I hate weddings, but what twenty-eight year old single guy likes them? Friends of the bride look around for someone who will fit into the picture of their wedding, cheesy DJs playing crappy music and too much pink for any one person to take. 

Langley’s wedding wasn’t all that bad, though. I just wish Emogen were still here keeping me company. As it is, I feel like a tool sitting here at her sister’s wedding while she’s outside, likely with Ryan. I knew  when she asked me to be her plus one, it was really him she wanted, but I still agreed to it. Hell, more than anything, I hoped that she would give me a chance to be what she needed. 

Maybe there’s still time.

I glance at my watch and note that she’s been gone for over thirty minutes. Not that I’m counting.

There’s nothing else to do but sit here and wait. I feel like I’m in front of a firing squad awaiting my fate, but truth is, I already know. The beer sitting in front of me is beading with condensation, so I grab it to take a swig before it gets any warmer, but the moment I bring the bottle to my mouth, I see Emogen making her way through the entrance. 

Damn, she’s beautiful. She’s a mess, but she’s beautiful.

Across the room, even from this distance, I can read it. I know everything she’s about to say to be before she even says it.

She approaches me and I can tell she’s been crying, and that means she probably told Ryan that she lost their baby.

“He found you?” I ask, knowing her answer. He’s not a complete idiot, there’s no way he’d let the opportunity to get her back slip past. 

She looks almost guilty when her eyes meet mine. She nods, “yeah.” Her face contorts to confusion when she follows that single word with a question. “Why did you send him after me?”

“Because, I knew it’s what you wanted,” I answer her honestly. I have not always been a stand up guy when it comes to women that I’m 
interested in, but Em was never truly mine. My words cause tears to form in her blue eyes, and I have to fight the urge to pull her to me and tell her she should be with me. To give us a chance. 

Us.

I shake my head at the thought. There was never an us, so I say nothing.

“You’re kinda perfect, Trey.” Em saying my name sends a jolt to my chest, and I know that she’s telling me I was right to let her go.

What do I have to lose? I’ve lost the girl - that I never really had - so I decide to let the old Trey appear, albeit brief. I pull her to me and she 
assumes I’m going to hug her. Instead, I lift her chin so she looks at me and I plant a kiss to her lips. Her lips are salty from her tears and for a moment, I regret sending Ryan after her.

The few times that we’ve kissed have left me torn between shoving her out the door to save her from me, and dragging her to my room to see where it might lead. 

But this kiss is goodbye.

“Emogen Kane, you’re everything I never knew I wanted, but you belong to someone else.” I wait for her to say something to the contrary, but she doesn’t, so I drive my last point home. “But if he screws up, you call me.” 

The words that come from me are the truth and that pushes something inside of me. Before meeting her, I never really wanted to settle down with anyone, not that I was planning on settling down with her. But there was something about Em, or the idea of her, that made me curious enough to want to see what more would be like. Looking into her eyes, it confirms what I’ve already known for some time, she will never be with me.

I turn back to my chair and grab my coat before leaving her standing at the table where she found me. As I move to exit, I see Ryan standing in the doorway and I’m pretty sure he saw everything that just happened. Rather than be a dick about it, I stop to offer him what little bit I’m willing to at this moment.

“You know you fucked up leaving her, right?”

He doesn’t look at me; he just stares at Em and nods. The guy isn’t an idiot, hell, I’m pretty sure he’s beating himself up for letting her go.

“Good. Then do me a favor and take care of her. I don’t have to remind you that she’s special and only a jackass would let her get away twice. So if you fuck up, just know that someone will be waiting to take her and treat her the way she deserves.” I pat his shoulder and offer him a sincere wish, “good luck, man.”

As I walk outside, I’m struck by the stars overhead. “One in a million,” I mutter to myself. Surely there has to be another, because she was 
never mine.