I Was Here All Along by Penny Blake Read Free Book Online

he apologizes, Brian’s eyes meet mine.  “Ember, hey…how are you doing?” he stammers.
     
    How am I doing?!  You dumped me on our wedding day just three months ago and here you are with the chick you dumped me for.  How do you think I’m doing?
     
    I feel Drew take my hand in his and squeeze it, which I interpret as a warning not to do or say anything crazy.  A wise idea.  Too bad I’m in no mood to listen.
     
    I smile tightly.  “I’m doing just fine, Brian. I’m actually very happy that we didn’t get married, because if we did, I never would have met my new boyfriend, Drew.  Drew is a male model and we’re extremely happy together.”  I turn to Brian’s new girlfriend.  “And you must be the woman Brian was Skyping before our wedding.  How very interesting to meet you.”  I don’t hold out a hand.  I just stare her down with pure unadulterated hatred. “You know, I never expected to meet you, but now that you’re here, there’s something I’ve been dying to ask.  You must have known that Brian was engaged while you were having all those Skype sessions with him, right?”
     
    She nods weakly.
     
    “Did you know he was going to call it off on the day of our wedding…for you?  Or what it completely unexpected?  Was it some kind of grand romantic gesture on his part?”
     
    “Ember,” Brian sighs, but I continue to stare down his Skype-whore.
     
    She doesn’t answer. She merely bows her head and looks at her lap.  I almost feel bad for her, but any sympathy I might have felt burns away the instant Brian wraps his arm around her waist in a show of support.
     
    “She didn’t know I was going to call it off, Ember,” he says softly.  “It was all very unexpected, and very hard.  For all of us.”
     
    Before I can respond, Drew cuts in.  “Well it’s lucky for me that it didn’t work out between you two.  I guess I have you to thank you for helping me meet the love of my life.  Just tomorrow we’re going on a vacation—to Paris—to attend a celebrity gala.” 
     
    I look at him in question, and he gives me the faintest shrug. 
     
    I try to tamp down the hot mess of pain swirling through me. “I’m sorry I wasn’t enough to make you happy,” I say, my voice cracking.  “I’m enough for Drew though, so I guess it’s a good thing you and I didn’t get married.  I deserve someone who will be truly, deeply, madly love with me.  And I guess…you deserve to feel that way about the person you’re with…even if it’s not me.”
     
    My eyes fill up with tears and I look up at Drew as if to say, come on, let’s go .  But he looks confused and instead, leans down and kisses me. 
     
    It’s a soft kiss, a gentle brush of lips. 
     
    My eyes are open at first, but then my eyelids flutter shut as his lips press harder against mine. 
     
    He raises a hand to my face, cupping my cheek, and the next thing I know, all the chaos in my head disappears and all I can do is feel.  Feel his warm whisky-scented breath mingling with mine.  Feel the electricity jolting through me at every point where our skin meets.  And the way his nearness makes me feel more blissfully alive than ever, like I’m filled with longing, hunger and infinite possibility all rolled into one.
     
    And then just like that, he breaks it off and we both stare at each other wide eyed with shock.  I put a hand over my mouth, dazed.
     
    Drew is the first to look away, gesturing to the back of the bar.  He starts moving in that direction, and I follow him.
     
    We find my sister in the back corner of the bar where some guy is chatting her up.  Even with a hunchback and herpes of the mouth, the girl’s got game.  She turns to us with a big smile.  “So what happened?  Did you win the breakup?” she asks.
     
    “Drew kissed me,” I blurt out.
     
    “I kissed her,” he says from behind me.
     
    She claps a hand over her mouth, and when she takes it off, she yells, “That’s