had, and I was having an out-of-body experience. I felt like I was witnessing this interaction as an outsider looking in.

I was completely detached from myself as I watched Simon look around the shop. The last time he'd seen it, Grandma Betty was still running it, even though she was semi-retired. Billie, Birdie, and I hadn't made any changes until after she passed.

All of the flooring was new. We'd taken out two walls to give the space a larger feel. All of our dresses now hung from uniform black racks. We'd added an additional seating area with four oversized, swivel bouclé armchairs. We'd removed the acoustic ceiling tiles, which gave us four extra feet of height. We painted the new ceiling black and left the ductwork and pipes exposed, giving the space an upscale industrial feel.

"Wow, this looks great. You've done a great job. Betty would be proud."

Hearing Simon say my grandma's name when he hadn't even come to her funeral hit me differently than I'd expected. At the time she'd passed, I'd told myself that, of course, he couldn't fly home from London. But now, now that he was here with his fiancée, the flowers he'd sent didn't seem sufficient.

"It looks amazing in here, Bay."

Hearing him use my nickname caused my heart to lodge in my throat. I couldn't breathe past the emotion choking me. I began to panic as I tried to inhale. I told myself that I just needed to calm down. There was nothing actually blocking my airways. It just felt like that because I was starting to hyperventilate, which was not going to happen in front of my ex and his fucking fiancée.

"I know, right?! I told you this place is amazing!" Devin looked around before reaching up and patting Simon's chest.

His chest. That had always been one of my favorite parts of him. I loved lying with my head against his chest after we made love, or if we were snuggling on the couch, or when we danced. Tears began to prick my eyes as the realization that that was never going to happen again dawned on me.

No, stop it. I could not let my mind go down that path.

"I told you, Matty, she's the best!" Devin enthused.

"You didn't have to tell me." His brown eyes stared into mine. "I know she's the best."

You know I'm the best?Then why wasn't I the one you asked to marry? Why wasn't I the one with the ring on her finger?

I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out. Throw up. Or cry. Maybe all three.

Whenever I was in a situation that felt out of my depth, I always asked myself, WWOD? What would Olivia do? There was no way my bestie would let them see how much this was affecting her. She'd hold it together and then plot her revenge.

I had no plans of getting revenge, but I would rather die than let either of them witness my vulnerability.

"Would you like something to drink?" I forced myself to smile.

"Tea would be amazing." Devin lowered down onto the sofa, making herself right at home. "Oolong, if you have it."

"Um, I'm not sure." I hadn't even heard of oolong tea, but since Billie took care of our stock and her taste was more refined than mine, we might have it.

"If not, Earl Grey is fine."

I nodded and then looked over at Simon.

"I'm good."

That made one of us, I thought as I turned and walked back into our kitchenette.

From the back room, I could hear Devin talking a mile a minute. Her energy seemed different today, different than when she'd shown up unannounced two weeks ago.

Had she known that I knew Simon? Had he ever talked about me? Was this all just a huge coincidence?

No. It couldn't be. Could it?

After taking a deep breath, I heard my Grandpa Bill's voice saying, "Life's tough, but so are you. Suck it up, Buttercup." He always loved saying that to me and my sisters. If we fell off our bikes, or if one of us didn't want to eat whatever dinner was prepared, or if we complained about homework. "Life is tough, but so are you. Suck it up, Buttercup."

As a kid, it irritated me. But he'd been gone for ten years, and I couldn't count the number of times I'd heard his voice in my head saying the thing that used to frustrate me. Now, it got me through hard things.

When I walked back out, I saw that Simon was seated beside Devin on the tufted bride and groom high back loveseat that sat against the brick wall. His hand was resting on her knee. The knee that was attached to her mile-long legs. Unlike the past two times I'd seen Devin, today she was wearing a sundress that hit her mid-thigh. Mid-tanned-toned-thigh.

"We only had Earl Grey." I set the tea down in front of her, and as she leaned forward, his hand slid from her leg. I wondered if that was for my benefit. Not that I had any illusions that anything Simon did or did not do was for my benefit. Today cured me of that misgiving.

