Lara married the man who had made her life a living hell in high school—a man who swore he’d changed. But on her wedding night, a single sentence shatters her fragile hope. As past and present collide, she’s forced to question what love, truth, and salvation truly mean…
I wasn’t trembling. And that surprised me, somehow.
In fact, I looked calm, too calm, as I sat in front of the mirror, gently wiping my cheeks with a cotton pad to remove the blush that had smudged slightly while dancing. My dress, now loose in the back because I’d left the zipper halfway undone, slipped off one shoulder. The bathroom smelled of jasmine, burnt-out tea lights, and a hint of my vanilla body lotion.
I wasn’t trembling. I was alone, but for the first time, I didn’t feel lonely. Instead, I felt… suspended.
There was a soft knock on the bedroom door behind me. “Lara?” Jana called. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m… just breathing,” I called back. “I’m just letting it all sink in, you know?”
There was a pause. I could practically see Jana, my best friend since college, leaning against the door with a frown, wondering whether or not to come in. “I’ll give you a few more minutes, L. Just let me know if you need help getting out of the dress. I’m not far away.” I smiled, though it didn’t quite reach my eyes in the mirror. I heard Jana’s soft footsteps down the hall.
It had been a beautiful wedding, I have to admit. We held the ceremony in Jana’s garden, under the old fig tree that had seen almost everything: birthday parties, breakups, a power outage during a summer thunderstorm when we ate cake by candlelight in the dark. It wasn’t fancy, but it felt right.
Jana is more than my best friend. She’s the one who knows the difference between me staying silent because I’m content and me staying silent because I’m falling apart inside. She’s been my most passionate protector since college, and she’s never been shy about speaking her mind. Especially not when it came to Lukas.
“It’s up to me, Lara. There’s just something about him… Look, maybe he’s changed. And maybe he’s a better man now. But… I’m going to be the judge.” It had been her idea to organize the wedding. She said it would keep everything “close, warm, and honest,” but I knew what she meant. She wanted to be there, close enough to look Lukas in the eye if he slipped back into his old ways. I didn’t mind. I liked having her watching over me.
Lukas had cried during the vows. So had I. So why did I feel like I was just waiting for something to go wrong? Maybe because that’s how it had always felt in school. I’d learned to brace myself before entering a room or hearing my name called.
