How To Win His Heart

Wedding preparations

Allison’s POV

I took a sip from my champagne, with my eyes stuck on the phone. A smile of satisfaction drew on my lips as I got tagged in another post.

He should thank me for not releasing that video of him with his side chick. Too bad his poor wife had to live with him, she deserved better.

Holland got what he deserved in the end, and he was topic number one among the social media. For the past three days, he was the joke of the media. Not totally what he wanted, but whatever it wasn’t like I cared.

A message popped on the screen, and I stared at it with wide eyes. “Oh s**t,” I muttered under my breath. More than a hundred messages made my phone lag. Mom had known something for sure.

I shut off the phone, threw it across the couch, and chugged down the rest of the champagne.

“You have to tell her at one point, Alli,” Jayme said from the changing room.

I put the empty glass on the coffee table and stared at it. Even if I told my mother the reason for rejecting Scott, she would find it stupid then try to set up another date.

“Jayme, today is about you. This means no talking about my crappy life.” I heard her sigh, then the fitting room door opened, and she glared at me playfully with her hands on her hips.

“Fine.” She nodded.

I covered my mouth dramatically when I saw the dress on her. It was a bohemian dress with a V-neck cleavage and lace sleeves. It was fit for a wedding in the forest or a beach one. And If I didn’t know Jayme this good, I knew she would pick it at the end.

“I look ugly in this one,” she complained as she stepped out from the fitting room.

I whistled playfully, and she rolled her eyes. “You are way far from being ugly,”

I looked again at her dress with awe. This was her first dress to try on out of five. We spent two hours looking through the dresses with the hope to find one.

I got up from the pink couch and walked to her spot. She did a little twirl to give me a better view of the dress.

“The dress was made for you obviously, I’m sure Pete will love it, it’ll be easy for him to take it off.” I wiggled my eyebrows, and she slapped my shoulder, making me giggle as she blushed.

She turned to the mirror behind her and trailed the fabric with her hands. “It looks great on me.”

“And you still have four dresses left to try on,” I said.

She nodded and entered the fitting room again; I sat on the couch again, knowing she will take a long time to put another one on.

“Don’t forget after the dress fitting we have cake testing and please stay sober,” Jayme shouted from the fitting room.

I rolled my eyes, picking up the other champagne glass. “How could I forget? My favorite thing is free food,” I said in a duh tone and she chuckled.

I chugged down the other glass and closed my eyes, feeling light-headed.

The phone rang for a second and turned off. I picked it up and noticed it was a missed call from Clara. I found three messages from her and opened them, totally ignoring messages from mom.

God, how fast was she to type a hundred messages?

“Did you pick the location yet? I’ve got a nice spot in the forest away from the noisy city and another one in a country club,” I said with my eyes focused on the attached photos Clara sent me.

“This country club looks like the one mum always goes to,” I mumbled as I stared at the white marble entrance of the building.

“What did you say?” Jayme asked in a loud voice.

“Nothing, I was talking to myself,”

“Anyway, country clubs are my favorite type of scenery, you know that,” she replied.

“Alright, we are going to check it out tomorrow,” I said as my fingers ran across the keyboard, telling Clara to book the country club and take more photos of the place.

She sent me a thumbs-up emoji and sent me her congratulations to Jayme.

I didn’t know without you Clara where I could’ve gone. She literally saved us another day of a venue hunt.

I know Jayme would love it when she sees it. Clara sent more pictures of the place and it looked relaxing.

An hour later, Jayme was done with the dress fitting and as I guessed before, she picked the first dress. Currently, we were walking to the cake shop now as both of us had champagne and couldn’t drive.

“You didn’t tell me what happened to Scott exactly.” She nudged my shoulder, and I chuckled nervously.

The next day after the date, I talked to Jayme and told her about the date in very long detail. The funny thing that at the end of the day I told him I was very busy, and I had no time to go out with him again.

“Yeah, about him.” I pressed my lips shut, trying to form the words in my brain first.

“Remember the Holland thing?” She nodded, and I trailed, “Scott was paid to be a witness, and as I told you, he has a small modeling agency. Apparently, Holland was investing money in his agency.” I turned my head to look at Jayme’s reaction,

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the date, and he’s a good guy or was one.” I knitted my eyebrows, confused with my own words, but continued anyway, “I didn’t want him to know that I was Allison Miller and he was surprised when he saw me at Holland’s, so I took the safest option out.” I lifted my eyes to meet an angry Jayme, she was glaring at me.

I waved my hands in the air as she shook her head. “Don’t look at me like this,” I mumbled, “it’s not like I need my shining armor right now,”

Yeah, she already gave up on me.

And I was desperate for a love story, one of those slow-burning love stories, anyway I was committed to my work right now.

She snapped her fingers together, and a smile was on her face. “Guess what, today is your lucky day,” I frowned at her and she continued, “Jordan doesn’t have a date for the wedding neither do you. You two could go together and it had been years since you two talked,”

I didn’t tell Jayme about his email, the one I archived to avoid talking to him.

“But he’s your fiance’s best man and I’m your maid of honor. Pete won’t like it,” I said in a high-pitched voice.

That was the lamest excuse I ever said in my life. I hurt that guy a lot, how am I supposed to be his date.

Jayme stopped walking and knitted her eyebrows, focusing her gaze on me. “Why did you say that with your high-pitched tone? Are you hiding something?”

I gulped down my saliva and shrugged my shoulders. “Hmm… no?”

“Jayme, I drank a lot of champagne, so give me a break.” I hid behind the fact that I was drunk to cover myself from spilling any more words about the email.

