Almost a Bride

by Jo Watson

  Damien ended up ordering room service at some stage and we all found ourselves upstairs on the deck playing a game of Monopoly that we’d found in a cupboard in the spare room. Drinks had been flowing all day, and truthfully we were all a little tipsy.

  Jane and Damien had been engaged in a constant, and rather amusing argument over the rules of the game. It was so entertaining to watch the two arguing so passionately with each other, as if their lives depended on it, that we only noticed Lilly’s absence when we heard the scream from downstairs.

  “Aaaahhh!” The sound of her taking the steps two at a time made us all turn.

  “It’s perfect, Chris. I’d forgotten all about getting one! It’s amazing. It’s so real-looking.”

  She was holding a ring box in her hand, and my heart quickened. Chris had bought me a fake ring, for our fake wedding? Lilly looked mesmerized by it.

  She reached into the box and pulled the ring out. She looked positively orgasmic by this stage. She held it in the air in awe. It was fucking huge. I mean massive. It was probably the biggest diamond I had ever seen, that’s the only way you could tell it was fake.

  “It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.” As if in slow motion, she slipped her finger through it and gazed in astonished wonder at the giant thing that was now glittering from her hand.

  “It’s so perfect.” It looked like she was about to cry and I turned to Chris and smiled, expecting him to be just as amused as I was. But he was staring at the ring in total bewilderment. Fast movements caught my eye and I looked across at Damien.

  He was frantically patting his pockets, and he pulled one out and stuck his finger through the giant hole at the bottom. “Fuck,” he swore under this breath, and I instantly got it.

  “Oh dear.” I looked over at Chris, who’d just figured it out, too. Then I looked across at Jane, who was shaking her head and grimacing.

  “I want it.” Lilly let out a long, loud sigh. She looked like she was about to start making out with it. “Oh, look, it has an engraving on it.” She held it up to the light and squinted. “A moon, how…a moon? Why would you put a…?”

  “Because it’s for you,” Damien said, stepping forward.

  “What do you mean?” The magic powers of the ring finally released Lilly and she looked over at Damien. He grinned lamely. It looked like it took Lilly a few seconds to figure it out. Her face went from confused and blank, to wide-eyed, dropped-jawed shock.

  “It’s for me?” she asked.

  “It’s kind of ruined now, so I guess all I can say is—”

  “No! Stop.” Lilly held her hand out. “No, no, no. This is not how it’s supposed to happen.” She took the ring off and put it back in the box. “I didn’t see it. I never found it.” She ran up to Damien and thrust it into his hand.

  Damien laughed, “Lilly, you saw it. You wore it, no taking it back now.”

  “But this is not how you’re supposed to propose to me.”

  Damien burst out laughing again. “When has anything gone the way it was supposed to with us?” He moved closer to Lilly and then dropped to one knee. I’d never pictured him as the one-knee kind of guy. But it worked. It worked because it stole her breath away.

  “Lilly, sorry it wasn’t meant to go like this. I have ten thousand rose petals in our room and champagne and candles—”

  “He left an open flame in his room,” I heard Jane whisper from behind me.

  “I also had this whole speech planned, but now I can’t think of a single word. Anyway, words are pretty meaningless and forgettable.”

  I cringed at the Depeche Mode reference and looked over at Jane, who was doing the exact same thing. But Lilly didn’t seem to mind; her eyes were lit up like firecrackers, her cheeks were flushed a soft pink, and she looked so incredibly beautiful in the moonlight. Happiness and love seemed to radiate from every one of her pores. I looked up at Chris to see what his reaction was to this all. Cynical, Mr. Anti-Love. But he wasn’t looking at them, he was looking at me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  As soon as we left Chris’s suite that night, Jane grabbed me by the arm and marched me onto the beach.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, breathless. She was moving so fast she was practically dragging me.

