Gulp. Which means she probably remembers what a shrieking shrew I was after prom. Not my most shining of moments.
All of a sudden, high school seemed so damn long ago and the issues of childhood—because it essentially was still childhood—seemed so frivolous now.
Shannon poured some coffee for Elise and handed her a muffin on a plate, then settled in at a sewing table to get to work.
She held up the gown, inspecting the damage. “Oh, this isn’t bad, just some beading that needs to be sewn down again. I can fix this in no time. I was worried it was going to be much more involved.”
“Maybe I’ll make it back for the glam squad afterward.”
Shannon rolled her eyes. “Not that you ever needed a glam squad. You were always so beautiful.”
The heat rose in Elise’s face. “Oh, stop. I was a geeky teenager trying to get by like everyone else.”
“About as ‘geeky’”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“as what’s her name, married to Prince William? Duchess Kate?”
Elise spluttered out a laugh. She’d never been compared to exquisite royalty before. “You flatter me far too much.” She had to change the subject. Being the object of such undeserved compliments was embarrassing. “So, you’re married now?”
Shannon nodded. “Got married two years ago. I wish you could meet Kevin, but he’s a firefighter and he’s on duty today.”
“That’s too bad. I’d love to meet him.” She smiled, this time a genuine one. “You’ve sure been busy since graduating from high school.”
“What about you—what’ve you been up to?”
Elise shrugged. “I went to State, then ended up on the East Coast. I work in Washington. My job’s okay, but I don’t feel particularly passionate about it. In fact, coming back here has made me feel a little homesick for this place.”
Shannon’s face brightened up. “You thinking about moving back here?”
“Honestly it hadn’t crossed my mind until I had a conversation with someone last night who said she was looking for help working in conservation. It’s piqued my curiosity a bit, so I’m starting to noodle on rethinking some things.”
“Speaking of rethinking things—did you and Will ever make up after you had that spectacular fight after prom?”
Huh. Weird that she’d bring that whole thing up, being that it was due to her, uh, indiscretion.
Elise shook her head. “That just wasn’t meant to be.”
Shannon threaded a needle and began tacking down the strand of beads that had loosened. “You know, I don’t know that I’d have made it out of that year without the kindness of Will Montgomery,” she said, her gaze fixed on securing the tiny beads to the delicate fabric. “That night, the boy I’d gone to prom with assaulted me. I was outside crying behind the huge barn when Will came around the corner because he heard my sobs. I was absolutely terrified. Will took my hand and convinced me to go sit with him in his car till I could calm down and decide what to do.”
Elise stopped midchew as Shannon confessed her story.
“What did you do?”
“You see, I’d asked a boy from my church to be my date. Nobody from our school would’ve gone with me. I was in such a bad place—my parents were in the process of splitting up and I looked to boys to fill the void in my life. I know the kids had their cruel nicknames for me—everyone thought I was such a slutty girl. But I was such a lonely girl. I wanted to fit in, but I didn’t know how. My mom persuaded me to ask this boy from church to go to the prom with me. It was the biggest mistake of my life.”
She got up and walked over to her coffee cup—far away from the wedding gown—and took a sip, then returned to her work.
“We had been in a youth group together. His father was the minister at the church. What could go wrong, right?” She grimaced. “At first things were fine, but then he’d snuck in a flask of whiskey and proceeded to get drunk and told me it was time to leave. I didn’t want to go, but what was I to do? He was my ride. But I also didn’t want him to drive—he was in no shape to be behind the wheel. Still, he ordered me to get into the car and I was a stupid girl. I had no experience with boys, and I didn’t know how to respond to his bossiness. All I knew was I wanted to go home.
“So, I got in the car and he locked the doors and proceeded to climb on top of me. It all happened so fast. He shoved up the pretty dress I’d made just for the occasion and ripped my underwear and forced his hands into me so hard he drew blood. I begged him to stop and he kept telling me how lucky I was and how he knew I really wanted it. I was so frightened. Finally I was able to reach over and grab for the door handle, and thank God the lock opened when I pulled the handle and fell out of the car. My dress was covered in mud and there were bloodstains around the crotch, but I got up and ran as fast as my legs would carry me till he was out of sight. That’s when I was at the back side of the barn, crying and gasping for air, and Will came up to me.”
“What happened to your date?”
“I heard a car peel out of there and assumed—hoped—it was him. I wasn’t sure. I was just so grateful I got away from him.”
“So then what?”
“Will tried to persuade me to go to the police, but I couldn’t do that. It was my church. My mother would have been devastated if I made a big deal about this. Think about it—the minister’s son? No one would have believed me, anyhow. So I kept quiet. And I begged Will to keep quiet as well. The last thing I needed was everyone mocking me and teasing me mercilessly about this.