She grabbed her phone out of her purse to text Pete. I tried to take it from her, but she kept pacing faster, making me chase her. People were giving us funny looks as they passed us. When I grabbed her by her purse, she pushed me aside.

I watched her as her fingers glided through the screen, typing to Pete. She lifted her eyesight and met my fake angry one. She bit her lower lip, holding a chuckle, and returned to texting.

I massaged my nose bridge as I watched her text her fiance.

“Done.” She shut off the phone, that devilish smile on her face. I wanted to hit her, but unfortunately, she needed her face for the wedding.

Jordan was like my brother, I knew him since middle school as his mother worked at my mother’s studio. To say Mom loved Jordan as her own was an understatement. She and dad always thought we two would end up together.

And apart from my father’s will was a scholarship for Jordan in one of the finest universities in New York, the same college my father attended and the one he sent me to. There, Jordan majored in business, photography, and fashion while I majored in business, fashion, and interior design.

We were two peas in a pot, inseparable. But I was the one who broke that golden friendship when he confessed his love to me, and I shattered his heart.

I couldn’t forget that look on his face when I told him he was like my brother. He was so hurt.

We continued our walk to the store. Jayme noticed my mood change and slid her arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to her. “Hey, I know you two were close. But it had been four years since you talked.”

“Jay-Jay, I broke his heart.” I reminded her, and she gave me a sad smile.

“Love isn’t for me, and what happened in college showed me that the hard way. That’s why I devoted myself to work, so I couldn’t get myself hurt or hurt someone like I did to Jordan.” I glanced at her and focused back on the stores we passed.

As much as I admired the thought of love and finding my other half as much as I hated being in love, I got my heart broken once and it hurt me.

“You will find love at the right time, Alli. Just wait for it,”. She rubbed my shoulder, and I smiled softly at her.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before a question came into my mind. I was waiting to ask Jayme from the moment she told me about her marriage.

“Why the sudden rush with the marriage thing?” I asked, and Jayme’s blueish eyes met mine.

Jayme and Pete had their ups and downs lately, but marriage, that’s a new decision. I didn’t want her to get hurt and end up divorced. Marriage was a very sacred thing to Jayme, it was a huge step in her life.

“I know It’s rushed, but if it was my last day on earth, I want to be married to Pete. We had been dating for five years now and his proposal was finally on time,” I blinked at her words.

What did she mean by the last day on earth? I felt my heart get heavier, then bad thoughts filled my head.

“Do I need to worry about you? What do you even mean by your last days?” I rushed with questions and she snorted.

Her laughter filled the place, and it confused me. Was Dying making her happy?

She clutched her stomach and stopped in her tracks. She wiped her tears and took a breath in, letting it out with another laugh. “You should’ve seen your face,” I glared at her.

“It’s not funny.” I sped my pace when I noticed the bakery two miles away.

I didn’t like jokes about death. Dad always faked having a seizure or his heart suddenly stop until it happened one day. Seventeen years old me hated life and wanted to die, so she could be with her father forever.

Jayme grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me to face her. She pulled me in a hug and I rested my face on her shoulder.

“I didn’t mean it that way, I’m sorry,” she mumbled and I nodded.

She patted my shoulder and pulled away from the hug. Then we entered the bakery.

The cake testing went faster than the fitting, of course. I was so glad to return to my bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

After the bakery, Jayme called Pete, and he drove us home since we drank champagne. Better be safe than sorry, I told Clara where my car was and she would pass to drive it to my place later.

I inserted the keys into the door to find it unlocked.

“s**t,” I muttered under my breath.

Since I was out with Jayme, this left only one person with the keys, my mother.

The door opened, showing mom. She stood in the middle of the living room, crossing her arms together, looking angry. And I might know the reason behind that.

“Hi mom,” I said through gritted teeth. I walked in and slammed the door behind me.

Mom was supposed to be happy that I made the right decision, she didn’t like guys dating me for money and Scott pretty much was like them.

Mom threw her hands in the air and started yelling at me. “How could you do this to me? His mom is very upset with you, you embarrassed him at Holland’s place!” She stopped to inhale air. Anger was visible in her eyes.

Then she continued yelling at me in Spanish, this time about how I embarrassed her now in front of her friends. I ran my hand through my hair as I was fed up with the same talk.

I took off my shoes and walked to my room with her following me as she yelled at me.

“Are you done?” I asked after I changed into my PJs.

“Why do you have an icy heart, huh? He is a nice man, and you didn’t even give him a chance,” she said in a lower tone, filled with disappointment.

I massaged my nose, headache rushed in my head from all of her loud voice.

“Mom, Holland is investing money in his agency, not to mention he paid him money to be his witness, so they could give Holland fake evidence but you don’t care about that,” she blinked at me, probably not caring about what I told her.

“For your knowledge, I have a heart and I will prove to you I’m capable of finding a decent man without your help,” I yelled back at her.

“Do whatever you want Allison, but don’t come crying to me when you get your heart broken again,” she said with a calm tone and an icy glare.

She became harsh to me after dad’s death, even so, this gave her no right to speak to me like that. I wasn’t an object, she always bragged about me in front of her friends, and being single just gives her beverages to talk more about me to her friends.

She shouldn’t be the one to judge my old toxic relationships while she was literally asking for me to have another one with someone who might be exactly like them.

But the important question, where to find a decent man who isn’t chasing money in New York? Probably there’s zero chance.

Being a woman and a billionaire sucks.