Chapter 21 Rehearsal dinner
Cassie had been to many rehearsal dinners throughout her life, but none quite like this one. As far as this particular event went, she had thought that she was going to spend it with Jake. Just a couple of months ago, she was planning her own wedding and marriage, meticulously choosing flowers, tasting cakes, and dreaming of her perfect day. But now she was married to someone that she didn't expect to get married to, under very unusual circumstances, and she had to pretend not to be in a relationship with someone that she deeply loved—someone who she was actually married to.
The irony was suffocating. She had to keep what they had secret, which meant she had to pretend to be single while simultaneously making everybody believe that she was truly over her ex. It was an exhausting charade that required her to compartmentalize her emotions in ways she had never done before. She had to act like Greyson was just a friend, maybe a casual date, when in reality he was her husband. The word still felt foreign in her mind, but it sent a thrill through her every time she thought it.
The complexity of their situation weighed heavily on her shoulders. Not only did she have to navigate her own feelings about this unexpected marriage, but she also had to consider how it would affect everyone around them. When Cassie had mentioned to her friends that she had broken up with Jake and that there was a new guy in her life—Greyson—most of the friends that she had, especially those who knew her and Jake as a couple, didn't want to believe that they had actually broken up. They had been together for so long that people had started to see them as a permanent fixture, an inevitable march toward marriage.
She knew the truth about why their relationship had ended, and everybody needed to know the truth eventually. There were always two sides to every story, but she didn't want to tell everybody the full details for fear of creating a scandal. She not only wanted to protect her current relationship with Greyson, but she also wanted to protect everybody that was involved in the messy aftermath of her breakup with Jake. The truth was complicated and painful, and she wasn't sure she was ready to face the judgment and questions that would inevitably follow.
If she decided to come out with the truth right now and tell everybody what was really going on, or if she decided to tell the whole world that she was married to Grey Christianson, it would turn their lives upside down. The media attention alone would be overwhelming, not to mention the impact on their families and friends.
While she was getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, carefully applying her makeup and styling her hair, she kept thinking about something her mother had told her when she was growing up. Her mother had said that you can never settle when it comes to love, and that you know you're settling because it doesn't feel like love,it feels like compromise. But when you find the right person, it will feel like the right kind of wrong and not the wrong kind of right. The right kind of wrong love, her mother had explained, is the kind of love that is unexpected, sometimes unconventional, and it often turns out to be the kind of love that lasts for a lifetime.
As she looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting the neckline of the stunning blue ball gown that Greyson had bought her, she wondered if this was what her mother had meant. This certainly felt unexpected and unconventional—waking up married to your best friend's brother after a night of wedding crashing was about as unconventional as it got.
As much as Cassie was dreading the inevitable return home and the conversations she would have to have with everyone in her life, she told herself that she was going to enjoy the night and just let go for a couple of hours before she had to start adulting again. She deserved this moment of happiness, even if it was complicated and secret.
She had initially thought that Greyson didn't like her. She had been under the impression that he merely tolerated her presence because she was friends with his sister, but it turns out that he had a very different way of expressing how he felt. He was supportive and willing to be a team player, which was more than she could say for most of the men she had dated. As calm as Greyson appeared to be on the surface, she knew that there had to be a side of him that was just barely holding it together. More often than not, the calmest people were the ones who had learned to control their emotions out of necessity, and they were usually the type of people who were unyielding when it came to being stubborn and indignant when they made a decision.
It was either their way or the highway, and part of her felt like he didn't get this far in life by just accepting everything as it was. He had come this far by grabbing the bull by the horns and tackling whatever problem he faced head-on. That kind of determination was both attractive and slightly intimidating...