“If you want to get further with art history,” she was advising Elena, “you should come back to school. The museums will never hire someone with only an undergraduate degree.”
“Perhaps,” Elena said, sipping her wine. She hadn’t found school particularly interesting back in the life she remembered. There had been too much else to do: monsters to fight, the ongoing drama of her love life to manage.
Maybe here, studying something she loved, with the idea that it would actually help her get a particular job … She felt excitement blossom in her chest. She could tell from the way Manon was talking that the Elena these girls knew was serious about her career.
Lina began to describe a show she and Elena were organizing at the gallery to the other girls, and Elena listened, eyes wide.
“It was Elena who suggested arranging the pieces by the models instead of chronologically,” Lina said. “A very interesting effect. He used the same models over and over, for years, and you can see the women growing older, just as his art developed.”
Elena felt a flush of pride. Even though she didn’t remember it, apparently she was good at her job.
“Let’s talk about something more interesting than art,” Veronique said eventually. “Elena. Are you going to go out with Hugo again?”
Hugo? Elena tried to prompt the memory that had given her the names of her friends, but came up blank. “I don’t know,” she said slowly.
In unison, all three girls sighed.
“He’s such a nice man,” Lina said, tucking a long lock of hair behind her ear. “And he’s crazy about you.”
“I will take him off your hands if you don’t want him,” Manon said. “That lovely man, just going to waste.” She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, laughing.
“Obviously, you shouldn’t date anyone you don’t want,” Veronique added, “but it seems like you’re never even open to the idea of love.”
Elena didn’t know what to say. Even without memories of this time, she knew why she wasn’t looking for love, why she wasn’t falling for the lovely man they were talking about. How could she? She had left her heart with Damon and Stefan, wherever they were. Finally, she shrugged. “Sometimes it’s not meant to be, I guess.”
“We worry about you,” Veronique said flatly. “It’s like you’re waiting for something, and we don’t want you to let life pass you by.”
Looking back at her Parisian friends, Elena was hit by a sudden rush of homesickness. Meredith and Bonnie would have fussed over her and nudged her in just the same way. Where were they now? Had the vow they had sworn in the churchyard, to be friends forever, come true? I hope so, she thought. I hope I haven’t lost everyone from my old life, even if I’ve lost … even if I can’t have …
“Oh, we didn’t mean to make you sad,” Lina said softly, laying a warm soft hand over hers. “It will all come right in the end.”
When she came back from lunch, the apartment seemed entirely too quiet. Elena wandered through the flat, touching the sleek pale furniture, rearranging the books and ornaments.
It was exactly the kind of place she’d always dreamed of. And yet, she felt terribly wistful.
She was reminding herself of Damon, she realized. How he had brushed his fingers across her possessions, opened drawers to peer inside, inspected her photographs. Like him, she was trying to figure out the person who lived here.
Elena laughed a little and wiped her eyes. The person who lived here had a wonderful life. Elena just wasn’t sure if it was really hers.
In the kitchen, she found an invitation held by a magnet to the refrigerator, something she’d somehow managed to overlook on her first rummage through the apartment.
Elena read: “… invite you to the wedding of their daughter Bonnie Mae McCullough to Zander—” She stopped.
Zander? She could feel a smile beginning on her face.
Some things must be destined after all.
32
Amazing. Despite everything that had changed, Bonnie was not only marrying the same guy, she’d chosen the same bridesmaids’ dresses. As she waited to walk down the aisle behind Bonnie’s two older sisters, Elena carefully straightened the long rose pink gown and held her bouquet—pale lilies and bright roses—at waist level.
This time, though, the wedding was in the church Bonnie’s parents attended, and there seemed to be a lot more people in attendance. Elena looked over the crowd, picking out faces she recognized: Sue Carson, Bonnie’s dad’s business partner, Mrs. Flowers. Apparently, when Bonnie’s mom and sisters had time to get involved, things got a lot more elaborate.
Someone struck up the wedding march, and the bridesmaids began to file in, first Bonnie’s sisters; then Shay, Zander’s second-in-command in the Pack; then a girl Elena didn’t know who had been Bonnie’s roommate at Dalcrest College; then Meredith, head held high, stepped down the aisle.
Meredith looked terrific. Confident and elegant, her beautiful thick dark hair piled on top of her head. And she was human. Elena let the spreading joy of that fact run through her. The changes Elena had made back during those fateful few months in high school had saved Meredith.
When it was Elena’s turn, she raised her head high, held her flowers low, and stepped carefully and slowly, just the way she’d been told. At the front of the church, she took her place next to Meredith and looked over at the guys’ side of the aisle.
It was all werewolves—Matt and Zander must not be good friends here—jostling one another rowdily, but they stilled and came to attention as Zander lifted his head, pushing his pale blond hair out of his eyes, and saw Bonnie.