The Worst Best Man(111)

And worse was the fact that Aiden had stopped contacting her a week ago. As if he’d vanished from the face of the planet. But he was still here. Still working. Still existing. Still living his life.

She knew because she couldn’t stop herself from opening those blasted Google alert emails every damn morning.

He went to work every day, had dinner in the city, made appearances. Meanwhile, she’d stopped talking to everyone. Her parents, her brothers, Pru. She was avoiding human contact because she no longer felt human.

The anger, the hurt, had shifted inside her making room for a new feeling. One she didn’t understand. Guilt.

“Frankie!”

She winced at the cheery greeting. She couldn’t do Pru right now. She was incapable of even pretending to be happy to see her best friend.

“Hi,” Frankie said flatly.

“Why are you sitting on the sidewalk with a box of… Oh.”

“I got fired. They’re shutting down the center,” Frankie said.

“Then you’ve got time for me to buy you lunch,” silver-lining-finder Pru announced. “Let’s go.” She dragged Frankie to her feet and picked up the box. “I’m feeling like pizza.”

Frankie stumbled over her own feet. “You’re voluntarily eating pizza? Do I really look that bad?”

“You look like a zombie. Sort of alive on the outside but totally dead and gross on the inside.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Pru led the way to one of Frankie’s favorite pizza shops, chattering about the weather and gossip. Frankie didn’t bother responding. It took too much effort.

Pru slid into the booth across from her and interlaced her fingers, smiling expectantly. “I’ve got some things I need to tell you.”

“Is everything okay?” Frankie asked, rousing herself into a minimal level of caring.

Her friend nodded.

“What can I get you ladies?” Vinnie the proprietor demanded, leaning on their table with a combination of charm and impatience.

“The biggest, greasiest pepperoni pizza you can make,” Pru decided. “And how about some of those garlic twists?”

Frankie’s eyebrows winged up. Her friend was serious about all the carbs today.

Vinnie took their drink orders and headed back behind the counter.

“So. I’m pregnant,” Pru announced.

Frankie’s mouth opened. Her brain wasn’t prepared for new information of that magnitude.

“Wha…?”

“Pregnant. Like with my husband’s baby?” Pru said, beaming at her. “Thanks, Vin,” she said when Vinnie returned with their waters.

Frankie chugged half of hers, trying to get her brain back to functioning. “You’re going to have a baby?”

Pru nodded again. “Honeymoon baby, which was a surprise. But we’re so excited.”

Frankie could see it. The sheer delight on her friend’s face. And even though her own life was in the gutter, she still felt a stirring of happiness for Pru.

“Wow. Congratulations. Chip must be thrilled.”

“He wavers between thrilled and hyperventilating. He ordered sixteen parenting, pregnancy, and baby books and wants to start interviewing nannies now.”

“Wow,” Frankie said again. A rush of memories washing over her. Pru dressed as Carmen Miranda strolling into their dorm room on Halloween. Pru dancing on the bar at Salvio’s after one too many margaritas. Pru trying on her wedding dress for the first time. “I know I don’t look it, but I am so happy for you.”

Pru reached across the table and grabbed Frankie’s hand. “I know your life sucks right now. But you’re going to be an aunt, and that’s worth something. And I want you to hang on to that aunt thing while I say this next thing.”

“Uh-uh.” Frankie braced herself.

“Why haven’t you talked to Aiden?” Pru asked.

Frankie felt herself shutting down again. “Look, Pru. There are things you don’t know. No, he didn’t cheat on me with ol’ one-eyebrow. But there was something else. Something much bigger.”

“I know,” Pru said, squeezing her hand. “He told me. He talked to me and Chip last week.”

“He told you?” Frankie asked, astonished.

“He planted the seeds for Chip to break up with me.”

“And you’re just okay with that? He robbed you both of years of happiness, Pru. Just because he thought you weren’t good enough for his friend.”

“He thought I was immature and flighty, and to be honest, he may have been right. Not that I’d tell him that. I was fresh out of college and had diamond rings in my eyes. I had no idea what marriage was actually about. I just wanted a sparkly ring and a big party. If we hadn’t broken up and both matured a bit, I don’t know that we’d still be together. And I do know that this little low-carb baby wouldn’t be growing in me. I’m stronger than I was then. Happier. Maybe the slightest bit more mature. And in the end, Aiden was just looking out for his friend. A friend who made the decision through no coercion, I might add.”

“He hurt you,” Frankie pointed out.

“And I forgave him. You should try it sometime.”

Frankie snorted and stabbed her straw into her glass of ice. “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice…”