I Brought a Coworker as My Date to My Ex’s Wedding, and One Comment From Him Wiped the Smile Off My Ex’s Face

both stopped.

Edward cleared his throat. “You go first.”

“You look really nice, Edward.”

“Thanks. It’s my only suit. I wore it to my grandmother’s funeral.” He looked down at himself. “I think it still smells a little like a church.”

I laughed.

“Your turn,” I said.

Edward looked at me. At the green dress. At my hair, which Kate had curled that morning. At my face, which I’d put makeup on for the first time in months.

He was quiet for a long time.

“You look like you,” he said finally. “That’s the best thing I can say. You look like yourself.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I just took the peonies and put them in a glass of water on the counter.

“Peonies,” I said. “You remembered.”

“Measure twice, cut once,” said Edward.

On the drive there, I was so nervous I couldn’t stop talking.

I talked about the girls. About Max’s mother, Linda, who’d always looked at me like I’d tracked mud on her carpet. About Max’s best friend, Derek, who’d said at our wedding that he gave us five years. About Claire’s whole family, who I’d never met. About how many people would be there. About what I’d say if somebody asked how I was.

Edward drove and listened and didn’t say much.

At a red light, he reached over and put his hand on mine. Just for a second.

“Hannah,” he said. “Breathe.”

I breathed.

“Whatever happens in there,” he said, “you’re walking out with your girls. And me. That’s all that matters.”

“What if he says something?”

“He’s going to say something,” Edward said calmly. “That’s who he is.”

“And what do I do?”

The light turned green. Edward took his hand back and put it on the wheel.

“You let

me worry about that,” he said.

I looked at him. He was staring straight ahead at the road with a very small smile I’d never seen before.

“Edward,” I said. “What’s in the trunk?”

“What makes you think there’s something in the trunk?”

“You put something in the trunk. When you picked me up. A big box. I saw you.”

“Wedding gift,” he said.

“What kind of wedding gift?”

“The thoughtful kind,” said Edward.

He wouldn’t tell me anything else.

The ceremony was beautiful. I’ll give them that.

White chairs on the lawn. A wooden arch covered in white roses. The string quartet playing something classical. A hundred and fifty guests in their summer best, fanning themselves with the programs.

Edward and I sat near the back.

When June came down the aisle, throwing rose petals with both hands like she was trying to fight them, half the guests laughed.

She saw me in my seat and waved so hard she dropped her basket.

Ava walked behind her, very serious, holding a little bouquet. She found me with her eyes and didn’t smile, but she nodded once. Like a soldier.

Then Claire came down the aisle.

She was beautiful. I’m not going to pretend she wasn’t. Tall and tan and toned, in a fitted white dress with a long train. Her blond hair in perfect waves. Her teeth very white.

Max stood at the front in a navy tuxedo, watching her come toward him with a big proud grin, like a man admiring a car he’d just bought.

They said their vows. They kissed. Everybody clapped.

I clapped too.

Edward clapped very slowly and very politely.

The reception was in the big white tent.

There were round tables with white tablecloths and candles and centerpieces of white roses. There was

a dance floor. There was a long table at the side covered in wrapped wedding gifts. There was an open bar.

Edward and I walked in arm in arm.

Everyone was looking at us.

Well, of course they were.

Edward is tall and athletic, and without exaggeration, he really did look great in that suit. Next to all of Max’s real estate friends with their soft middles and their golf tans, Edward looked like somebody had dropped a lumberjack into a cocktail party.

I heard whispers.

“Who’s that with Hannah?”

“Is that her boyfriend?”

“Good for her.”

“Wow.”

Max’s cousin Jenny, who I’d always liked, came over and hugged me.

“Hannah! You look amazing. Who is this?”

“This is Edward,” I said. My voice only shook a little.

“Edward,” said Jenny, shaking his hand and looking him up and down with very open interest. “Where on earth did Hannah find

you?”

“Across the hall,” said Edward. “It took me a while to notice how lucky I was.”

Jenny actually fanned herself.

The girls found us right away.

June ran at me so hard she almost knocked me over. Her dress was already wrinkled and there was frosting on the front of it, even though the cake hadn’t been cut yet.

“Mommy! Did you see me throw the flowers?”

“I saw you, baby. You were amazing.”

“I threw them SO hard.”

“You really did.”

Ava came behind her more slowly. She hugged me. Then she turned and looked up at Edward.

“Hi, Mr. Hale.”

“Hi, Ava. You did a good job up there. Very dignified.”

“Thanks.” She paused. “You look different.”

“I took a shower,” said Edward.

Ava actually laughed. Ava doesn’t laugh easily.

“Is Dad being okay?” I asked her quietly.

Ava’s face went still.

“He keeps telling Claire’s family

that he’s the one who ‘got the girls into shape,’” she said. “He told June she couldn’t have a cookie at the rehearsal because she’d ‘get chubby like Mommy.’”

My stomach turned over.

“He said that?”

“In front of Claire’s mom.” Ava looked at the floor. “Claire’s mom laughed.”

I looked across the tent.

Max was standing by the bar with Claire on his arm, surrounded by a circle of people, laughing at something. He looked happy. He looked like a man who’d never done anything wrong in his life.

Edward put his hand very lightly on my back.

“Breathe,” he said again.

Then Max and Claire came over to greet us.

I saw them coming from across the tent. Max had a drink in his hand. Claire had her arm through his. They were stopping at every table, shaking hands, accepting congratulations.

Then Max saw me.

He saw Edward.