Free Love Thy Neighbor by Sophie Wintner Page A

Nikki’s stomach ached like she’d swallowed a brick.
    When the bride made her way down the aisle, Nikki’s eyes welled up, as she was thinking that she was supposed to be a bride, too. She and Lori had even shopped for wedding gowns together. Nikki’s was still hanging at the dressmaker’s. She couldn’t bring herself to go claim it. What would she do with it now? Stuff it in the back of her closet? Sell it on eBay? No, she never wanted to see that dress again.
    After the ceremony, when they entered the reception hall, once again Nikki was aware of everyone’s eyes on her date. She could almost read the thought bubbles above their heads: How did she get a man like that?
    “You okay?” Dallas cocked his perfect head and looked at her. “You need a drink?”
    “Oh yeah. Definitely.”
    “Coming right up.”
    While Dallas worked his way over to the bar, Matthew and Blondie walked into the ballroom. What the fuck? Are they holding hands? Nikki almost choked. She squinted, looking closer this time. Fingers laced together, Blondie’s free hand possessively on Matthew’s arm. Oh, shit. They are holding hands.
    Matthew did a double take when he saw Nikki watching him and guiltily dropped Blondie’s hand. Nikki smiled in spite of the stabbing pain in her heart. She held her breath when he excused himself from his date and made his way over to her.
    “Nikki.” That was all he said. She waited for something more but he seemed tongue-tied. “You look like you finally lost some of that weight.”
    Nikki stared at him, speechless. Of all the things he could have said, that’s what he chose to lead with. What an idiotic thing to say. Or maybe he was nervous? She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
    He tilted his head, scrutinizing her face. “Did you do something different to your hair, too?”
    She reached up and fluttered her bangs. “I got it cut. Do you like it?”
    “Sure. Yeah.” He glanced back at his date, then stared into his wineglass. “So, um, you doing okay? You know.” He sort of gestured with a nod in Blondie’s direction.
    “I’m fine,” she said, fighting to hold on to her composure. “You already told me you’d be here with her.” Nikki sneaked another look at Blondie, who was definitely keeping tabs on the two of them. “She’s young,” Nikki observed.
    “Not really.”
    “What is she, twenty-four? Twenty-five?”
    Mathew sheepishly lowered his head and raised his eyebrows. “Twenty-two.”
    Nikki blew out a sigh. This evening wasn’t going the way she’d expected.
    “Well, I should get back to her. I don’t want to be rude.”
    “Oh, heavens no. We wouldn’t want you to be rude to your date.”
    “Nikki, I already told you—it’s over with us, remember?”
    Her mouth dropped open. Coherent speech escaped her. He gave her another guilty look before he set his glass down, turned, and walked away, stuffing his hands inside his pockets.
    When Dallas came back with two glasses of white wine, Nikki practically pounded hers down.
    “Whoa. Go easy,” Dallas said.
    “You’d better get me another,” Nikki said. “This is going to be a long night.”
    “What just happened here?” he asked.
    “Matthew. He saw me. Came up to say hello. He saw me, but he didn’t really see me.” Her eyes started to cloud up. “I went to all this fuss for nothing. He didn’t even tell me I looked nice. He said something about finally losing weight and asked if I did something different to my hair.”
    “Wanker. Okay. Stay right there. I’ll be back.”
    Dallas ducked back into the crowd and at first Nikki feared he was going to go over and say something to Matthew. But a few minutes later Dallas returned with two glasses of either bourbon or maybe scotch.
    “This calls for something a little stronger than wine,” he said, giving her glass a clink.
    Nikki took a sip and let it burn the back of her throat. It stung, but that felt better than the pain in her heart. She took another