  “We’re going to have a chat. I don’t really want to go back to the room, since mine is next to the happy couple’s and as much as I love them, I have no desire to listen to them have sex for the next twenty-four hours.”

  We walked onto the beach and sat down on the soft sand.

  “You’re in love with him.” It was a statement of fact. Not a question. Jane already knew the answer, so there was no use denying it to her.

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re pretending to get married tomorrow?”

  “Yup!”

  “Does he know how you feel?” she asked.

  “No. I don’t think so. He knows I like him, but not that I, you know.”

  “Say it. I think you need to hear it out loud.”

  I looked over at Jane; her eyes were soft and kind. “I love him. I’ve fallen in love with him.”

  “Did you tell him you like him?” she asked.

  “Yes. And he sort of told me, too. We were actually on a real date last night before Trevv and Tess ruined everything.”

  “A date? As in romance, open flames, and petals?”

  I nodded. “He took me to this really nice restaurant and it was going really well until they showed up.”

  “Do you think he feels the same way?”

  I shook my head. “No. He doesn’t. He doesn’t really believe in love. I gave him a chance to tell me last night, but he didn’t. I’m just a bit of fun for him. A vacation fling.”

  “No, you’re much, much more than that.” Jane sounded adamant. “I saw the way he was looking at you tonight. He definitely likes you, a lot.”

  “But it’s not going to go anywhere. He lives in another country, and he’s not the kind of guy you get into a serious relationship with. He might like you, but he’ll never love you. Or he might, but he’ll fight it so much that he never feels it or…he’s so fucking complicated. I don’t think he knows what he wants. One minute he’s kissing me and telling me how beautiful I am, and the next minute he’s cracking jokes about the whole thing.”

  “You’ve kissed him?”

  “Yes, and…” My body shuddered at the memory. When I thought about it, I could actually feel his hands on my body.

  “So you are having sex with him.”

  “No!” I quickly defended myself. “Not sex exactly.”

  “Exactly? He’s either popping his penis into your vagina, or he’s not!”

  “Jane!” I slapped her on the arm. “Please never say ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’ and never use the word ‘popping’ in the same sentence with them ever again, either.”

  “But penis and vagina are involved?” She was teasing now.

  “They might be,” I admitted.

  Jane cocked her head at me.

  “Okay, they’re involved. But there hasn’t been any popping, nearly, but no.”

  Jane was silent for a while.

  “You think I’m mad for going through with this? For putting myself through this because when he thinks it’s all fun and games, I’m going to be walking down the aisle and wishing it was real.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “You guys all thought it was so funny. And it is, in a way. Then the whole thing just snowballed and now we have peacocks, possibly horses, and tomorrow morning it will probably be a cruise ship, not a yacht.”

  “Why don’t you just call the whole thing off?”

  I looked up at Jane and wanted to cry at the mere suggestion.

  “You hope that when he sees you walking down the aisle he’s going to suddenly realize he’s in love with you and then this whole fairy tale comes true?” she asked softly.

  I winced at the sound of it. “I’m so lame.”

  “
You’re not lame. But you are setting yourself up for some serious potential heartbreak.”

  “I know,” I sighed.

  “Whatever you do, just don’t have sex with him on your fake wedding night.” Jane held her hand out.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Pinkie swear.”

  I laughed. We used to pinkie swear as kids. I used to think it was wildly uncool, since I was a little bit older than all of them, but soon I was also pinkie swearing. I’d probably never have been friends with all of them if Lilly wasn’t my cousin. She was the glue that stuck us all together, she always had been. I’d made plenty of other fiends over the years, but I always kept coming back to them—they were family.

  “Pinkie swear.” Jane didn’t wait for my finger; she leapt right in there and wrapped her pinkie around mine.

  “I swear.”

  “It’s all fun and games and laughs until someone gets hurt, Annie. And that person is going to be you, especially if you consummate this thing.”

  “I know.”

  Jane laid a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Do you think those two have finished?”

