The Wedding

by Sian Ceinwen

  Above them, the dropped ceiling contained hundreds of tiny lights dotted over a dark blue backdrop and was eerily like looking at a starry, night sky. To the other side of the room were massive, glass French doors leading to the outside grounds and big windows with the same dark, wooden framing that allowed for a spectacular view. Next to those was a tiled, open shower. The rest of the spare area was taken up with cushioned loungers for people to relax on, and there was an open cupboard with towels next to a rack of bathrobes.

  “Holy shit,” Ariana was the first one to speak.

  “It’s pretty nice, isn’t it?” Sebastian sounded pleased with himself.

  “The Four Seasons called, they want their indoor pool area back, Seb!” Ariana laughed.

  “Ahem,” he faked a cough, “I think you can clearly see that this is a Cruise Control pool. Not a Four Seasons pool!” He indicated to the logo.

  “Yes, we see that,” Heather laughed, “heaven forbid you own anything without that damn logo on it.”

  She walked casually over to him, as though she was going to just look at the symbol, but shoved him hard as soon as she was close enough. Sebastian grabbed her arm as he fell, and they both toppled into the pool.

  They came up for air, laughing as Gabriel jumped in after them, and Ariana lowered herself carefully into the pool. The next two hours were spent chilling out in the pool area. Sebastian did go and get them drinks, and they sat in the spa, talking and drinking for a while. It was relaxing, and Heather was able to unwind, enjoying this time with her friends.

  When they got out of the pool, they took turns rinsing off in the shower before grabbing robes to put on over their swim clothes and heading upstairs to change. As she was pulling on a fresh outfit, her phone lit up, and she saw that not only had Hayden replied to her text from earlier, but she had a text from Harrison, as well. Her heart leaped to her throat as she read it.

  I love you, angel.

  Heather dropped onto the bed and gave way to tears. She was dying inside; this thing between them was raw and painful. She didn’t even know how to respond to his text. What could she say? She loved him, too, but he knew that. What would she gain from sending him that? Her endless amounts of love for him meant nothing when she couldn’t get past what he’d done.

  She was committed, with everything that was within her, to try to get past it. Heather did not want to give him hope that it would happen, though. Until she could sleep peacefully, she couldn’t make any commitment to Harrison Fletcher. She backed out of his chat and checked Hayden’s instead.

  It was okay. He got really drunk. I stopped him from telling everyone you’ve broken up on the way out.

  Thanks, Hayden. I’m sorry.

  I’m not the one that’s hurting, Heather. You don’t need to apologize to me.

  Ouch. It was the very painful truth.

  Apologizing to him won’t change anything.

  I know. I’m not angry at you. He wants to go out again tonight. Just be prepared. I don’t know how long it’ll be until he spills everything, especially if he gets wasted again.

  Damn, Harrison Fletcher. She wanted to text him and tell him to stay safe at home with Hayden, but that wasn’t her place anymore. A part of Heather knew that he would probably do it if she asked him to, though.

  I need him more than I need to breathe, Hayden. Just…keep him safe. Please. Do that for me.

  Always, Heather. That’s what I’m here for.

  She hadn’t intended to reply to Harrison’s text, but now Heather wondered if she should. She needed to say something, but she wanted to be careful. There was a real concern that she might say something that could tip him over the edge and cause him to do something stupid, but not replying might equally do the same.

  Heather looked at his text for five full minutes. Typing and deleting, then typing again, a reply to him multiple times before she finally sent one.

  I love you, too. Please be safe. I need you to be safe.

  She’d refrained from using his name; it might be the thing that tipped him over the edge if she did. It must have been less than ten seconds before he replied to her.

  I will. I know you’re out at Galena, when are you coming back?

  Tomorrow. I have a shitload of press to do for Serenity.

  What will you tell them about us?

  Fuck. She hadn’t thought about that. They would ask, was there any point in lying now? Especially when she would be calling vendors in between interviews to cancel their wedding.

  What do you want me to say?

