by Emery Cross
“That’s not happening. I’m not leaving him.”
"Well, then I'll have to make sure he sees this," Kat said. "I'll just wait for the perfect moment."
I realized suddenly that she was more than malicious, she was delusional, and my marriage was going to end up collateral damage to her delusion. Rowley was never going to marry her. But I didn’t have the guts to say that to her. It wasn’t hard to imagine her scratching my face with her blood red talons.
My encounter at the nail salon had left me shell-shocked. But I forced myself to go through with my hair dressing appointment. I was so preoccupied driving home that I cut the turn short and bumped over the curb as I pulled into the driveway.
I needed a drink of something, anything. I checked the cupboard above the fridge where Rowley kept the hard stuff. There was only a bottle of whiskey with maybe three shots left. I poured myself a shot. It burned going down. I poured another shot, but drank it much slower this time, grimacing after each tiny sip.
I imagined what I must look like half-done, with my glamorous, upswept hairdo, and my perfect nails, yet still wearing an old band shirt and jeans with the knees torn out.
I stared at the shot glass in my hand. I was being melodramatic there had to be a solution to this. The truth for instance? Ha! I had a husband who didn't trust me as far as he could throw me; who took inventory of my clothing to assure himself I wasn't leaving him. If I told him now, it would just seem shady. He would wonder why I’d waited so long.
I took one more bracing sip and then dumped the rest down the sink. I swore to myself that if I got through this, there would be no more secrets. I would never keep anything from Rowley again.
CHAPTER 18
HARPER
DRINKING WHISKEY HAD proved a mistake. I’d had a shot and a half in all, but it had been enough to give me a buzz, but not in a good way. I’d tried to combat its effects by drinking coffee. Too much coffee. It had taken me three tries to get my eyeliner on properly.
Now we were finally on our way to the ball and I was running on caffeine and stress fueled adrenaline. My thoughts kept ping-ponging from hope to despair, but despair was starting to win.
You like living in the present, right? I asked myself sarcastically. Then enjoy this moment, because your days are numbered.
Rowley glanced over at me. "You look good enough to eat."
He'd had the option of wearing his dress uniform or a suit and had opted for the suit. He looked like a very buff GQ model.
"Well, you can't eat me yet," I said with a wicked smile. I was drunk on love and sick with the knowledge that I was mere days from losing the only man I would ever feel that way about. "You'll mess up my hair."
Rowley took one of his hands off the steering wheel and slid it up my chiffon-silk clad thigh. "We could skip."
Was he trying to get out of it? Maybe he was worried I wouldn't fit in with all those conventional, solid, successful wives. Here he'd gotten himself a girl who was a college dropout, with a checkered work history, who moonlighted on the drums for a bottle of Jack Daniels. I knew I would get the inevitable question about what I did for a living.
"I know I don’t officially start until tomorrow, but I'm going to tell people I'm attending a culinary school."
He glanced over at me.
"It's probably better than saying I'm your obedient fuck doll."
His lips tipped up. "Frankly, you aren't all that obedient, baby."
I huffed, pretending to be insulted.
“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” he said suddenly. “Since when do classes start on a Sunday?”
“You really have a mental block about this,” I said. “I’m going to Vegas for a week, remember?”
“I told you, I wanted you to find a different course to fulfill those requirements,” he said.
“And I explained that it was too late to make course changes and that this trip is mandatory.”
“We’ll discuss this later,” he said.
I sighed with frustration, but I wasn’t going to argue with him now.
As we walked through the entrance hall, he had his hand on my back. He slid it down to give my bottom a quick squeeze just as we entered through the ballroom doors.
"Rowley," I said with a gasp.
He gave me a crooked, roguish smile and slowly moved his hand back up and curved it around my waist. Halfway through the crowded room his hand dropped away and I had a moment’s concern before he meshed his fingers with mine. He was making it clear, I belonged with him.
The burly guy who'd been showing off his new truck on the driveway pulled away from a group to greet us.
"You were a redhead last time I saw you," he said. "I'm Tony, by the way. Ford was too busy giving you grief about your new job to bother introducing us." He put his big mitt out to shake.
"Hi, Tony, I'm Harper."
He leaned in and whispered loudly, loud enough for Rowley to hear, but that was the point. "Thank God you put him out of his misery and married him. Pardon my language, but he'd been a real asshole to work with."
Rowley made a disgruntled sound.
Tony straightened and resumed speaking at a normal volume. "Still working at the restaurant?"
"No, he made me quit."
"Figured as much."
The doom that hung over me had obviously made me hyper aware because I sensed Kat's presence the second she stepped into the ballroom. I'd been overly optimistic, the end of my marriage was probably hours away, not days.
How had she managed to finagle an invite? Was she going to take me down right here at this event, in front of all Rowley's friends and co-workers? Of course, she was. This was the perfect moment she'd spoken of. Kat always opted for maximum humiliation.
She was on the arm of a guy about three inches shorter than she was, but then Rowley was probably one of the few guys she'd dated who actually topped her statuesque height by many inches.
