by Abbi Glines
I almost responded to that. Almost. But I didn’t. I kept on walking.
Marty
WATCHING FIONA STALK OFF LIKE she was fucking royalty made me smile. She didn’t want to care or feel anything, but I knew better. I saw the anger flashing in her eyes. Fiona’s comments about Rowan told me she did care. With each snarky comment and furious gleam my hope rose some.
“Okay, I’m ready. Where do I need to go?” Rowan asked behind me. I hadn’t even heard the elevator open again. I waited until Fiona was completely gone from my sight before turning to Rowan.
“She really hates you,” I said with a goofy ass grin. I could feel it on my face, but I didn’t care. I was happy.
“And this makes you happy I see,” Rowan drawled. “Were you worried that I’d bring her over to my side?”
“No. But she hates you because she’s jealous. IF she’s jealous then that means she cares. There’s something there. She’s not over me. Over us.”
Rowan frowned. “Men will seriously grasp at any straws, won’t they?”
“Shut up. Go to breakfast. Talk about how amazing I am. Make her so mad she throws food in your face.”
Rowan raised her eyebrows. “You want me to provoke a food fight at your future sister-in-law’s special breakfast?”
Maybe a food fight was a little over the top. “Just make her jealous.”
Rowan shook her head like I was crazy. She gave me a wiggle of her fingers as a parting wave before walking away.
I headed toward the restaurant inside the hotel. Mack was meeting me for breakfast while the girls went down the road to some little café that Shay loved.
My grin was firmly in place as I walked into the dining room and made my way back to the large round table Mack had reserved. Stone was already sitting there with a cup of coffee and the Wallstreet Journal, looking important and business-like.
When I stopped at the table to pull out a chair, he glanced up at me. I nodded then turned to tell the waitress I’d like some coffee. Lots of it.
I sat down. Stone straightened the paper carefully and leaned back in his chair. He took a sip of coffee while watching me. We sat there silently for a few moments. He was thinking about something. I let him decide what he wanted to say. No need to rush him.
“She’s a lesbian,” he finally stated. I knew he wasn’t referring to his wife. Or Fiona. I nodded and could not stop my grin. He smirked. “Beulah didn’t believe me when I told her Rowan was more interested in Fiona than you. But I’m rarely wrong about those things. I people watch intensely.”
“Rowan is my friend. My best friend in Nashville,” I confirmed.
“That’s either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid bringing Rowan here to make Fiona jealous. Fiona can be fierce. You know that.”
“I didn’t bring her here for that,” I replied. Because I hadn’t.
“But that’s what is happening, and you are feeding it to her. Letting her think Rowan is your red-hot lover. Fiona is gonna blow.”
Yes. And when Fiona blew, I was going to be there to direct all that anger, passion, and turn it to me. Show her that she’s not over us. If she was, she wouldn’t care.
“Sorry, I’m late. I had to make two calls after Shay left the room. Trying to set up a surprise for her. Did you order me coffee?” Mack asked as he sat down.
“No. We’re too busy discussing Rowan’s love for pussy verses dick. And Fiona’s jealousy because she doesn’t realize it. And contemplating the merits of Marty playing a dangerous game he might lose.”
Mack’s forehead creased as ingested what Stone had just said. The waitress arrived again. “Coffee for you, sir?” she asked Mack.
He nodded. “Yes please.” He continued to stew on what Stone had said.
“Okay, you figured out Rowan was a lesbian . . . but what game are you talking about?” Mack finally asked.
Stone nodded in my direction. “The one where Marty here makes Fiona jealous with the gorgeous redhead.”
Mack frowned at me. “You and Fiona are done. What are you doing? If you upset Fiona you’ll upset Shay, and then I’m fucked.”
“I’m not going to send Fiona running. Jesus, calm down. I’m only making her face that we aren’t done. We never will be. I thought maybe we were, but then I saw her and nothing has changed.”
Mack groaned. “I told Shay this was going to cause drama. But she said it would all be fine. The guy she’s introducing Fiona too isn’t going to help this, clusterfuck.”