  “Doubtful,” I said.

  She yawned. “Well, I can’t put it off any longer. I’m going to go and take myself to bed. Big day tomorrow.”

  Jane got up and walked away. I didn’t feel like going back to my room. I didn’t feel like sitting on a beach all night, either. I did feel like seeing Chris.

  I got up and started walking back to his place. When I got there the door was open and he wasn’t downstairs. He wasn’t in the shower, either. I walked upstairs and was surprised to find him sitting with his feet in the pool, computer on lap and typing away.

  “I thought you hated water.”

  He looked up at me from the pool. “I think I changed my mind.”

  “Mmm, and what would have done that?”

  “It may have had something to do with this girl, and a kiss.”

  “Sounds like an interesting story.”

  “It is.”

  “Looks like you’ve gotten inspired again.” I motioned to the computer on his lap.

  Chris closed his computer and pushed it away. “Want to join me? The water is amazing.”

  I sat down next to him, leaving a foot or two between us. I slipped my shoes off and stuck my feet into the water. It was amazing.

  “So what’s it about? Your movie?”

  “Well, it’s a story about a girl and a guy who meet on an island, like this.”

  “I gathered that much, but what happens?”

  “The usual. There’s love and some kissing and intense staring.”

  “And it’s going well?” I asked.

  “It’s writing itself.” His voice grew soft and he splashed his legs in the water a little harder, causing some drops to fly through the air and land on me. I giggled and wiped them off my face.

  “So what happens in the end? Do they fall in love and live happily ever after?” My question was so loaded. I wasn’t asking about some fictitious characters in a movie anymore, and I’m pretty sure Chris knew that.

  “That all depends,” he replied.

  “On what?”

  “I’m not sure yet.” I felt his shoulders shrug next to me.

  “You know that doesn’t make any sense, right?”

  “Life doesn’t make much sense sometimes, Annie.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Want to swim?” He stood up and reached out a hand for me to take.

  “I don’t have a bathing suit.”

  “Who said you need one?” His eyes glinted and a dirty smile played on the corners of his mouth. I felt a sharp sensation shoot through me, settling between my legs, and I immediately crossed them.

  “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” He looked genuinely sorry. “I didn’t mean to take it there, again.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying, though.” He smiled weakly at me and I reciprocated.

  “This whole wedding tomorrow.” He continued the apologetic tone. “Your friends have really, sort of…”

  “Run with it. Taken over. Yes, they are like that.”

  “You don’t have to do it, if you don’t want to.”

  I looked at him and wondered if this was his way of trying to let me down gently. He knew that I had feelings for him and he didn’t want to be responsible for hurting me.

  “Do you want to do it?” I asked.

  “Only if you do.”

  “That’s not very helpful,” I replied.

  “Yes. I want to do it. I don’t want us to back out of it now, especially since Damien has promised peacocks. If tomorrow is called off, Trevv would get so much satisfaction out of it. But I don’t want to do it if it’s going to make things awkward between us.”

  “You mean more awkward?”

  Chris smiled. “Yeah. I guess.” I was just about to respond when I heard what sounded like a mariachi band that had crept up behind us and started playing.

  “What the hell?” I looked around. The sound was coming from the direction of the beach.

  “What the hell is that noise?” Chris walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked over. “Oh, Annie…” He waved me over with his hand. “You will never believe this.”

  I ran to the edge and peered over. And there, standing at the bottom of the villa, was Trevv. He was flanked by a small troupe of men playing instruments and he was…singing?

  I followed his gaze and Tess was standing on the balcony looking down adoringly at Trevv, who was now thrusting his hips to the music and serenading her.

  Chris widened his eyes. “Is this actually happening? We’re not dreaming, right?”

  “No. I don’t think we are.”