Her current date was wearing a sleek tux and his hair was oiled back. Judging by the way she barely looked at him, I had no illusions that she'd found someone new to obsess over and would leave Rowley and me alone.
Her gaze scanned the crowd and when it landed on Rowley she looked no further. I swallowed against the lump in my throat as Kat made a beeline through the crowd, tugging on the man's arm, almost dragging him across the room.
"Hey, that's that prick city councilman who wants to hold off on new gear for the next five years," Tony said to Rowley as the mismatched couple bore down on us.
Rowley glanced in the direction Tony was looking and seemed to notice Kat for the first time.
"Hi, Rowley." Kat had arrived with a swing of her glass-smooth brunette bob. Her scarlet lips pulled into a smile. "I heard you got married. Oh, my! She's adorable." It sounded rehearsed. "And here I always thought you liked them tall," she said with a laugh.
I wrapped my hand around Rowley's big index finger like a child looking for comfort. I could sense his surprise and felt his gaze light on me for a moment.
"Kat, this is Harper."
"You're Matthew's little sister, aren't you? My you've changed." Nobody but my mother and Matthew knew of our history. Of the cruel prank she'd pulled. How she'd destroyed my confidence, and separated me from the one person who had always made me feel safe and cared for. I tightened my grip on Rowley's finger.
"This is Councilman Clark Langford," she said, placing emphasis on his elected title.
The councilman didn't seem to have a problem with that pompous introduction. He showed a mouthful of pearly whites and stuck his hand out to shake. Neither Tony nor Rowley reciprocated. The man reddened under his tanned skin, his hand still hanging awkwardly in the air.
"You do realize this is a function for firefighters?" Rowley asked. The man finally dropped his hand. "You just introduced legislation that would cut off funding for necessary equipment."
Tony was grinning.
"This is not the place for this discussion," Langford said clearly flustered.
<
br /> "Strikes me as exactly the place," Rowley said.
The councilman took a step away, but Kat stood firm. He shot her an annoyed look then removed her hand from his arm and strode off alone.
"I've been trying to talk him out of his stance the entire way here," Kat said, having no qualms about throwing her date under the bus if it would win her points with Rowley.
"To think it was only last year that you won that award for valor." She placed her perfectly manicured hand with its crimson nails dusted with silver glitter over her heart. "I was so honored that you shared that evening with me."
I felt like I was going to throw-up right on her expensive shoes.
I glanced up at Rowley. "Matt was there to see you get the award," I said. Why was I telling him that? He knew Matt had been there. Kat's threats had me acting loopy.
He peered down at me with raised eyebrows, as if to say, “Why are you bringing that up?”
"He was kind of live-streaming the events as they were happening. Sending me pictures,” I continued nervously. “That's the night I decided to—" I bit down on my last words and waved my hand as if to magically erase all I had said. I’d just realized that I’d been wanting to reveal this information for a long time, but this was not the place for it.
"Decided to what?" Rowley asked.
"Nothing. It's not important."
I knew Rowley was still studying me because Kat spoke loudly trying to direct his attention back to her. I relaxed a bit as his scrutiny lifted and he replied to one of her questions. She peppered him with more questions, her voice unnaturally high. She may have rehearsed this meeting but she was coming off a tad desperate. Her facial expressions were exaggerated. She didn’t just smile, she grinned. When Rowley said something she thought required a serious face, then she furrowed her brow in concern.
I could only listen with half an ear, my head was buzzing with the fact that the person who was going to destroy my life was standing here making innocent small talk.
A group of men were signaling Rowley from the far side of the room. Kat obviously caught the movement too and glanced across the room and then back at Rowley. She batted her false eyelashes at him. "I won't keep you," she said all sweetness and light.
"Nice seeing you again," he said to Kat. He leaned over and brushed my cheek with his lips. "Back in a second, babe." I released my grip on his hand.
I went off in search of the restroom. I heard Kat's heels clicking behind me. There were women lined up at the mirror adjusting their makeup and hair. I felt relatively safe. Kat wouldn't try anything in front of all these women. Wrong. She caught the stall door as I entered and crowded inside with me and locked the door.
Her towering presence was as overpowering as her perfume.
She didn't say a word just stuck her phone in my face, then she swiped through a series of pictures of me at the concert speaking to Finn in the alcove, making it look like a cozy tête-à-tête. She had more ammunition than just the image of us embracing.
I had a fight or flight response trapped in that stall. "I wonder what Rowley will think when I tell him you've been stalking and blackmailing me." I squeezed around her and fumbled with the door lock.
"I hardly think you will be in the position to blacken my reputation once he sees these pics." Her bright red lips curled. "Sent anonymously, of course," she added.
The latch finally gave and I spilled out of the stall. A woman who was freshening her face powder in the mirror watched us with eyebrows lifted.
"I did warn you," Kat called after me in a sickly, sing-songy voice as I headed out of the bathroom on wobbly legs.
CHAPTER 19
HARPER
KAT AND HER CRAZED pursuit of me had me checking over my shoulder as I hurried away from the bathroom. Unfortunately, I still needed to pee. All that coffee had caught up with me. A server replenishing the hors d'oeuvres table, pointed me in the direction of another restroom.
