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Formerly Yours (Forever Yours Book 2)

By Samantha Bayarr

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Formerly Yours

Chapter 1
It’s Not You, It’s Me…
Every bride has her breaking point; mine didn’t come until I was left standing alone at the altar, waiting for my perfect groom, who would break me in ways I never imagined possible.
Excerpt from: Confessions of a Former Bridezilla
by Juliet Hart
____________________________________
Juliet followed Lexie around the hotel ballroom making notes as fast as she could, but the woman was barking out orders like a drill sergeant, and Juliet had other things on her mind. She’d been offered a book deal, and the wedding she was planning was going to accomplish one of two things—perhaps both; she was going to tame this bridezilla and have one more success story to inspire her to finish her book by the deadline, and she was finally going to get herself named as one of the top wedding planners in Chicago.
Concentrate, Juliet, or you’ll lose the biggest account you’ve ever had—the one that could change your status from amateur to professional, and all the brides will be begging you to plan their weddings. That, and transform them from bridezillas to happy brides.
Who was she kidding?
She was a complete fraud; she was nothing more than a jilted bridezilla who’d bitterly corralled other bridezillas down the aisle along with the half-hearted advice given from a jealous heart. And as soon as her bridezilla found out about it, that could be the end of her.
There was no way she was ever going to make someone like Lexie Hamilton happy at the Belmont Grande—especially after her father had failed to secure the Waldorf, and she’d made it clear to him—her own father—that he’d be banned from her wedding if not for the fact that he was paying for it.
If she couldn’t tame this bridezilla, her book would be a total joke.
How can I help her, Lord, when I can’t get past my own troubles?
Yes, Lexie was the poster-girl for all bridezilla’s out there. She’d almost outshined Juliet herself, at her worst moment—except for one thing; Lexie still had her groom.
At least she thought she did.
The man had not shown his face for any of the usual couple activities that other grooms participate in such as, cake testing and first-dance selection. Lexie’s equally-manic maid of honor, Ashley, had been there for most of it. The only thing she knew for certain about the groom was his name: Luke Barnes.
The name alone sent chills right through her and had her in a constant tug-of-war with her heart. Her mind flooded with memories of her long-lost groom, the one that got away. If not for her own bridezilla days, she would now be happily married to Luke Barnes.
Or perhaps not. She’d realized finally that he just wasn’t the man for her.
Could the two men be one and the same? How many men could there possibly be named Luke Barnes in the state of Illinois? Hopefully, more than the one she almost married.
If he was her Luke, Lexie would fire her immediately, and that would be the end of her career—and possibly her book deal.
It was probably best if she kept her curiosity to herself, and even if it turned out to be him, she’d have to let it remain in the past. She would even go as far as pretending she didn’t know him if she had to. He was, after all, marrying Lexie—not her. He’d made it clear the day he left her just moments before their wedding that he didn’t want to marry a bridezilla.
So, if he was the same man, why was he about to marry another bridezilla?
Was it possible his absence from the wedding planning was because of the suffering she’d put him through? Or maybe he stayed away because he just didn’t want to be there to witness it? Perhaps turning a blind eye to it all made him feel better about it. He’d been by her side every step of the way in planning their wedding, and had, unfortunately, witnessed more than any man could stomach. After all was said and done, she could hardly blame him for not being willing to marry her. She no longer blamed him for the breakup, and there were times when he could have been more supportive, but in the end, it was unlikely it would have changed the outcome.
The memory of the day Luke broke things off with her, that last final straw, had haunted her for seven long years. His final words to her were simple and to the point; Jules, you’re out of control; either you want a wedding or a marriage.
Thinking he’d never walk away from her, she’d foolishly chosen the wedding she’d painstakingly planned since she was twelve. At that early age, she’d had no idea who her groom would be, but she had an ideal image in mind, and Luke had fallen short of fitting onto the pedestal in which she’d put her groom—neatly dressed with a smile on his face, standing proud and plastic atop her perfect, four-tiered, gold-embossed wedding cake.
There was something about the obsession of planning her dream wedding at the Waldorf that had transformed her from a working part of two people in love, to one force to be reckoned with.
“Are you even listening to me?” Lexie hissed, her face twisted up and beet-red with anger.
Juliet looked up from her notes. “Absolutely,” she said. “I heard everything you said. I wrote it down; word-for-word.”
Lexie leaned in and stared at her notes. “You really are writing down everything I’m saying?” she screeched.
Juliet pulled the notepad against the front of her, guarding it from Lexie’s prying eyes. “Not everything,” she said. “But I want to make sure I understand all your wedding needs and the urgency of every one of them.”
“Don’t make me fire you!” Lexie threatened.
“For real this time?” Juliet asked. “Because according to my notes, you’ve fired me three times already today.”
She tried to lighten the mood with an attempt at a joke, but her bridezilla was in no mood for it.
Lexie huffed and whipped her head around toward the bride and groom table. She picked up the centerpiece and plucked a single pink rosebud out of the middle, bringing it to her nose and breathing it in. For a moment, Juliet could have sworn she was about to say something nice and calm, but she narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.
“I changed my mind; I don’t like those centerpieces. They’ll need to be replaced, and I’ll be taking the charge for the samples out of your salary,” she said.
How many similar things had she said to her own wedding planner? It was the most expensive wedding that never happened, and she’d probably be paying her parents back for it long after they were gone from this earth.
She’d tried to be patient with Lexie, even offering her snippets of advice, but she ignored and resented everything she said. Had she given up on her from the frustration of it? This woman exhausted and infuriated her.
Juliet’s conscience tugged at her; had her fixation with this wedding that mirrored her own in so many ways caused her to lose sight of the main reason for writing her book? She’d convinced the publisher her goal was to help other bridezillas to avoid the same mistake she had; losing the groom.
Lexie had been her first wedding since the book offer, and she’d barely done anything to help the poor woman. How could she steer her clear of the self-destructive path she was walking down toward an aisle of frivolous wedding decorations and band selections that wouldn’t matter one bit the next day?
Instead of helping Lexie, she’d seen her as an opportunity to help further her book. Unfortunately, when she’d learned the groom’s name—whether it was coincidence or not—she’d struggled with resentment and jealousy, and it had caused her to become lax on her goals.
Somehow, she had to let Luke go completely, and remember that she’d accepted the choice he’d made that day. If she didn’t, there was no way she would be able to help Lexie. God had put the young woman in her path, knowing it could put to rest the ghosts of her troubled past and give her the closure she needed.
But how would she handle it when the day finally arrived when she’d come face-to-face with the groom? Meeting up with him was inevitable—a force she could not stop. Sooner or later, their paths would cross; what then? If she was right about him being her ex, how was that going to weigh on her willingness to continue planning Lexie’s perfect wedding? On the other hand, if she was wrong, how would she ever live with herself for letting her emotions take over and turn her into a wedding planner-zilla?

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