Guy? “What guy?” I asked irritated.
“We might need to add whiskey to our coffee,” I heard Stone say but I didn’t respond. I wanted an explanation about this other guy now.
Mack sighed. “Some guy Shay wants Fiona to meet. Calm down. You have a date. Fiona needs one. That’s what Shay thinks.”
“Rowan isn’t a date. She’s a friend. She should be having coffee with us not with the women having mimosas.”
Mack shrugged. “Calm down. It won’t work—the guy is very straightlaced. He’s a dentist I believe. Not Fiona’s type.”
“Whiskey anyone?” Stone asked. I turned this time to look at him. There was a flight of whiskeys in front of him.
I grabbed one and threw it back. Motherfucking dentist. I hated dentists. Unless I needed dental work, then I liked them just fine. But this dentist I was going to hate.
“He arrives today. His wife passed away three years ago. Shay is friends with his sister,” Mack went on to elaborate.
Fuck. The man was a widower. I didn’t want to be nice to him. I wanted to bash his teeth in. The grin I’d been unable to get off my face from earlier was now completely gone. I had to fix this.
“Give me a job that I have to do with Fiona for the wedding,” I said more like an order. Or demand.
“What?” Mack asked me as if I’d gone crazy.
“Wedding shit. Give Fiona and me a job to do together. Force it. Make us have to be around each other. I need some time with her and God knows she won’t let it happen naturally.”
“I don’t know if we need anything else for the wedding. Shay has all that planned out.”
“Make something up, dammit,” I argued.
Mack shook his head at me. I started to get more demanding when Stone handed Mack a shot glass. “Drink this.”
Mack took it from him and poured it into his black coffee.
“They need to work on their man and maid of honor speeches together. Make sure they aren’t alike but that they complement each other,” Stone said casually. Then he turned to me and added, “You’re welcome.
Fiona
I DIDN’T DRINK A MIMOSA. I wasn’t touching alcohol again this weekend. Or possibly ever again. However, I did eat. More than I normally did. I enjoyed every bite and didn’t think about the calories. I needed a distraction from the happy conversation and weird comments Rowan would throw in. She shouldn’t be here. I drank some of my cappuccino and savored the real milk instead of the almond milk I normally ordered.
I was sure Marty loved that Shay was embracing Rowan. Inviting her to crap. Blah, blah, blah. I should have brought a wedding date. It would have been easier. I might not be sitting here forcing a smile while stuffing my face. My stomach was going to bulge after this. I’d pay for the calorie and fat consumption. Hopefully I could run it off sometime later today.
“Shay says you’re not modeling anymore,” Beverly Jet said with her bright smile that got on my nerves. Beverly had been one of Shay’s friends since boarding school. She was heavier due to eating her emotions, according to Shay. I didn’t know her that well. Beverly didn’t attend the dinner last night. Neither had two of the other girls here. These were today’s arrivals.
I wasn’t sure if I was smiling or grimacing as I responded, “No. I moved on to design.” I left it at that.
“As in designing the sets or the models?” Venice something or another asked. I couldn’t remember her last name, but when you meet someone with the same name as a city in Italy, you reme
mber it.
“Mostly the models but I do have a say in the set.” It felt like Rowan was memorizing every word I spoke so she could spew it all out again to Marty. That thought annoyed me.
“That has to be the coolest job ever,” Beverly said with a sigh as if I had just told her I was marrying a Prince. Beverly was a bit of a dreamer.
I shrugged as if it wasn’t that significant, although I loved my job. I was proud that photographers and companies asked for me. They wanted the look I created.
“Don’t you miss the attention being on you? Being the center of things?” Rowan’s question was typical. I was annoyed because it was her asking it. For Shay’s sake and Shay’s sake alone I kept my face relaxed and didn’t smirk or glare at her when I turned my head toward her.
“No. I never cared for the attention.” I wasn’t giving her more of an answer than that. She didn’t need to speak to me. We weren’t friends.
