Wedding Party Collection: Once A Bridesmaid.... Avril Tremayne

the truth.’

      ‘I certainly don’t understand what you saw in her.’

      ‘Me neither. I guess we get what we deserve.’

      She looked up at him, perplexed. ‘Why would you think you deserved her? Deserved...that?’

      Leo shook his head, shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. ‘Just history. Perpetuating the crappiness of my life. Because she wasn’t my first mistake—just the most persistent.’

      Mistake. Something about the word made Sunshine shiver. Mistake...

      ‘You’re cold,’ Leo said. ‘And I have a brilliant idea—let’s actually get in the bed.’

      Sunshine latched onto being cold as a viable excuse for the sudden chill prickling along her skin. She slid under the covers, busied herself positioning cushions so that she was propped up against the bedhead, half turned to him.

      She toyed with her chain, rubbing the sun and moon charms between her fingers.

      ‘Sun and moon,’ Leo said, watching her. ‘For Sunshine and Moonbeam?’

      ‘Yes. The business is called Sun & Moon too. Not sure what we were going to do when we changed our names.’

      ‘You were going to change your names? Don’t tell me: Sue and Jenny?’

      ‘Do I look like a Sue?’

      ‘Actually, you look like a Sunshine.’

      ‘Harsh! Well, Moonbeam was definitely not a Jenny! She was going to be Amaya—it means Night Rain. She figured it was a close enough association with the night, if not with the moon specifically.’

      ‘Nice. And yours?’

      ‘Allyn. Do I look like an Allyn?’

      ‘I told you—you look like a Sunshine.’

      ‘Oh, dear. Daunting. Well, Moon said Allyn meant Bright and Shining One. Close enough to sunshine, in her opinion. And she said it suited me.’ She frowned, thinking. ‘I’ve thought a lot over the past two years about making the change. Wondered if doing the thing we planned to do together on my own would help me accept...move on. My parents aren’t so sure.’

      ‘Tell me about them,’ Leo said.

      ‘My parents? Oh, they’re very zen! Quite mad. And completely wonderful. Always there. Supportive, but never smothering. They let Moon and me leave the commune when we were fifteen, so we could see a different way and make informed decisions about how we wanted to live. They made sure we had a safe place to stay, a good school to go to, money for whatever we needed, while we worked it out. And they seemed to understand even before we did that Moon was the true hippie and I was...well, something in between a hippie and an urbanite. Moon would have raced straight back to the commune if not for me being anchored in the city.’ She smiled, remembering. ‘We started our business with money our father inherited but didn’t need. It was given to us simply, with love, on our eighteenth birthday.’

      ‘Lucky.’

      ‘Yes. But it’s not all sparkles and roses, you know. There’s the haiku to deal with!’

      ‘Ah, the haiku. What is it?’

      ‘You’ll find out—that poem is coming.’

      ‘Can’t wait.’

      ‘You have no idea!’

      ‘But...they were okay with you girls changing your names?’

      ‘They weren’t insulted, if that’s what you mean. They were fine with it if we wanted to do it.’ She bit her lip. ‘But Dad had a sidebar conversation with me because he thought Moonbeam was browbeating me.’

      ‘And was she?’

      ‘Not browbeating—nothing that brutish. She was...persuading!’ Sunshine said, and smiled, remembering. ‘But I was happy enough to be persuaded if she wanted it that badly. And I owed her, for staying.’

      Sunshine closed her eyes, picturing her sister.

      ‘Tell me more about Moonbeam,’ Leo said.

      Opening her eyes on a sigh, Sunshine adjusted her position in the bed. ‘Well, you know what she looked like—me! But slimmer. And with the most beautiful green eyes—both of them. Other than looks, though, we were completely different. I was the carnivore; she was vegetarian. I was...well, as you see me. Friendly, touchy-feely, chirpy.’

      ‘And...?’

      Sunshine fiddled with her necklace. ‘Moon was...intriguing. I was Mary Poppins; she was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. When the kids made fun of my devil eyes I would laugh it off, but she would go all superhero.’ She laughed suddenly. ‘Is there a hippie superhero? What a wonderful idea. I’m going to do a web search on that.’

      ‘So she was your protector?’

      ‘Oh, yes. And my cheer squad. And my...everything. She was smart, and had an amazing flair for numbers, so although the business was my idea she was the CEO. And she didn’t even want to be in the city!’

      Sunshine adjusted the quilt. Fussed with a cushion.

      ‘She said that left me to concentrate on the creative stuff because she was not into fashion like I was. She would wear a suit for business if I chose it for her; otherwise she would drag on whatever clothes and shoes came to hand. I, on the other hand, was obsessed with colour and shape and style.’ She shrugged, a little sheepish. ‘And I really love shoes!’

      ‘Funny, I hadn’t noticed that.’

      She hit him with the cushion. ‘Don’t make me take you behind that wall and show you my shoe collection. I haven’t known a man yet who could cope with the sight.’

      ‘Are you really going there? Talking about the men you’ve had in here? I’ll go there if you want, Sunshine, but I don’t think you’ll like it.’

      She opened her eyes at him. ‘Oh, that sounds very alpha male.’

      He didn’t smile. ‘You’ll see alpha, beta, gamma, and zeta male if you go near another man, Sunshine.’

      ‘Oh, alpha, beta, and zeta?’

      ‘Alpha-beta-gamma-zeta. And don’t roll your eyes.’

      ‘Sorry.’

      ‘I said don’t roll your eyes.’

      ‘All right!’ Sunshine said, laughing.

      ‘So, I think,’ Leo said quietly, after a long moment, ‘we’re up to the bike, aren’t we?’

      Sunshine nodded, sat a little straighter. ‘The bike,’ she said. She pulled a different cushion onto her lap and started playing with the fringe. ‘She bought it because she liked the wind in her face and the freedom of riding. It was too big for her, but she wouldn’t be told.’

      She stopped there.

      ‘And...?’ he prompted.

      Sunshine reached for the charms. ‘We were at a party. Her boyfriend du jour—Jeff—mixed us up and tried to kiss me. Moonbeam went into melodrama mode and stormed off, dragging me with her.’

      ‘Was she angry with you?’

      ‘God, no! She knew I would never poach. And truthfully...? She wasn’t even angry with Jeff. She was just restless. Bored with being in the city. And tired of Jeff. So what he did gave her an excuse to dump him. She thought...she thought he’d done it accidentally-on-purpose because he actually preferred me. We were dressed so differently, you see, it couldn’t have been a mix-up.’

      ‘Did that happen often? A boyfriend switching sides?’

      ‘No. Never before.’

      ‘And so...?’

      ‘And so we