Chapter Two
The reception passed by in a blur of activity, which Chelle was grateful for. She felt her energy, which was so necessary for keeping up the bright facade, flagging a few times – but Alex was never far from her side when that happened, for which she was grateful.
He gracefully interrupted conversations as they started to stray down an uncomfortable path, and he kept her occupied tearing up the dance floor. She had forgotten how much fun it was to just dance.
Chelle didn't know if he was filling the role of guard dog as a personal favor to her or if he saw the act of preventing her from having a breakdown at Katie and Jason's wedding reception to be part of his duties as co-Best Man...but either way, she was grateful for the assist. It was so much easier to keep the train of her sanity on the tracks when she didn't have to worry about directing the course that would keep it from derailing!
Everything was going great, Chelle had to admit, until she excused herself from Alex's protective presence to use the restroom. That's when the whole carefully-constructed plan to keep her on an even keel came right off the rails.
David was waiting for her when she stepped out.
“We need to talk, Chelle,” David demanded standing with his arms crossed in a defensive stance.
“No, we don’t. Not here.” She tried to step around him, but he swiftly moved to block her escape route.
“Chelle, we need to get some things worked out, logistically. Kayla wants to move in and we need to know when you'll be out.”
Chelle’s head began spinning. Kayla wanted to move in. Move into her condo. She needed to get away. She couldn’t breathe. She needed air.
“We think five days is more than generous. In fact, not to put too fine a point on it, but we expect you to be out by then. Kayla wants to have the locks changed.”
NO...AIR...CAN'T...BREATHE...
She felt an arm wrap around her waist and heard Alex’s voice, “Come on Chellie Bellie. They need us out there. They're gonna cut the cake.”
Alex stared directly into David’s eyes, and Chelle sensed that something primal was passing between them. A pissing contest of sorts. After several moments David stepped to the side, allowing her and Alex to pass.
Hmm, she thought, guess Alex won that round...
As she walked past David she heard him say something under his breath but she couldn’t make it out. From the look on his face she was pretty sure she wouldn't have liked what he said, so she ignored it.
“Thank you,” she said to Alex. She wasn’t sure how she would have made it through the day without him.
She turned to give him a grateful hug and heard someone clear their throat meaningfully. She looked up and saw her big brother, Eddie, who worked with Jason and Bobby at Sloan Construction. He had also been best friends with the Sloans' older brother Riley when they were growing up.
Chelle had been trying to avoid Eddie at the reception because Eddie was irrationally overprotective of her, and she certainly didn’t want him to cause a scene with David if he found out what had been going on. Of course, it's not like she would be planning to tell him about it...but as her little breakdown with Alex in the hall had proved, sometimes things just pop out.
Chelle had been with David off and on since their freshman year in high school, and it had taken Eddie a good two years to warm up to him. Well...he had never really warmed up to him, per se...he tolerated David for Chelle’s sake, but he never really liked him. Needless to say, he had not been overjoyed when she and David had reconnected and then gotten engaged.
He had always maintained that David was a douchebag – damn it all to hell, why hadn’t she listened to him?
She knew that if Eddie caught wind of David’s transgressions, the resultant scene would not be pretty. Eddie, God love him, had a tendency to punch first and ask questions later...and as satisfying as it might feel to see David take one in the face right about now, she did not want him to make a scene at Katie’s wedding reception!
Eddie was fairly notorious around Harper's Crossing because had gotten into his fair share of brawls in high school, and had even had several run-ins with the law during his teen years. He and Riley both were known for their quick tempers and wild ways. They were labeled the “bad boys” of Harper’s Crossing.
Eddie had straightened up after he turned eighteen and realized that if he didn't grow up, and fast, he would be throwing the rest of his life away on stupid adolescent antics. Riley, apparently having a similar epiphany, had joined the Marines around the same time. He had left for basic training right after their senior year, and - other than a couple of short weekend trips home to visit his family – he hadn’t been back to Harper’s Crossing since.
But Riley and Eddie had kept in touch over the years. In fact, Eddie had stepped in for Riley as a groomsman the month before, at Bobby and Sophie’s wedding, when Riley had found out at the last minute that his deployment was being extended.
“What’s going on with you two?” Eddie asked now, staring at Alex.
Alex put his hands up in mock surrender, “Nothing man, we’re just in the wedding party together.”
She knew Alex wasn’t really scared of her brother, he was just trying to diffuse the tension. Alex was an ex-Navy Seal, and - although her brother stood at an impressive six-two - Alex was only a hair shorter than him, at six one. Both men were extremely fit and could definitely hold their own.
Chelle suddenly felt little arms wrap around her legs and she looked down to see her beautiful six-year-old niece Emily hugging her tightly.
She bent down and wrapped her arms around her, “Hello, my pretty princess. Are you having fun?”
Emily looked up adoringly and smiled a toothless grin. She had lost her two front teeth the month earlier, “Yes, I told Daddy that I want a wedding just like this when I grow up.”
Eddie groaned as he scooped his daughter up into his arms, “And I told her she has a lot of time to plan it since she’s not even allowed to date until she’s thirty.”
Chelle smiled. Her brother was such an amazing Dad. His ex-wife, Lacey, had decided when Emily was about three months old that she wasn’t cut out to be a wife or a Mom, leaving him divorced and a single Dad.
He never complained, never acted like it was any kind of a burden, but Chelle knew it must be hard on him.
Emily giggled as she turned and hugged Eddie’s neck, exclaiming happily, “Dance with me, Daddy!”
