Free Remember When 2 by T. Torrest

our honor, rehearsals, tux fittings, etc. He’d bailed on making appearances while we were dating, but now that we were going to be married, that would change, right? Lisa would have at least a year to get to know the guy. I didn’t think I’d be able to walk down the aisle if that didn’t happen.
       She gave a huff and said, “You haven’t even told anyone but me about the fact that you’re engaged . Don’t you find that a little odd? It’s like you’re trying to keep it a secret.”
       “I’m not. I was planning on Devin and me telling my father before Jack’s engagement party.”
       “But…?”
       When I didn’t respond, Lisa answered for me. “But Devin’s not going to the party, is he.”
       I didn’t need to confirm it. She already knew it was true.
       “How much longer are you going to wait? God, don’t you remember how excited I was when Pick finally made with the ring? There wasn’t a single person in my life that didn’t know about it within an hour of that happening. I’ve been dying to talk to my mother about this, but I can’t even do that until you do.”
       “Well, gee. I’m so sorry you don’t get to talk to your mom about my engagement.”
       “Layla, give me a break. You know damn well she’ll be jumping out of her skin when she hears the news. She’ll be on the phone with Kleinfeld’s the second she finds out, making the appointment to go get your dress. She lives for that stuff.”
       My heart panged when I thought about going dress shopping with Lisa’s mom. I hadn’t really thought about it, but of course she’d be the one to take me.
       I felt guilty about the fact that I hadn’t spilled the beans about such big news, not only to Lisa’s parents, but especially my own brother and father. I truly wasn’t trying to keep secrets from my family and friends. It’s just that I’d been keeping my life with them separate from my life with Devin for so long, and I was just waiting to figure out the correct way to merge the two. I was just waiting for the right time.
       Timing, after all, was everything.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    Chapter 8
    PANIC
     
     
       I made myself eat breakfast that Monday morning, but it was difficult to do with my stomach so tied up in knots.
       It had been one week since I found out Trip was in New York, five days since I finagled a press pass to attend the junket and twenty-four hours since Lisa dropped off the designer suit she’d lent me from her pre-pregnancy wardrobe.
       Multiply that by the nine years it had been since I’d last seen Trip, and it all added up to the thirty-seven times I felt like throwing up that morning.
       I checked my reflection in the mirror, again, adjusted the thin silver belt at my waist, and smoothed away some non-existent wrinkles from my slacks. The suit was sleek, black and nicer than anything hanging in my own closet, and I was grateful to have it. I’d left the blazer open, revealing a white silk shell underneath, trying for a more casual look even though I was feeling anything but. I cursed my frazzled nerves and tried to get myself under control.
       It was strange enough to think about being in the same room with my old high school sweetheart, but it was positively surreal to have to reconcile that eighteen-year-old boy with the überhot movie star that he’d become.
       There isn’t a girl alive that doesn’t want to feel like she’s left some sort of imprint on every single one of her exes, and I was no different in that regard. But how many girls have to deal with their ex becoming a famous movie star who had since been with no less than half a million other women, most of whom were beautiful Hollywood movie stars themselves? How would I even rank in such a grouping?
       I had a guilty vision of Devin and reminded myself that I really shouldn’t even care about any of that. I grabbed my leather carryall and headed out the