  I watched in jaw-dropping astonishment as Trevv got louder and louder and his hips shook so violently, he reminded me of a jackhammer drilling into the cement. When the song came to an end (thank God), Tess clapped adoringly and Trevv blew her a kiss. He then very deliberately turned to us, as if he’d known we were watching the whole time.

  Of course he had, though. This little performance hadn’t been for Tess at all, it was for us.

  “Sorry there, did I disturb you?” he asked with sickly faux concern.

  “Not at all.” I smiled.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you. I know you have a big day tomorrow, too, what with the wedding…” He said wedding like he was a spitting camel. “Damien tells me he even got ordained for the big day.”

  He eyed us. “Anyway, sorry about that. I just wanted to do something special for Tess on the last night of her not being Mrs. Tremblay.”

  “Sorry, what?” Chris perked up. “Did you say Tremblay? As in Trevv Tremblay and Tess Tremblay?” Chris didn’t hold back his laughter.

  “What’s your problem?” Trevv glared at him.

  “Nothing. Good night.”

  He turned to me. “Annie, how could you forget to tell me that his last name started with a ‘T’ as well? We could have made at least another hundred puns, jibes, and jokes about that. I feel like you deprived me.”

  “You know what?” Trevv shouted up to us again and we both went to look over the balcony again. “I’m still not buying it, Annie.” He had very deliberately just called me Annie for the first time, ever. And I hated the way it sounded on his lips. Suddenly I felt myself being pulled right back into it all over again.

  He smirked at me. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a gorgeous woman waiting for me” He strutted back inside and vanished into his room.

  I turned to Chris. “You better not get cold feet. Because I’m marrying you tomorrow whether you like it or not!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The day passed at such a whirlwind rate. Lilly hadn’t stopped for a second (except to admire her ring, which she was now wearing). She’d been coordinating the whole thing with the hotel wedding planner, who was used to whipping events up quickly.

  But while the wedding chaos was
in full swing, I’d woken up feeling like I’d slept with a tightly wrapped ball of elastic bands in my head and someone had been snapping them all night long. I was plagued with more of the same contradictory feeling about my so-called wedding.

  The only thing that vaguely took my mind off it all was going dress shopping. We’d driven into the cosmopolitan town of Grand Baie. The main shopping road, aptly named Sunset Boulevard, was dotted with small boutique shops and restaurants. Massive palms and trees with bright red leaves lined the street, and multicolored Chinese lanterns (which Lilly was currently eyeing for the wedding) hung from the branches and the roofs of the shops. Flower boxes peppered the pavement, and the air smelled sweet with their scent. It was like shopping in paradise.

  A small clothing store caught our eye immediately and we all bundled in excitedly. Jane, not so much. She hated shopping. Her height and foot size always made it hard to find things she liked, something she was very sensitive about. I found something I liked immediately, though.

  A beautiful, knee-length, vintage-style dress caught my attention right off the bat. It was a gorgeous warm cream color, with capped lace sleeves and a pale blue ribbon that tied at the waist. It wasn’t the wedding dress I had always imagined for myself, a famous designer hadn’t made it, but it was perfect. And wearing it made everything feel so real.

  And before I knew it, the entire day had passed and I was standing at the top of the aisle. Lilly and Damien were running late; they had actually attempted to herd some peacocks in the direction of the wedding, but had arrived back with two tortoises instead. You cannot make this stuff up. Laughing hysterically, they placed the tortoises down on the beach as well as enough bougainvillea to fill an entire Greek village.

  The whole wedding thing was exactly as I imaged it would be. Even better.

  Romantic setting sun casting a pale pink light across the warm white sands. Check.

  The sound of tiny waves lapping. Check.

  An aisle of velvety, pink petals. Check.

  Warm glow of the candles. Check.

  Colorful Chinese lanterns swaying from palms trees. Rows of fairy lights stretched out between them, a tortoise eating the flowers scattered on the beach in front of me, arches made of palm leaves and bright pink flowers that stretched out all the way to the edge of the warm sea. Double check.