The minute Jackson walked out of her barn per her request, April could feel her heart break into a tiny million pieces. But she had to hold it in, if not for her, then for Matthew. And their families. They owed it to God and everyone in the room to get married. So she sucked in every bit of emotion she felt and continued the ceremony.
When the groom kissed the bride, it felt wrong. Not only to her, but to the people watching them. April felt like a lifeless corpse as she went on to what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but strangely the happiest thing that had happened to her today was also the most devastating.
Jackson, her best friend, her ex lover, her person, loved her. And not in a small way, no in a big i'll-stand-up-at-your-wedding kind of way. But she couldn't tell him she felt the same because it wasn't fair. He didn't want her when she wanted him, and now it was too late.
At the party April overheard Matthew and his friends discussing Jackson's speech. "A total nut-job, what, he thinks he can bang her and they're meant to be together? So glad she chose you, Matt. It was a no brainer." One of his friends laughed. "Goes to show how shallow and stupid plastic surgeons are." Matthew added. April could feel the anger boiling inside of her, because Jackson was anything but shallow. He cared about his patients, and his smile could make anyone feel warm and fuzzy, as if everything was going to be okay.
On their wedding night April refused to have sex. Matthew was angry, and in their argument the words "Jackson" "I'm not him" "We waited so long" kept coming up, but all she did was cry. Matthew was a nice man, but everything he did kept making her want to disappear more and more.
She knew she'd be spending the rest of her life with him, and somehow that made her cry even more. But he was the perfect man, and to stay with him was something she owed to a lot of people. "I love you." Matthew mumbled as she fell asleep, but the words felt wrong now, because she'd heard them from someone else that day.
On Tuesday April decided to go back to work, it had been a few days since the wedding and Matthew and her still hadn't done it, but she felt too empty to even move out of bed. Being a nice man, he didn't force her into anything, but she could feel that he was getting impatient. Soon, she would have to commit herself, as if the wedding wasn't already enough.
But when a familiar pair of blue eyes looked at her from across the hallway, everything inside of her melted. She tried to avoid him, so April ran as far as she could, footsteps following behind her. Once she reached the end of the surgical wind, she spun around to meet the man who'd been haunting her thoughts for the past few days.
"April…"