Cinderella Screwed Me Over

“Tell me everything,” Steph said, stepping into my place. She’d brought a box of doughnuts to keep us sugared up for all the wedding-planning stuff we had to go over.

“I’ve got a ton of work to do and my computer keeps acting up. I’m about to throw it out the window.”

“When I said everything, I meant about Jake.”

I sat on my couch, closed my temperamental laptop, and set it off to the side. “I told you everything over the phone. We had a fun time, quick kiss, that’s it.”

“Yeah, but did he say he’d call?”

“Actually, he doesn’t have my number.” I opened the box she’d placed on my coffee table and selected a cinnamon-swirled pastry. “It doesn’t matter, though, because I was about to tell him we couldn’t be more than friends. Had he said anything about calling, I would’ve told him it wasn’t a good idea.”

Stephanie plunked her giant wedding-planner binder next to the box of doughnuts, selected a maple one out of the box, and sat back on my couch. Her red shirt matched the color of my couch so well, everything but her head and arms disappeared. “How can you just blow him off like that? You said you had a good time.”

“You, of all people, know why. Now let’s get started.”

“Since Anthony’s aunts are in a fight now, I have to redo the whole seating chart again and it’s a mess.” Steph sat up and flipped open her book. “Here you are. Ooh, look at my little pink friend Darby. And there’s still an empty seat next to you in case you want to invite Jake.”

“I’m not going to invite Jake. Wedding dates are the worst.” Before she could argue, like I could see she was going to, I said, “Need I remind you what happened last time I took a date to a wedding?”

Steph’s lip curled. “Okay, so it was bad.” She scooted forward. “But that was totally different. You know Jake. Is inviting him really worse than having everyone looking at you all sad because you don’t have a date to your best friend’s wedding?”

Honestly, Steph’s wedding was going to be a hard day for me. I was worried I would lose my best friend, and even more worried she’d eventually get her heart trampled beyond repair. Once there were joint mortgages and bank accounts and that marriage certificate involved, breaking up wasn’t just a cry fest with a side of calorie binging. It was unwinding your entire life from his, one painful string at a time. But I was working on keeping from blurting out those kinds of thoughts, so I went with something else that was also true. “I’d rather be there alone, than be on a date that could go down in flames during one of your big moments.”

“I remember back when Jimmy Delfino dumped me and I was the pessimist. You kept insisting I’d meet someone better, pushing me to date all those other guys so I could find my true love. Now I have, and you’re the one who doesn’t believe in it.”

“That’s because I hadn’t broken free of the brainwashing yet. And better than Jimmy Delfino wasn’t really hard to find. He was an awful boyfriend.”

“He was pretty awful.” Stephanie looked at me, and I had the feeling she wanted me to tell her it would be different with Anthony. I’d decided to support her in her decision, but false assurances weren’t my thing. For one, she’d see through it. So in the end, I turned to the wedding-planning book and acted really interested.

Stephanie moved a few figures on the seating chart around. “I’ll keep you next to Drew and his plus one, Dwight and your mom, and Devin and Anne, in case you end up solo. But I still believe you’ll find the right guy. And you never know. Maybe you already have.” She gave me her no-nonsense glare. “Promise me you’ll give Jake a chance.”

I wiped my hands together, trying to get the glaze off my fingers. Apparently, I was going to have to say something. What was with everyone pushing me to open up lately? “Steph, I’m glad you found Anthony. I really am. I’m glad you’ve worked things out with his mom, even though she constantly pushes her way into you and Anthony’s business.”

“She just loves her son and is having a hard time letting go.”

“See, you look for the good in everybody. I used to do that and I got knocked down over and over again. I just don’t think I can pick myself up anymore. It’s one thing to get over the jerks—they shook my trust, hurt me, and made me feel like crap—but I could see them for what they were afterward. It’s another thing altogether to get over the good ones.”

“And you’re afraid Jake might be one of the good ones?”

I stared at Steph, not sure what to say to that. So far, everything about Jake was great. But seriously, it had only been a little more than a week since I’d met him. I didn’t know anything about him. I did know that knowing stuff only got you in deeper.

“How long have we been friends?” Stephanie asked.

“Since the middle of junior year when you moved in and I discovered girls could actually be cool.”

“I am the coolest,” Steph said with a smile. “That’s been fourteen years now—Wow, we’re getting old.”

I frowned. “Hey, speak for yourself.”

“Anyway, I know you better than anyone. Your family might come close, but I’d still say I have them beat. My point is, I only want the best for you. Laying out our horrible relationships was therapeutic—after that I decided to stop going for the bad boys. It’s why I gave Anthony a chance.” The dreamy look Stephanie got whenever she was thinking about her fiance crossed her features. “And look what happened. I’m about to get married to a guy I’m crazy about. Instead of using your case studies as a guide, you decided to stop believing in love. Now you won’t even give Jake a chance, just because he has one tiny thing in common with Evan.”

“You haven’t even met Jake,” I said. “What makes you so insistent on me giving him a chance?”

“Because he’s all you’ve talked about since you met him. And when it comes to you, that’s saying something.”

…

For a week, Jake had been everywhere. After our date, he was nowhere. Nowhere I was, anyway. Monday came and went. Tuesday. Wednesday. On Thursday, I was starting to think he must be going out of his way to avoid me.

I sat in front of my computer at work and played with my design software, clicking paint colors and moving digital appliances.

Kathy, our receptionist, called me on my intercom. “Stephanie’s here.”

I picked up my phone’s receiver. “Send her on back.”

A minute later, Steph walked into my office. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and her features were pinched. Then the tears broke free.

I stood, alarm pumping through my veins. “What happened?” I asked, even though I was sure Anthony had done something horrible. I was going to kill him.

“It’s stupid, I know. I can’t believe I’m getting so emotional over it, but after planning and planning…” Steph flopped into the chair opposite my desk and sniffed. “They’re broken. Five of them are broken, and they can’t send more because everything’s on back order for three months. There’s no way we’d get them in time for the wedding.”

The tension in my body eased. Anthony was safe. For now. “What’s broken?”

“My centerpieces.”

“The pink heart vases?”

Steph fell forward, putting her head into her hands. “Yes. The florist called to tell me they got the shipment and that some of them broke during shipping. She argued with the company, I argued with them. They gave me a big discount, so I thought I could fix it. But I’ve been all over the city and no one even has heart vases.”

“No one’s going to notice the vases aren’t the same,” I said. “We’ll find some that look nice. It’ll just give your tables variety.”

“Anthony and I had a big argument last night, too. I told him his mom was overstepping a little bit, changing things without talking to me, and he got upset because she’s just trying to help.” Stephanie wiped a few tears. “Go ahead and say it. Tell me you saw it coming.”

Now that she was asking me to say it, I couldn’t. Not when she already looked so crushed. I stepped around the front of my desk and sat down on the edge of it, choosing to focus on the other problem first. “We’ll fix this. Let’s go get something to eat and we’ll figure it all out. We’ll write everything down in an organized list and you’ll feel better.” And my boss will probably have a fit if she finds out I’m away from my desk, even though