This one was located outside the ballroom, and was far less crowded. I stayed in there longer than necessary, touching up my makeup, and holding my wrists under cold water, hoping somehow it would help calm my nerves. It didn’t. I returned to the ballroom feeling even more anxious than before. I headed straight for the bar and ordered a gin and tonic. I don’t know why I thought it would help. The whiskey sure hadn’t. But I needed something.
The bartender gave me an amused smile. "Could I see some ID?"
Really? Even with my fancy up-do and polished makeup I was still getting carded. I blushed and opened my glittery clutch and pulled out my wallet.
The bartender eyed me skeptically, like I'd flashed him a fake ID, but he poured me a drink anyway.
I drank it fast. I held up my finger to the bartender for another one.
The second drink I nursed. I wasn't ready to leave the safety of the bar.
"Lucky," a woman's voice said. "I wish I could have a drink." The woman leaned in and in a conspiratorial whisper added, "Sure would make this evening easier to bear."
I turned a smile on her. She was young and slender, and most definitely pregnant; one of those women who would get her figure back almost immediately after giving birth. Her hair was the color of rich coffee. Tendrils were escaping from her loosely fashioned chignon.
"Sparkling water on ice," she told the bartender.
"First time at one of these?" she asked me.
"Yep."
The bartender handed her the water. "Could you add a splash of cranberry juice to it or a twist of lemon?" Then she smiled broadly. She had an infectious grin that lit up her big brown eyes. "Or both?"
"No problem." The bartender took back the glass.
"Thanks. You're a doll," she said, when he set down the sparkling pink liquid with a slice of lemon poised on the rim.
"I'm Tanya. My guy is the one over there talking basketball, judging by the jump-shot he just mimed." She tilted her head in the direction of a couple of men in dress uniform. He was still pretending to hold an imaginary ball aloft.
"I’m Harper," I said and swept the room with my gaze. "I'm not seeing my husband right now." Panic jolted through me. What if Kat had him cornered already?
"Come meet the rest of the first-timer crew," she said.
I brought my glass with me.
"I should warn you," she said as we approached the cluster of women. They'd clearly gravitated away from the main crowd, the guests who were old-hands at all this. "Not sure if it's catching, but about half of us are pregnant."
Fat chance of catching anything. These women clearly had husbands who had faith enough in their wives to start families. Your marriage is about to go over the cliff, I reminded myself, be thankful that you aren't pregnant.
Two of the women looked to be even further along in their pregnancies than Tanya. One of them, a short brunette, had her hand cupped around her extended belly.
"Roll call, girls. We have another newbie here," Tanya said.
Everybody took turns saying their names.
I introduced myself as well, but I was gripping the almost empty glass so hard that my fingers were getting numb. How did you make small talk when your marriage was about to end? I managed to smile and nod, but my mind careened from waiting for Rowley's evil ex to destroy my life to pulling my husband aside and explaining it all to him. Either way, it was over.
"That one’s mine." Denise, the brunette who still had her hand braced on her belly, pointed toward Tony.
"Oh, I've met him. He's a friend of my husband's."
"Who's your husband?"
"Rowley Ford."
"Oh my God,” she said. “You're the captain's wife?"
"I'd heard he'd gotten married," a woman with a pixie cut piped in. Her name hadn't stuck with me.
"How did you meet?" Tanya asked, her big brown eyes wide with curiosity.
"He was my brother’s best friend in high school. I’ve had a mad crush on him seemingly forever."
"Who doesn't have a crush on him?" she asked.
Nothing ever changed, it seemed. Rowley would always have a female fan club.
"Don't look now, but here he comes," Denise said.
Tanya smiled around the straw in her mouth.
Rowley gave my waist a possessive squeeze as he arrived at our circle. "Mind if I borrow my wife?"
"Go right ahead," Tanya said with a light laugh.
As we stepped away, he took the glass from my fingers and raised his eyebrows. "You need to eat something."
He found a place to set the glass down. Having Kat's threat hanging over my head like a sword, and guzzling two drinks was making me feel wildly unpredictable. Do not mess with his hard-earned career, I warned myself. Be good. Be careful.
"Let's dance first," I said.
I realized as we stepped onto the dance floor that I'd never danced with him before.
"Finish the sentence you started back there."
"What sentence?" I craned my neck to look up into his face.
"Focus, baby. Matt had sent you pictures of the awards ceremony. You said that was the day you decided to. And then you trailed off."
"My theory is everything always loops back to you. For me, that is. Everything for me, loops back to you." There I was racing off at the mouth again, without thinking through what I was saying.
"How many drinks did you have?"
"Just two."
"That was two too many."
I smiled against his chest.
He sighed with impatience. "Decided to do what?"
"My brother sent me pictures of the event. Pictures of you and Kat together..."
"Yeah, I got that,” he said, sounding more than a little frustrated. “And?"
"And...Finn had been bugging me to marry him so I called him that very night and said let's do it. Check the dates if you don't believe me. I was married a day after last year's ball."
"Impulsivity, a trigger, and too much tequila," I recited my reasons for marrying again.
"Are you saying seeing me with Kat was the trigger?"