“It’s odd that you chose modeling if you didn’t like attention,” Rowan replied.
She was pushing it. I loved my sister, but my restraint had a breaking point. I mentally calmed myself by counting backwards from ten before saying anything.
“I was good at it.” There bitch. Chew on that.
Rowan smirked slowly as if my answer was amusing.
“Fiona has always been good in front of a camera. Modeling or designing—she sees it before the camera does. I’ve always been amazed and a little jealous,” Chantel said trying to break the tension that was mounting.
I shifted my gaze back to my cup and hoped Rowan was done before I showed her how accurate my right hook was.
“I miss opening magazines and seeing your face though,” Beulah said with a touch of understanding. She was trying to help the situation. I was making them all feel awkward. They knew me well enough to know I was about to snap.
“I’ve seen some of your shoots. Marty has several of them at his place.” Rowan’s tone was a mixture of pleased and amused. What was she trying to do?
Unable to keep from acknowledging such an odd comment I lifted my head, and my glare met her steady gaze. She was playing some game I wasn’t in on, and I was over it. Shay would need to either shut her up or let me leave. I didn’t believe Marty had any photos of me at his place. He’d have burned them all by now. Why would she say something like that?
“There was one you designed for perfume recently that was in Cosmo. He has that one at his house too,” Rowan said this slowly and carefully so that everyone knew she wasn’t making shit up.
“Oh! I want to see that. What issue was it in?” Beverly asked with a silly clap of her hands. Like this was the best news she’d heard all day. Either she was sincerely excited for me, or she was nervous and hoping this didn’t end in a girl fight.
Shay was watching me. Waiting. I looked at my sister. She was chewing her bottom lip. If I wasn’t so annoyed she’d invited Rowan I’d probably feel guilty she was worrying. “What are the plans for the rest of the day? I know you must have an itinerary for us,” I teased her hoping everyone forgot Rowan existed and paid complete attention to Shay and her wedding celebrating.
“Yes,” she smiled at me with relief. “Everyone must relax and enjoy themselves. The pool is amazing as is the spa at the hotel. It’s a day of spoiling ourselves. Enjoying the sunshine. Tomorrow morning begins the wedding preparations,” she said this to everyone. “I believe the rest of the wedding party will arrive tonight. There’s no special dinner tonight. Everyone can do as they please. Eat here, or check out the Savannah night life. Whatever.” She finished with a shrug of her shoulders.
I wanted to respond with, “Thank GOD!” But I didn’t. I relaxed and leaned back in my chair, glad I wouldn’t be dealing with any more Rowan.
“The spa it is,” I replied.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Rowan added. She was so close to laughing as she said it, I could feel her pleasure in foiling my plans. My hands fisted in my lap and I focused on my white knuckles while counting back from twenty this time.
“I want a hot stone massage. I read about it in the fancy leather book in our room,” Venice said not realizing I wasn’t excited about the spa anymore.
“It’s delicious,” Rowan told her. “I had one yesterday. Not a bad idea to have another today.”
“Oh, I am getting one then,” Venice replied. “I need to relieve some stress. Travel always makes me tense. You know?” As others agreed with her I stayed silent. She sounded like she had real problems when all she had was rich people problems. I doubted she knew what real problems and actual stress felt like. How my sister could dwell in that world with those people when she hadn’t lived like them I couldn’t understand.
I’d been running from those people and that life from the moment I moved out of my father’s house. Shay managed to walk among them with no issue while being the only one with a real job and paying her own bills.
“I have a phone call to make,” I told Shay as I stood up. “If you need me you can find me in my room.”
Shay frowned but nodded. She wanted me at the pool with a cocktail. I knew that without her telling me.
“I’ll book us some spa time for later today,” she told me rather than asked me.
I didn’t argue. Not here in front of the redheaded bitch. She’d enjoy that too much.
Marty
“SHE HATES ME, WHICH MEANS you have a chance. It might be a slim one because that girl is a bitch,” Rowan said as she entered the room. The slamming of the door ended her announcement.