“Will took care of me, held me tight, and promised me he’d make sure I was safe. And he swore his complete confidence, that he’d never breathe anything to a soul. After that I was in such a state of despair, I thought about killing myself. I was so alone and lonely and felt so rejected. Will was the only one who treated me with respect and dignity. And had he not done so, they’d likely have found me at the bottom of a cliff in a heap. I was that down in the dumps. For a long time after that, I kept to myself. I was afraid of my own shadow and stayed away from everyone. It took a long time for me to be able to stop living fearfully.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“I met Kevin at a friend’s Christmas party. We started out real slowly. I even explained to him what had happened to me—talk about a real buzzkill on a first date, right? So he encouraged me to enroll in a self-defense class that they were offering at the police academy. That gave me the confidence to take care of myself, to not let someone take advantage of me. It was like peeling off a rain-drenched overcoat. I started to feel so light and free. But honestly I’d never have even gotten there were it not for Will. I never did understand why you let go of someone so sweet and thoughtful.”
Elise heaved a deep sigh. “I think because sometimes when you’re young, stupid, and immature, you don’t quite know how to handle life’s nuances, you know? A misunderstanding becomes a federal case, and the next thing you know you’re hurling accusations and you’re unable to trust one another, and it’s easier to walk away than to think things through properly.”
Shannon finished tying off the last of the beads, then hung the dress and ran a steamer across it to steam out any wrinkles. “There,” she said, dusting off her hands. “As good as new. Please tell Jennifer I send my congratulations, would you? And let me know if you decide to move back home—I’d love to get together with you.”
Elise nodded and leaned in to hug Shannon, holding on tightly. “Me too, Shannon. Me too.”
Chapter Thirteen
Elise was relieved to return in time to get glammed up for the wedding. She knew this makeup woman could work miracles on her tired, puffy countenance. Though how was she going to handle the complete makeover in attitude she needed to deal with Will? Will who, it turns out, wasn’t a huge asshole who only thought about his own dick. But the Will who was kind, caring, and thoughtful. And maybe that extended to his dealings with Sammi Ferguson too. Hell, she’d known the girl long enough and had a pretty good idea about h
ow Sammi usually sank her claws into some guy at every sorority function they attended. Why wouldn’t that apply to weddings now too? Maybe Will was trying to be diplomatic with her and she didn’t take the hint.
If that was so, why the hell would she have left the comfort of his warm bed, only to throw a little hissy fit and storm off to go back to her room and cry the rest of the night. Sometimes she didn’t make much sense.
Unfortunately, there was no time now to hunt down Will and clear things up. The groomsmen were off hiking for the day while the women primped and preened and ate a catered lunch.
Luckily when Elise arrived at the suite, which was so vital for salvaging her appearance that she was starting to view it as a Red Cross tent, most of the women were done. It was kind of a bummer for the others; for the rest of the day, they had to avoid smudging their faces or messing up their hair, which look sprayed to within an inch of its life. At least Elise got a bit of a stay of execution there. Plus, she’d enjoyed some damn good muffins and edifying conversation. And maybe even found herself a new friend.
As an added bonus, it would be awfully hard for her to talk while the woman put on her face, and then with the woman styling it and the blow dryer going, again, not so easy. Because she did not want to rehash last night both at the rehearsal dinner nor what happened later. Her brain needed a drama-free zone for a while.
Which meant that naturally, the first one to accost Elise was Sammi.
“So, Elise...” she said, standing right up in her personal space and swinging her arms and hips like a kindergartener in the schoolyard. “Anything you have to tell us about last night?”
Ginger, the makeup artist, shifted as she was applying foundation, so she blocked Sammi from view, and Elise gave her a thumbs-up. Of course it didn’t stop Sammi, who obviously failed to develop an understanding of social cues as a child.
“Something going on with you and the foot-long hoagie man?”
Elise tried to remain still yet so desperately had to suppress a cackle. That chick didn’t forget a thing, did she?
“Like, is it as big as we all thought it might be?” She poked her head around Ginger’s arm, putting her face right up by Elise’s, whose lips were wrapped around her teeth with her mouth wide open, helping Ginger spread the foundation evenly. Obviously, she couldn’t talk.
“What’s the matter—cat got your tongue?” Sammi grinned, her teeth awfully large for that tiny body. She reminded Elise of a wolf about to eat a fairy-tale child. “Or is your tongue just tired out from last night?”
Honestly Elise would have choked had she had any sort of liquid in her throat right now.
“If you want, I could stop for a second so you can respond to her?” Ginger said.
Elise heaved a sigh. “I suppose, then maybe we can make it stop.”
“Look, Sammi. I’m kinda busy right now if you haven’t noticed. But even if I wasn’t busy, the questions you’re asking are awfully personal and I would not be inclined to answer them anyhow.”
“Awww, come on, Elise. Inquiring minds want to know. You can’t keep that all to yourself.”
“Honey,” Ginger said. “If she got a chance with something that big, who could blame her if she kept it to herself. I would!”
Sammi shrugged. “Fine. Be that way. It’s not like I didn’t try myself. But he shut me down stone cold.”
This shouldn’t give her as much satisfaction as it did, but sometimes you had to take joy in the little things. Because, well, yeah, a little side perk of Mister Montgomery was that he was hung like a horse. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Jennifer, who had been at tea with her grandma, came into the suite. “Elise—you’re a lifesaver! Thank you for doing that. And I didn’t even remember to ask you how you’re feeling! What kind of friend am I?”
