LITMIR.BIZ

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I can’t be there to marry you today. Please don’t ask me why, simply know that when I asked you to be my bride it was because I truly believed that our futures lay together. But the world changes more quickly than we can sometimes imagine.

       Cooper will help you with our guests, and explain everything to my parents.

       Once again, I’m so sorry, Dawn.

       With love and affection,

       Justin

      Dawn watched as Ruby read the letter, her eyebrows jerking higher with every line. Yeah, that was my reaction too. Well, that and her heart cracking in two.

      Time to open the Prosecco.

      ‘So, he can’t tell you why he didn’t show up, he ditched the whole problem onto his idiot brother and still claims he’s being fair to you?’ Ruby sounded incredulous.

      ‘Yes, apparently I have been jilted at the altar for my own good.’ Dawn took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to Ruby. ‘At least that’s an excuse I haven’t heard before. I mean, with Richard it was because he realised he wasn’t ready to settle down after all—although he did settle down six months later with a redhead he met on his “finding myself” trip around India, incidentally. Harry decided he was gay, after he’d been living with me for three months.’

      Ruby stifled a giggle at that. Dawn ignored her and carried on ticking off her disastrous prior relationships on her fingers.

      ‘Patrick left me for a job in Dubai, where he claimed I’d be desperately unhappy so he couldn’t ask me to go with him. Ewan cheated on me with his ex-girlfriend and Trevor married my sister instead.’

      ‘Girl, you have the worst luck with men. You should try women instead.’

      ‘Don’t think I haven’t considered it.’ Dawn sighed. ‘I just... I don’t understand what’s wrong with me.’

      ‘Nothing is wrong with you,’ Ruby said fiercely. ‘Trust me, it’s those men who are the fools here.’

      ‘Except every one of them managed to settle down with someone else after they got shot of me,’ Dawn pointed out. ‘And now Justin... I mean, he just didn’t even bother to show up. And he can’t tell me why. That’s...it’s not enough.’

      ‘You need closure,’ Ruby said sagely, returning the bottle of Prosecco to her.

      Closure. That sounded good. Closing the book on her absurdly cursed love life and moving forward instead. Understanding the mistakes she’d made, or what it was about her that made finding her happy-ever-after so impossible. Because this? This wasn’t what all those fairy tales and happy endings had led her to expect from life. And she wanted better for her future.

      She wanted to find someone to share her life with. Someone who’d stick by her through the ups and downs, someone to come home to after a hard day at work, someone to love her just as she was.

      Really, how hard could it be if all four of her sisters had managed it? Not to mention every cousin, friend and family acquaintance she had, except for Ruby. Dawn had attended so many weddings in the last ten years, they’d all started to merge into one.

      And now it had been her turn at last and everyone had been so happy for her. And relieved, she knew—her family wasn’t good at hiding their emotions that way. They’d been relieved that at last Dawn was through that terrible run of bad luck and they could all stop worrying about her and get back to being blissfully happy themselves.

      Except now it was all ruined.

      ‘Your parents were looking for you,’ Ruby said, her voice softer. ‘And your sisters. Plus, well, everyone you’ve ever met.’

      Yet Ruby was the only one who’d actually managed to find her. Not that Dawn was particularly surprised by that. Ruby knew her—had seen right through her the first day they’d met and declared that they were destined to be best friends. And so they were.

      ‘I don’t want to see them.’ She loved her family, really she did. And she knew they loved her. But she couldn’t take the pity in their eyes one more time. That disappointment and—worse—that sense of inevitability. And she really didn’t want to hear her mother’s, ‘Not every woman is meant to be a wife and mother, Dawnie,’ speech. Because she knew that—of course she did. And if she’d chosen to be alone, to forge her own path through life, that would be great. But she hadn’t.

      Six times now, she’d thought she’d found true love. She’d thought she’d found forever.

      And six times she’d been wrong.

      She took another, longer gulp of Prosecco, the bubbles stinging her throat as they went down.

      Maybe her mother was right. Maybe it was time to concede defeat. To dedicate her life to being that crazy aunt who was always off on adventures, posting photos of her in exotic places with handsome men she never stayed with long enough for them to let her down.

      It wouldn’t be a bad life.

      ‘What do you want me to do?’ Ruby asked. ‘Just say it, and I’ll make it happen.’

      Ruby, Dawn decided, was the best friend a girl had ever had. Life would be so much easier if she could just fall in love with Ruby. Well, as long as Ruby loved her back, which wasn’t at all a sure thing. She wasn’t exactly Ruby’s type—she preferred blondes who played guitar, if her last three girlfriends were anything to go by. So, no, even Ruby couldn’t be her happy-ever-after. Not in a romantic way, anyway.

      But she was still the best friend ever.

      ‘I need to get out of here,’ Dawn said. ‘I need to figure out what happened. What I do next. I don’t want anyone to worry about me or anything but I can’t stay here. I need to go find...closure.’

      Ruby gave a sharp nod. ‘Closure it is. Give me five minutes. And finish that bottle while you’re waiting.’

       CHAPTER TWO

      THE PARTY WAS in full swing, the celebratory spirit apparently undimmed by the fact that there hadn’t actually been a wedding for them to celebrate. Cooper stayed in the bar long enough to make sure that the venue had everything in hand, then grabbed a bottle of beer from behind the bar and headed out into the darkening evening to find some peace and quiet, his best man duties done.

      The terrace at the front of the mansion was expansive, elegant and, most importantly to Cooper, empty. Apparently none of the other guests felt inclined to survey the view that Dawn had been so taken with that she’d had to book the venue on sight, despite the fact it was convenient for practically nobody. His mother, at least, had seemed pleased with her choice.

      Cooper sighed, well aware that the day had turned his already bitter heart just a little more sour.

      Even if the wedding had gone ahead, he doubted he’d have been in much of a mood to celebrate today. He’d given his prospective sister-in-law the benefit of the doubt when the save-the-date cards had come out—in fairness, it was unlikely that Justin would have mentioned that the date she’d chosen was the anniversary of Cooper’s divorce. Chances were that his brother hadn’t even realised or they’d have picked another day. But the fact remained that it was now officially three years since he’d disentangled himself from that messy web of lies and false love and, while his freedom probably should be something to be happy about, it seldom felt like it.

      But at least his brother hadn’t made the same mistake. That was something to celebrate. With a small smile, Cooper raised his beer bottle to the sky and silently toasted Justin’s lucky escape.

      Then he frowned, peering over the edge of the terrace at the sweeping driveway below. Out there, in the shadows of the swaying trees, he

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