"So, your wedding is in two weeks." I started the appointment the same way I would with any other couple. "We still have?—"

"I didn't know Devin hired you as our wedding coordinator," Simon interrupted me.

"I'm sure I mentioned it, baby." She smiled up at him adoringly.

Simon ignored her and continued staring at me. "I don't want you to work at my wedding."

"Oh, okay." Seriously, I wasn't sure this could get any more awkward. If they were going to fire me, I felt like that could have been done over email.

"I want you there as a guest. You're my oldest friend."

Friend. Right. And oldest at that. Maybe that was what the problem was.

Devin had mentioned to Birdie that she'd just turned twenty-two. And Simon would be turning forty this year. Maybe he'd wanted a young wife, and I'd aged out of the running.

"I didn't realize that you were on the guest list," Devin explained to me.

Guest list?"Oh, okay."

"You look surprised you're invited," Devin commented as she took another sip from her tea.

"I didn't…um… I never got an invitation."

"I wanted to give it to you in person." Simon reached into his coat pocket and handed me a gorgeous, lavender-scented, gold-lettered envelope that was Bridgerton-worthy. "I've been trying to get in touch with you."

"Right. Phone tag." That's why he wanted to see me. So he could invite me to his wedding. His wedding to a twenty-something leggy brunette who was the antithesis of me.

"Well, maybe your sisters can run the wedding," Devin suggested.

"I'm inviting Billie and Birdie, too," Simon announced.

"You are?" I asked.

"Of course."

Of course?I might understand why he would invite Birdie; they'd always gotten along. But Billie never liked him.

"You have all been family to me." He took out two more invitations, one addressed to Birdie and one to Billie.

My chest hurt, and the walls felt like they were closing in on me. First, I was his oldest friend, and now my sisters and I were his family?

"How about this? I can use the on-site coordinator for the day of, and you can keep working your magic until then. There. Done. Problem solved." Devin appeared so proud of herself, one would think she'd just cured cancer.

Simon shifted his attention to his betrothed. "I do not want Bay working my wedding."

At Simon's harsh tone, Devin looked like someone had just kicked her puppy. I could see that this was causing tension between them.

I don't know if it was the people-pleaser in me or if it was my instincts as a coordinator to solve any problems or if I could see how upset this was making Simon, and I didn't want to be the cause of any pain for him, but I heard myself saying, "I think Devin's suggestion can work. I can liaise with the coordinator at the vineyard and pass the baton day of."

"Great!" Devin smiled widely and clapped her hands.

Simon's expression was unreadable. Usually, I picked up on his tiny tells that revealed what he was thinking, but for the first time, I had no clue. Was he upset that I'd agreed to Devin's plan? Would he rather I recuse myself altogether?

I honestly didn't have the emotional bandwidth to try and Sherlock Holmes the clues of his reaction. It was taking everything in me to not break down sobbing.

The next thirty minutes, I worked on auto-pilot. Thankfully, I'd been doing this long enough that I could coordinate a wedding in my sleep, which is what I truly hoped I was doing. If that were the case, then I could wake up from this nightmare, and none of this would be real.

As I showed them to the door, I still had no clue what Simon was thinking or feeling, but at that point, I didn't care. I just wanted the meeting to be over so I could have the mini-breakdown I felt I'd earned.

When the door shut, I walked to the chair behind the desk and sat down. I thought about calling Olivia or one of my sisters, but instead I took the piece of paper I'd put in my pocket out and stared at it. It had Cole's number on it. Cole, who was a professional plus one. A man I could hire to go to a wedding with me.

For the first time since I'd seen Simon outside my shop, I didn't feel like I was going to be sick. Actually, I did, but it was from nerves, thinking about what going to a wedding with Cole as my date would be like. Even if it was fake, just him being there would make it bearable.

No. I shook my head. I couldn't do that. Hiring Cole would be crazy.

But so was planning and attending my ex"s wedding.