Elise reached out and clasped hands with her friend. “Only the very best kind, Jen.”
“Awww, you’re the best. Love you, sweetie.”
She made it through the rest of her primping session relatively unscathed and was beyond happy to relax and have someone pamper her for an hour and a half.
The plan was for a champagne lunch in the suite, and then everyone would get dressed for the five o’clock ceremony, to be held at a large historic barn on a farm at the edge of Glacier Park.
The hotel wait staff had just finished serving the strawberry goat cheese and arugula salad when Jamie burst into the suite.
“Jamie—what are you doing back?”
He ran over to Jen and gave her a tight hug. He was out of breath.
“Oh God, Jen. We were almost killed by a grizzly sow.” He was speaking so fast he stopped to catch his breath.
“Jesus, Jamie. Are you okay? What about the other guys?”
He licked his lips and grabbed a bottle of sparkling water that was on the table and swigged it down. “I can’t believe it. All these years hiking in these mountains and never did we get attacked. I’ve seen my fair share of bears out there, but usually they go their way and we go ours. But not this one.”
“So what happened?” Elise said. She didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she wanted to know how Will was. “Are all the guys accounted for?”
“We were on the iceberg lake trail,” he said. “The one that takes you up to the snow line before you get to the icy lake, right?”
They nodded, having hiked the trail many times.
“We’d just taken a break at the big rocks and were back on the trail, the one with all the bear grass on that one side, and you have the great view of the mountains?”
The women nodded.
“No one was around, it was just our group. Will was at the lead because the trail wasn’t wide enough to walk anything but single file. Ricardo was right behind him and decided to go off the trail for a minute to take a piss. We all stopped, thank God, and while Ricardo had his back turned, a sow grizzly about a hundred yards away from us came charging down the mountain. I swear to God I nearly shit my pants.” He wiped sweat from his brow before continuing.
“But Will was quick to react and grabbed his bear spray, which was clipped onto his backpack strap. Hol-y shit, he was fast. He popped that clip off and aimed it right at that momma bear and blasted it at her eyes. Stopped her like there was a brick wall in front of her and she turned and ran so fast she tripped over one of her cubs. Before we knew it, she was gone, and we knew we had to be gone equally as fast in case she returned—we’d all lost the taste for the rest of the hike. Maybe because probably half of us pissed our pants.”
Elise’s eyes were wide open. “You still haven’t told us—is everyone okay?”
He held up his hands. “I’m getting to that bit. So Will wins the hero of the day award for his bravery in the face of some huge fucking fangs and claws that were coming at us. But unfortunately he was on the receiving end of a gust of wind that sent some of that spray in his direction. Which means some of it got in his eyes and on his skin.”
Elise covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh God, is he all right?”
“Yeah, he’s doing fine. We flushed his eyes with water from our water bottles and we helped him get back down the mountain since his eyes were burning like a motherfucker. He got some on his skin too, so Ricardo’s got him in the ER where they’re making sure he’s all cleaned up, no damage to his eyes and stuff.”
“Is he going to be able to be at the wedding?”
Jamie nodded. “He said, and I quote, ‘Wild horses—or bears, for that matter—couldn’t keep me away.’”
Elise bit her lip. They could have easily lost Will today, that quickly, in the blink of an eye, mauled to death by an angry bear, and she’d never have gotten a chance to say what she knew she needed to say to him.
“Can I go see him?”
Jamie shook his head. “They’d only let one person back with him, so we picked Ricardo since I needed to get back here anyhow. We figured the groom had to be back in time, so even if they’re a bit late, the wedding
can get started.”
“Seriously,” Jen said. “We don’t care if they aren’t all there on time—as long as they’re all safe!”
Elise would prefer safe in her arms. But who knew if that would even be an option at this point. She’d have to wait and see.
Chapter Fourteen
“Dude, you’re my hero,” Ricardo said, fanning himself like a damsel in distress as they waited in the emergency room cubicle to be discharged. “Were it not for you, my ass would’ve been sliced up by bear claws seventeen ways to Sunday. I’d have probably plunged a couple of hundred feet to my death when that thing tackled me. I mean, I’m kidding when I act like a girl needing to be saved, but seriously, man, thank you.”
“As much as I’d like to take credit for heroic efforts, I basically did what my dad drummed into our heads from an early age. In bear country, you need to be prepared to encounter bears.”
“Well, then gimme your phone. I want to call your dad and thank him for saving my ass.”
Will laughed but winced. His eyes still burned and there were some patches of skin that still felt like they were on fire. He hated to think how that bear’s eyeballs were feeling right about now. But he knew it was better than having to shoot her and leave behind orphaned cubs.
Will looked at his watch. “Can you find the nurse and see if we can get out of here? I didn’t come all the way back to Bristol for my best friend’s wedding only to miss it because I’m stuck waiting for paperwork to be filed in an emergency room.”
Ricardo gave him a salute. “You got it, ace.”
Will pulled out his phone and decided to give his folks a quick call. He knew the Bristol rumor mill would run rampant so he figured he’d get to them and set the record straight before his fifth-grade English teacher did.
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