Chapter 140 (1/2)

During the wedding I kept thinking that I would love to do this more often, just as a hobby, but as the months went by, I found myself at bridal expos, and the next thing I knew, I was planning Kimberly and Christian’s wedding.

I kept my job at Vance in New York City because I needed the income. Hardin moved to New York with me, and I refused to let him pay all of my bills while I tried to figure out what the hell to do, because though I was so proud of my college degree, I just no longer wanted to work in the field. I will always love reading—books are forever tied to my soul—but I simply changed my mind. Just like that.

Hardin gave me endless crap about this, since I’d always been so sure about my career choice. But as the years went on and I grew up, I realized that I didn’t know who I was when I enrolled in WCU. How can people be expected to choose what they want to do for the rest of their life when they’re just beginning their life?

Landon already had his job lined up: fifth-grade teacher at a public school in Brooklyn. Hardin, a New York Times bestseller at the young age of twenty-five, had four books published, and me, well, I was still working on figuring out my own path, but I was fine with that. I didn’t feel rushed in the way I always had. I wanted to take my time and make sure every choice I made was set to make me happy. For the first time I was putting my happiness before anyone else’s, which felt great.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror. There were so many times in the past four years when I wasn’t sure if I would make it through college, and now here I was: a college graduate. Hardin clapped while my mother cried. They even sat together.

My mother walked into the bathroom and stood at my side. “I’m so proud of you, Tessa.”

She was wearing an evening gown; it wasn’t really suitable for a college graduation, but she wanted to dress to impress, as always. Her blond hair was curled and sprayed to perfection, and her nails were painted to match my graduation cap and gown. It was over the top, but she was proud and I didn’t want to take that away from her. She had groomed me to succeed in life and be everything she couldn’t, and now, as an adult, I understood that.

“Thank you,” I responded as she handed me her lip gloss. I gladly took it from her, despite the fact that I didn’t want or need to reapply any makeup, and she looked pleased when I didn’t fight her on it.

“Is Hardin still out there?” I asked. The gloss was sticky and too dark for my liking, but I smiled anyway.

“He’s entertaining David.” She smiled along with me, and my heart filled a little more. My mother’s fingers ran over the ends of her curls. “He invited him to that fundraiser he’s speaking at.”

“That will be nice.” Things weren’t as awkward between my mother and Hardin as they used to be. He would never be her favorite person, but over the past few years she gained a respect for him that I never would have believed was possible before.