I set down the book I was reading and looked up at her. “She’s a bitch . . . or you are?” I asked knowing without details that Rowan had brought out the worst in Fiona on purpose.
Rowan threw her red hair over her shoulder and sighed dramatically. “I have no idea what you mean by that question. I am an angel,” the sarcasm wasn’t lost on me. Never had Rowan ever been accused of being an angel. Nor would she ever be.
“What did you do?” I asked wondering if she’d managed a food fight after all.
Rowan lifted her left shoulder slightly nonchalantly. “I was just being me.”
“Did you end the breakfast with Shay in tears? Because I don’t want to deal with Mack being mad. I only want Fiona fired up.”
Rowan plopped down on the sofa beside me. “I don’t know,” she began again then the evil grin on her face took over and she looked at me. “I might have nudged her a bit. But Shay is fine.”
“Good. Should I expect Fiona to come banging on my door? Were you that good?”
She cackled with laughter. “I doubt it. She hates us both right now. She’s too much fun to harass.”
“She’s not supposed to hate me.”
“Too late. She hated you before we got here.”
I put my paper down and stood up. I was the one who sent Rowan on a mission and I felt guilty for it now. Fiona deserved an apology.
“Where you going?” Rowan asked.
“To find Fiona,” I replied.
“She’s in her room. Pissed.”
“Great. Thanks,” I replied.
Rowan was saying something as the door closed behind me. She thought this was a game. No one understood. I hadn’t come here with the intention of winning Fiona back. I’d come hoping the sight of her didn’t leave me breathless. Unfortunately, the sight of her still did.
If I had the patience all those years ago, I would have fought harder. Pushed more. Demanded she listen to me. But I had let her run. I gave up and ran myself. This weekend was my one chance to change it all. To fix the mistakes of my past. I’d blamed myself, hated myself, wished I could do it over for the past three years. Seeing her, I knew I had my chance to fix the past. And if there was the slightest chance I could, I had to try.
I’d been lying to myself. I wasn’t fucking happy. I hadn’t moved on. Nashville wasn’t my home. My happiness wasn’t there. Nashville was a simple escape and a moment to regroup.
Savannah was home. Fiona was ho
me.
Until I had seen her and watched her, I couldn’t have known. I came here to reassure myself she was feeling everything I was feeling. I couldn’t push for more because my heart wasn’t ready for another break. Not like the one Fiona could deliver.
“She hates me,” Rowan called from the door as she opened it behind me. “That means something. When she tries to act like she is over you, ask yourself why she hates me so much. I disgust her. I can see it. I never disgust women. Even heterosexual women like me.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Rowan. “Go back in room.” The last thing I needed was Fiona to hear her out here.
She shrugged and said, “Fine.”
I waited until she was safely hidden before knocking on Fiona’s door.
Fiona and I had a past that most people didn’t. It still defined us today and she couldn’t deny that. That hope was all I had to hold onto while I waited for her to open the door.
With a deep breath, I knocked on Fiona’s door, unsure what it was I planned on saying to her. Apologizing for Rowan seemed like a good place to start. I knew she had probably pushed Fiona to the brink.
It was several moments before the door slowly opened. When Fiona appeared, my breath caught. I was struck. Her beauty made me speechless and that was where I was so weak. She’d always affected me this way.
“I can’t think of one reason you would be at my door,” she said in the most annoyed tone I had ever heard from her. Rowan must have done a number at breakfast.
“You can’t?” I asked raising one eyebrow. “Because I know Rowan well. And I’d assume after this morning the reason I am here is very clear.”
Fiona placed a hand on her hip. “Your girlfriend is a bitch. Ass. Bastard. I could keep going but you can’t come apologize for her. No one can, not even her. Just stay away from me. Both of you. Until I can get the hell out of this place.”
Rowan had gone too far. Whatever she had pulled she’d done it in a way that Fiona wasn’t accepting of. I had more work ahead of me than before. “Rowan is blunt and has no filter. I’m sorry about that and about her. Let me talk, Fiona. Just me. Let me in. For a minute, at least.”