Who do you miss? It was a simple question on a stupid forwarded email, but the question unnerved me. Who do I miss? I miss people I never should have even met, because it wasn't possible for them to ever stay in my life.
So what if I could help bring them back? Would I? Could I? I had to try. I had no idea how to stop what was about to happen, but he did. I glanced back at the mail sitting on the small oak table as I reached for my phone. I dialed his number and waited for an answer.
It had been so long since I had talked to him. I still wasn't sure that I should. No. He needed to hear about this. He deserved to know, after all he helped me with.
"Hello?" His voice was rough, and distant. It had been so long since I'd talked to him. "It's me, I need help."
"What is it? What's the matter?" He was anxious. I hurried to soothe, "Don't worry, nothing's wrong with me. But, it came today."

"What c-... Oh." I knew what I meant, of course he did. He was always there for me, it was my choice to let him go. But, that wasn't the problem here. "Garret, what should I do?"
"You know what's right, if he finds out years from now, he'll blame you. He deserves to know. By the way, how soon?" I stifled a hysterical chuckle, "You'll never believe it. I bet she knew; his birthday. Just to spite him."
"No." The word was a denial. "Of course, it makes sense. She was mad at him. Unbelievably furious. But, how could she do that?" He didn't need to ask, he knew. Love makes you do stupid, crazy things. It happened to us. And now, it was happening to my brother. The girl of his dreams was getting married on his birthday.
They had grown up together, and then she had to leave. It had seemed like deja vu when it happened to me.
"You still there?" Garret asked.
"Yeah, I'll call you later, okay? I need to tell him."
"Okay, and Della? I'm here for you, any time." I couldn't deal with this too, not today.
"Yeah, bye Garret."

"What?" There was a lot of noise in the background. He was busy.
"Derek? I have something to tell you? What are you doing right now?"
He seemed annoyed, "I'm at concert, can this wait?" Not really.
"Not really, sorry to interrupt, but this is important, Ariella's getting married." Sigh. "This December." Gasp. "On the 12th."
"No." That was all he said, before he hung up.
I really wish I hadn't needed to do that. I saw it coming. I was waiting for it. All of her sisters had married young, but she had waited. And now it was too late. He would probably drive all through the night to get to Utah. Get there just in time for the ceremony, only to realize that he wasn't allowed in the temple. He would sit outside, waiting. He would go to the reception, and say hello. And then come back home, and not change anything.
He would go back to all his old habits. The ones that made her mad in the first place. He would ruin his life, because of her. Love made you do stupid and crazy things.
I had to do something. So, I called her sister, the youngest one.
"Amber, it's me, Della. I just got the wedding invitation. Is it true?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry. She wants to get married as soon as possible, and she's hurrying it right along. I don't get why she's in such a rush."
I did. I knew exactly why. "I do. She's getting back at Derek. Don't you see? She set the date for his birthday. She's still in love with him, and she doesn't want anyone to stop her from going through with this."
"Oh," Was all I got in response.
"Amber, you have to do something for me, for Derek, for Ariella. Amber, you have to stop this wedding."
I didn't know how she was going to respond. If she would be able to do this for me. But, she had to. So much depended on her answer. Including my brother's sanity, and my own. I could never work things out with Garret, if I ruined this for my brother. Amber needed to say yes.
"Okay, I'll do it."