The Worst Best Man

by Mia Sosa

My mother and aunts will be livid on my behalf. Before this day is over, they’ll organize a search party so they can find Andrew and kick him in the balls with the agility and precision of the Rockettes. And considering their entrepreneurial spirit, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sold tickets to the show and titled it The Nutcracker.

I’ll gladly support outside-the-box plans whenever possible—largely because I’d prefer the box didn’t exist.

“Hope may spring eternal, prima, but deception will bite you in the ass.

“Insurance. If my past conduct is any guide, I will most definitely screw up in the future, and I’ll need to cash in on any credits. I’m working on building a reserve now.”

“No one gets anywhere with me by diminishing someone else. You want my secrets? Earn them.”

It’s a privilege I take for granted—the ability to be who I want and say what I want no matter the space I’m in.

When you’re looking to improve, refer to the last and best thing you did and go from there.”

And when I don’t want to deal with an issue, sleep is always the answer. Always.

“Thing is,” he says, his chin resting on my head, “there’s no single way to be a badass. Your mother and aunts coming here and making new lives for themselves? Badass. My mother running her own firm even after she and my father divorced? Badass. You facing the obstacles in your path and reinventing yourself in the process? Badass. There’s room for different kinds of greatness. Even if you cry doing it. Hell, especially if you cry doing it.”

It doesn’t matter if I’m your first or hundredth choice as long as I’m the right choice.