Chapter 1

Half an hour before my wedding, my friend Blair rushed into the bridal suite looking panicked.

"None of Julian's guests showed up."

"What? Did something happen?"

Just as panic started to set in, Julian's friend Derek burst out laughing.

"Future Mrs. Vance, we made a bet a month ago. We said we'd throw a fake wedding to see if you'd actually fall for it. Didn't think you'd go all in and even make the wedding favors yourself."

The room erupted in laughter. Julian Vance patted my head.

"Relax. Everyone was just messing with you."

I looked at Blair. "You were in on this too?"

She flinched and wouldn't meet my eyes. "Rosie, they just thought it would be funny."

I looked around at the room full of people waiting to watch me humiliate myself. Then I pushed Julian's hand away and texted my childhood friend, Grayson Ashford.

"You said you wanted to be with me, right? Be at St. Patrick's Cathedral in half an hour and marry me."

…

I sent the message, placed my phone facedown on the vanity, and turned around.

Julian walked over.

"Rosie, come on. There's still time to call off the wedding."

I shook off his hand. For the first time, I confronted him.

"Julian, you pretended you were going to marry me, then waited until the last minute to tell me the truth."

"Everyone in this room knew except me. Was that fun for you?"

The room fell silent. They had never seen me lose my temper.

"For the past month, I made a thousand chocolate favors by hand. I burned my fingers so badly they blistered, and I kept going."

"Two weeks ago, you changed the guest list three times. I stayed up all night double-checking every name."

"Last week, you said you'd take me home to meet your parents. I bought them gifts in advance, and then the night before, you told me they'd suddenly left the country."

"My guess is that you never even told them I wanted to meet them."

"Was it fun watching me play the fool over and over?"

Julian looked annoyed.

"We teased you because your reactions are funny."

"It was just a joke. If I wasn't going to marry you, why would anyone care about you at all?"

I let out a cold laugh.

"You think making a joke out of me is funny? All I see is a bunch of bored losers."

Julian's expression darkened.

For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Beside him, Derek muttered, "It's not like Julian's never going to marry you. He just wanted you to back off a little!"

I stared at Julian.

"So the fake wedding was your idea?"

He nodded without a trace of remorse.

"Yeah. My idea."

"You're too pushy. You keep bringing up marriage, and it puts a lot of pressure on me."

"Besides, becoming Mrs. Vance isn't exactly easy. You've got to win over the people in my life."

My mind drifted back to last winter. I'd worked past midnight and casually posted on Instagram about craving lentil soup from that place on the South Side, even though it was already closed.

Half an hour later, he showed up outside my building in his pajamas.

There was a bowl of soup inside an insulated bag, still steaming.

His nose was red from the cold, but all he said was, "I was passing by. Grabbed it on the way."

I only found out later that the South Side restaurant had closed hours earlier.

He had driven halfway across town and knocked on the owner's front door.

Back then, he'd go to all that trouble for me and brush it off like it was nothing.

And now…

I let out a bitter laugh.

"Don't worry. I won't bring up marriage again."

Julian frowned.

His friends crowded in closer.

"That's more like it, future Mrs. Vance!"

"Julian will marry you when he's ready."

I looked down. For years, Julian's friends had made me the butt of their jokes.

He always said they didn't mean anything by it. They only teased me because they saw me as one of them.

Now I got it. They did it because Julian let them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Blair on the couch. Her head was bent, her phone screen lit up as she typed.

A moment later, my phone buzzed in my clutch. Before I could reach for it, Blair's finger hovered over the send button for two seconds.

Then she quickly tapped unsend, and her screen went dark.

I pulled out my phone.

There was only one line in the notifications.

"Blair unsent a message."

I glanced up at her. She wouldn't meet my eyes and placed her phone facedown on her knees.

I let it go and turned back to Julian.

"They only treat me like this because you don't care about me. Isn't that right?"

Julian looked embarrassed.

No one dared to answer.

"Rosie, don't be upset," Blair said quietly. "Julian will give you an even bigger wedding someday."

I looked at her. "So you helped them lie to me?"

She tightened her grip on her phone and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry…"

I looked away.

"I heard you. I don't forgive you."

Blair went pale.

Without another word, she retreated to the corner of the bridal suite and picked up a chocolate favor box from the couch. It was one of the ones I'd made, still waiting to be filled.

She set the empty box on her knees and pressed both palms flat against it.

She stayed like that for a long time.

…

The priest came into the room.

"Miss Vaughn, Mr. Vance, the ceremony begins in twenty minutes."

I spoke quietly.

"Could you push it back by fifteen minutes? Something came up."

One of Julian's friends scoffed.

"God, she just won't let go."

Sensing something was off, the priest looked at me for confirmation.

I nodded.

My phone lit up.

A message from Grayson Ashford.

"Fifteen minutes."