  I don’t know.

  I don’t think I could say ‘the wedding is off’ without losing my shit completely right now, anyway.

  Even typing it made her feel nauseated. Combining that with the familiarity of sending texts to Harrison was making her want to cry. It took longer for his reply to come through this time, and Heather wondered what he was doing. She’d just about given up on waiting for him to reply and was going to go downstairs to find the others when it finally appeared on her screen.

  Don’t say that, angel. I know it’s off. They don’t need to know. Not yet.

  She closed her eyes to block out the sight in front of her; his pain was evident in his text, and she couldn’t look at it any longer. Heather inhaled deeply and slowly, counting to ten as she released the breath. She opened her eyes and wrote a reply.

  “I’m not comfortable talking about that right now.” Is that okay?

  It held the promise of the truth, while also not committing to anything. Heather also didn’t want to deal with the drama down the track of having lied when it inevitably came out that they had already broken up when she did these interviews.

  Yes. I wish the answer was “we’re blissfully happy and we’re getting married in May”.

  Me too. Also, “and we had crazy hot sex last night”.

  Shit. Heather had replied without thinking. She wanted to climb into her phone and claw the text back through their connection. There was too much hope in it. She wasn’t meant to be giving him that.

  I keep thinking about you out at Galena. What we did the last time you were there.

  Fuck. Fucking fuckity fuck. This is exactly how phone sex happened between them. Heather needed to put her phone down right now and walk away from this conversation. Tonight, she would go to sleep and be treated with a nightmare of Harrison having sex with another woman. Until that stopped, she couldn’t indulge in this. It would give him hope that she was somewhere near forgiveness.

  I can’t think about it, Harrison. Please don’t make me. It hurts too much.

  She was on edge, waiting for his reply this time. Unsure of how he would respond to what she’d said.

  Okay, angel. I’ll stop. I love you. We will need to talk sometime this week.

  I know. Remember what I said. Be safe for me. For everyone that loves you.

  What Sebastian had told them, earlier, about how dark Gabriel had gotten when Ariana had left him had really scared her. She didn’t want Harrison ever to get there, but she also didn’t know how she could possibly stop him if she couldn’t somehow forgive him and stop these fucking nightly nightmares from happening.

  Heather gave way to a fresh set of tears. Eventually, when she had managed to calm down, she made her way downstairs and found the others in the games room, playing pool.

  “Hey there, lover. Just in time to see me kick Ariana’s ass as punishment for ditching us. Clearly, she didn’t think she was ever going to come back as she has not been practicing.”

  Ariana laughed and pointed her pool cue at Sebastian, “Yes, but now I have the rest of my life to try and beat you, so there’s that.”

  “Thirteen years of friendship, and I’m still trying, so good luck with that, darling!” Heather laughed.

  When their game of pool finished with a resounding victory from Sebastian, they all moved into the kitchen, where Ariana made a pasta dish for their dinner. Gabriel helped her by
making a salad, while Heather and Sebastian sat on the stools at the bench watching them.

  “I like the new staff that you’ve hired for the place,” Heather said casually to Sebastian.

  “Yeah, they’re okay. The price is right, too; they work for free.”

  “Really? Did you use a company to find them, you must let me know how you stumbled upon such a deal, darling. They’re both so pretty, too. I always wish for attractive help. Nice to look at, you know!” Heather looked shocked.

  “Oh, yes. All my staff must be able to go straight from the kitchen to the runway, and they’re actually not through an agency at all. I literally just sent one text to a special number, and they appeared the next morning like magic.”

  “My word, how fascinating! Does this work all the time?” she asked him.

  “I must be honest; it’s the first time I’ve tried it. I’ll let you know if it happens again.”

  “Please do!”

  Ariana laughed at them, “Yes, yes, Gabe and I are suckers to come here and make you guys dinner. Can one of you go ask Ross if he wants to eat with us? I feel bad that he’s been wandering around on his own, all day.”

