My plan had worked, better than I could have ever hoped. Although I had chosen Drake, I knew fate had chosen another for him. Grace told me of their intertwined futures. She cautioned me not to interfere, to let them find each other. I just needed to make sure Camille and Drake were given enough opportunities alone together to realize the same destiny. I genuinely liked Camille, and my words to her the night of Bruce and Hannah’s wedding were absolutely true. No matter what choices she or I made in life, we would remain best friends. If I could just get her to meet with me, I could do a little more nudging in Drake’s direction. I looked at my phone. I was getting close to being a stalker. I’d left her seven voice messages and not one was returned.
I made up my mind that if she wouldn’t pick up the phone today, I’d go see her. I hated pretending that I didn’t know they were destined for one another. When I was forced to make my decision and I couldn’t have the man I loved, I did the next best thing. I chose his closest friend, knowing if anyone were to back out on a wedding, Drake would be the most likely. Truthfully, I was a little surprised that he accepted my parents’ offer to begin with. It was sheer luck that Camille appeared out of thin air, and more fortunate still when Grace called me in a panic Saturday morning to tell me not to let Camille and Drake meet at the wedding. In Grace’s words, “If the two touch, their fates will be sealed. The two are destined for each other.” Little did Grace know that I had no desire to settle down with Drake and only too happily would arrange for the two of them to meet.
Drake was handsome and everything, but I really only chose him because of his friendship with the love of my life. I didn’t know Camille that well, but Grace was adamant that the two of us would become the closest of friends. Saturday night, I’d shared with Camille that Drake hadn’t been my first choice. After I’d told her, I began to wonder if I may have shared too much – she was the only person in the world that I had shared the truth with.
Even without Camille in the picture, I knew I could string Drake along for years if I had to, to come up with a way to make the destiny that I wanted work. Drake would never pressure me, nor would he feel it necessary to begin our relationship before our marriage.
The ache I felt for Gage was too much. I couldn’t put it off any longer. I needed to hear his voice. I hadn’t heard it in a month. He answered my call in a gruff voice, “You shouldn’t be calling me, Bianca.”
“Hello, Sweetheart, do you miss me?”
“Don’t call me Sweetheart. You’re engaged, Bianca, remember? Why are you calling me, anyway?”
“It’s just one old friend calling another.”
“It’s cheating, that’s what it is. I’m not having any part of it.”
“I just wanted to hear your voice. It seems like forever.”
There was a really long pause, then he finally whispered, “Why?” I could hear it in his voice; his feelings for me were as strong as ever.
“Why, what?”
“Don’t play dumb. Why Drake? He was my best friend. You couldn’t have picked some schmuck? You had to choose Drake?”
“I had to choose, and I’d been forbidden from you. I didn’t want someone who I could ever have feelings for. We’re going to work this out, I promise. It’s still you.”
“I can’t do that to him, Bianca.” His words stung. The month since news spread of my engagement to Drake had to have been hard on him, but no harder than it had been on me.
I tried to reassure him, “It’ll work out, I promise.”
His words were clear, concise, and full of pain, “You can’t call me anymore, Bianca. It’s over. We’re over.”
“It’s not over. I won’t let it be over.”
“You’ve already chosen. If you reject him now, his bloodline’s finished. No one will ever have him and you’ll owe him a blood debt. You can’t do that to him, Bianca. This thing between you and me—we’re done.”
“Let me worry about that. Just don’t go strutting around where another Centauride can see you. If another chose you, my heart would break.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. It’s always been you, Bianca. My whole life, all I ever wanted was you.” He hung up. It felt like he had reached into my chest, pulled out my heart and squeezed it like Play Doh. He was right. I should never have chosen Drake. I should have stood my ground against my mother’s wishes, but it was too late to undo what I’d already done.
I wanted to buy time, figure out a way to be with Gage. I had refused to consider what would happen to Drake once I announced I’d changed my mind. I knew Drake well enough to know that if I backed out, he wouldn’t demand a blood debt because of his friendship with my real first choice. But if I could just get Camille to convince Drake to break our engagement, everything would work out perfectly. My mother would give me her blessing no matter whom I chose, to avoid the embarrassment of a jilted daughter.
My next call was to Camille. Thankfully, she picked up right away, “Hello?”
“Hi Cami, what’re we doing today?”
“Bianca?”
“Well, duh. How many other people call you for a girl’s day out?”
“Yeah, I’m not really up for anything today. Maybe tomorrow?” Her voice was strained with distress.
“How about I come over to your house and help you practice?”
“No! I mean . . . I’ve been working with Gretchen, and I’m a little spent.”
I smiled to myself. Camille was too much of a rookie to know I could tap into her thoughts when she wasn’t blocking. I cringed when I thought that Gretchen might know what had happened Sunday between Camille and Drake on the boat. I’d been thrilled that things went as well as they did on the deck between the two of them, but I should have warned her about “broadcasting” her thoughts.
She and Drake just needed a little more prodding. “Oh, come on. If you don’t practice, you’ll never be proficient. I’ll be over in an hour.” I hung up the phone before she had a chance to argue.