  Sebastian saluted Ariana, then disappeared out the back of the house to some unknown area of the property to find Ross.

  “I did wonder where he was. For real, it’s so weird having ‘staff,’ don’t you guys think?” Heather cringed.

  “Yes!” Ariana said immediately as she began to serve up plates of pasta. “I don’t like it. I feel like a bitch when he’s sitting around for hours doing nothing while I do whatever I’ve got to do. I know it’s his job, but it’s so odd.”

  “Sebastian’s got no problem with it, of course. He’s got a maid and a groundskeeper for this place,” Heather rolled her eyes, “of course, look at the place. He’d never manage it without help. Can you see him going around here with a vacuum cleaner?”

  They were all laughing when Sebastian walked into the room about ten seconds later with Ross following him, “I heard that, Heather York, and I’ll have you know that I am perfectly capable of using a vacuum cleaner. Just because I can, doesn’t mean I will.”

  “I’ll believe it if I ever see it,” she grinned at him.

  “Unlikely. This way, I get to give someone gainful employment, and I don’t have to go around this place with a vacuum cleaner. The way I see it, everybody wins!”

  “Did you want to eat with us, Ross?” Ariana asked him with a kind smile.

  “No thank you, Miss Chamberlain, I don’t want to intrude on your time with your friends. If it’s all right, can I take a plate with me, though? Your cooking is the best!”

  Ariana thanked him for the compliment, dished him up a plate of pasta, and put some of Gabriel’s salad on it before handing it to him along with some cutlery that he took off to wherever it was that he was staying on the property.

  They took their food to the dining room table, and Sebastian got everyone drinks. As they were eating, Ariana cleared her throat to say something.

  “So, Heather, we’ve all been talking,” Ariana looked nervously around the table, “well, you’ve said to all of us that you aren’t feeling okay about going back to your apartment.”

  “Yeah, just the thought of being there makes me feel sick,” Heather sighed as she said it.

  “Well, we were thinking that I could help you find a rental. Just a short-term lease, in case…things change.”

  “What? No, you don’t need to do that. Besides, Harrison and I need to talk about money. I mean, technically, I don’t have any other than what I get from Serenity, and Serenity owes a shitload of money to Harrison.”

  Shit. She’d actually forgotten about that fact until just this minute. What the hell was she going to do about money? It had been a long time since it had even factored in to any of her thoughts, outside of the loan from Harrison to Serenity. She wasn’t even taking a salary from Serenity—she didn’t need to—and she wanted it to be profitable, so her not taking a salary accelerated when that would be.

  “Heather,” Gabriel smiled at her, “nobody is going to see you out on the bare bones of your ass, least of all, Harrison. I mean, if you want to get technical, you’ve been with him so long that you’re almost certainly entitled to some sort of money. I’d fucking hope that you guys never reach the lawyer stage anyway.”

  Lawyers? Her and Harrison? Another thought that hadn’t occurred to her until now. He’d be able to afford the best lawyers in Chicago if he wanted them. Ones that would push her around and ensure she got as little as possible. Despite what Gabriel was saying, she had done nothing to earn the money that Harrison had. Yes, she’d been by his side, but she also hadn’t worked since Cruise Control became famous, not until she had started Serenity.

  Sebastian saw her face and glared at Gabriel, “You’re freaking her out, Gabriel! There aren’t going to be any lawyers, and you don’t need to worry about money. I’d literally go and write you a check for a million dollars right now if you needed it, lover. Do not stress about money.”

  Heather stared numbly at Sebastian as he said this. It was such a casual comment, yet the fact that it was true was plain for everyone to see. He really would hand over that much cash to her if she needed it, and realistically, it wouldn’t make much of a dent in his bank account if he did.

  “Now you’re freaking Heather out,” Ariana frowned at Sebastian, “the point is not to do with lawyers or stupid amounts of cash, the point is that we’re here for you, Heather. We will find you a place to stay, and if it makes you feel better, we’ll keep a tally of any money that we outlay for you, and you can pay us back whenever, okay?”

  Heather couldn’t stop tears from springing to her eyes, and Ariana got out of her seat, came around to Heather, and gave her a hug.

  “We’re here for you,” she said to her softly. “We’re clearly all very over the top,” she rolled her eyes at the two men, “but we’re here for you.”

  The rest of their dinner was a lot more relaxed. They ended up watching a movie in the theater room that night. Heather drank quite a bit, and ended up crying when she saw pictures of Harrison and Hayden going to a club again. She had gone to bed before any pictures of them leaving were posted online, she just had to trust that Hayden would keep him safe.

  In the middle of the night, she woke from a nightmare where Harrison was having sex with Maddy, while Heather stood at the side of the room with a lawyer who was telling her that she had to give him all of the money she had. She was showing him her empty purse and crying, telling him that she didn’t have any.

  Heather hadn’t realized how loudly she’d been crying until Ariana appeared in the doorway, “Do you want some company?”

  Heather nodded, and Ariana entered the room. She gave Heather a hug, then lay down next to her in the bed.

  “I’m dying without him, Ariana, but I can’t stop what happens in my head after I go to sleep.”

  “I know, Heather. I don’t think there’s anything I can say that will fix this, but I know you’re trying.”

  Once again, with a friend by her side, she sank into a dreamless sleep.

  ~FEBRUARY~

  WHERE IS HEATHER’S ENGAGEMENT RING?

  As we all know, the rumors just won’t stop coming surrounding the wedding of Cruise Control bass guitarist Harrison Fletcher and his fiancée, Heather York. The pair were meant to be getting married in May, but amidst one cheating scandal after another, the couple appears to have split.

  Heather’s clothing line, Serenity, launched in high-end department stores last month, and eagle-eyed fans noticed that Heather was not wearing her engagement ring during any of her interviews for the launch. That beautiful piece of bling has been a permanent fixture for Heather since Harrison proposed at his thirtieth birthday party last June.

  Surely, this is the confirmation that we have all been waiting for that the wedding is off, right?

  Chapter 20

  ON
E MILLION DOLLARS

  ZOE FROWNED AT HEATHER as she sat on the sofa opposite her, with her legs tucked up underneath her. Her therapist was young, and they got on better than Heather did with Brendan. She was a calm presence in Heather’s life, with her soft, quiet voice and thoughtful questions about what was happening each week.

  “So, you’re still having the nightmares?”

  “Yes,” Heather cringed, “I’ve done all the things we talked about. I’m focusing on work as much as I can. I’ve stopped looking at the pictures and articles, even when I wake up from my nightmares. Harrison and I have talked; I even went to another bloody joint counseling session with him last Saturday, despite the fact that we’ve broken up now. Nothing will stop them.”

  “I can see that this is really frustrating for you,” Zoe frowned.

  “Not to mention, tiring as fuck,” Heather said with a sigh.

  “How did the conversation and counseling session with Harrison go?” Zoe asked her.

  “Well, the conversation was kind of just to organize the counseling session. I’m really worried about Harrison, though,” Heather admitted, “he looks terrible. He’s still going out and getting drunk all the time. It’s very concerning.”

  “Do you think that concern for him is playing into why the nightmares haven’t stopped?”

  Heather considered this for a moment or two before replying, “No. The nightmares have been constant since he cheated. They haven’t gotten any worse or better since Harrison started partying on a daily basis.”

  “You’ve moved out of the apartment now, haven’t you?” Zoe wrote a note down on her notepad.

  “Yes, but so has he,” Heather gave a hollow laugh, “it’s sitting there empty. We need to do something about it, but neither of us seems to be the one who wants to pull the trigger.”

  The issue of their shared apartment was one of those things that just sat at the edges of her consciousness. She was brought to the brink of tears if she dared to think about getting rid of it. At the same time, she couldn’t bear the thought of actually going back there. Sebastian and Hayden had kindly gone there and gotten all of her things to take to the apartment that Ariana had found for her.