Eddie’s eyes softened for a moment before turning to Alex and hardening again. “I’m watching you,” he said in his most protective, don’t-mess-with-my-baby-sister tone.
Chelle knew that Alex had a reputation as a ladies' man. That reputation was probably why her brother looked concerned. But Alex had been a perfect gentleman, and had been her saving grace today, and she wasn't about to let her brother make it into something it wasn’t.
“Eddie, Alex has been great today. I needed a friend and he was there for me. That’s all. Don’t act like he did something wrong.” Slipping her arm in Alex’s she started towards the cake table, “We need to go, they're cutting the cake.”
She heard her brother’s voice behind her, “Friend, huh? Yeah, right.”
Whatever, she thought, exasperated. Think what you want, I‘ll deal with it later. Eddie had no idea that Alex was definitely not the Sloan brother he would need to worry about, if he were going to start worrying about any of them. Oh, sure, she had always liked Alex well enough...had thought he was attractive, funny and easy to get along with. But he wasn’t Riley! She sighed inwardly. Oh LORD, she had always had it bad for Riley Sloan.
Of course, most of the time they were growing up, Riley had ignored her or treated her like an annoying little sister. BUT...there were a few nights...a few amazing nights...that he had stayed up late and talked to her, when her parents had been out and Eddie was passed out drunk or busy ‘entertaining’ the flavor of the week. Those nights had probably been the best of her entire life.
Riley
had opened up to her about his childhood. He had talked about his Mom’s battle with depression, which ultimately resulted in her losing her life. His mother, Cheryl, had been out of the picture for several years before tragically overdosing on sleeping pills.
He had talked about wanting to leave Harper’s Crossing, to get away from the small town where everyone had an opinion about his life, his brother’s lives, and his mom's life...and death.
He had also asked her about her plans for the future. He had listened as she told him about how she wanted to go into nursing. No one had ever asked her what she wanted to do with her life...well, except Katie. She hadn’t been ignored by her family, exactly. Just maybe not seen. But on those nights, it had felt as if Riley saw her, really saw who she was. To this day, she had never felt a connection with anyone like she had experienced with him.
She would still catch herself replaying those nights over and over again in her head. She had even dreamed about them sometimes. She sometimes thought that if Heaven were really going to be better than anything she had experienced here on earth, it would have to go a pretty good distance to outpace those nights she had spent sitting up and talking with Riley Sloan.
His sandy blonde hair and gorgeous hazel eyes had been the stuff of her teenage fantasies...hell, who was she kidding? Her adult fantasies, too, for that matter. Every man she ever met, when she unconsciously measured their attractiveness, Riley Sloan was the yardstick she measured them against.
She had yet to meet someone that measured up to the standard, let alone exceeded it.
Riley had never known how she felt about him. No one did, not even Katie. But suffice it to say, Eddie definitely didn’t need to worry about Alex Sloan swooping in and stealing her heart. Nope. Alex never made her heart race, let alone stop cold. Not the way Riley did.
It did make her start to wonder, though...where was David in that mix? Here she was, ruminating about men that got her heart racing to various degrees...and David didn't even come to mind?
Hmmmm....
She shook her head. Right now, none of that mattered. She just needed to make it through the cake cutting, incident-free. She needed to plaster on a smile and get through the rest of the reception with NO DRAMA. Then, lastly, she would get Katie into the limo that was taking her and Jason to O’Hare, where they were catching a plane to Bermuda for their well-deserved honeymoon.
THEN, and only then, would she allow herself to fall apart.
The cake cutting went off without a hitch. Jason and Katie kept it classy and didn’t shove the confection in each other’s faces, smearing it everywhere - which Chelle appreciated. She had never understood why couples did that. She had always thought that it was disrespectful, and more than a little tacky.
Not long after the cake cutting, Aunt Wendy ran up to Chelle, headset firmly in place, and said, “The Limo's here, doll. Can you go find Katie?”
Chelle nodded and turned to go do exactly that. As she was walking away, she heard Wendy say into the headset, “MOH retrieving bride...” and Chelle smiled. Probably the first genuine, non-hysterical, smile that had graced her lips the entire day. It was partly because she was amused by Wendy's super-serious-secret-squirrel-wedding-planner routine...but it was also due to her realization that – Woohoo! - she was almost in the clear.
Once Chelle had bundled Katie into that limo and she was on her way to the airport, Chelle could take a moment to breathe and start to figure this whole debacle out.
She moved forward with a fresh sense of determination, heading toward the last place she had seen Katie. She didn’t quite make it that far, however. As she was passing the wide doors that led out to the (closed and off limits) patio, she felt her arm being grabbed and, before she knew it, she was being dragged bodily through the doors and onto the patio. She was alarmed until she turned and saw that her “attacker” was Katie.
“Holy catfish!” Chelle exclaimed, “What are you doing out here on the dusty patio? Do you have any idea what your aunt – or whoever she's talking to on the other end of that headset – will do to me if I deliver you into the limo with a filthy hem?”
Ignoring this tirade, Katie asked solemnly, “Is it true?”
Chelle, ever the optimist, was still holding out hope that Katie hadn’t heard her news and was inquiring about some other gossip-worthy scandal.
“Is what true?” Chelle asked conspiratorially.
Katie’s eyes widened, she shook her head. “Is it true that David cheated on you and got some skank pregnant?”
“Oh, that,” Chelle said nonchalantly, “yeah, that’s true.”
Downplay, that was her only move at this point in the game!
Katie’s voice got squeaky and high, not a good sign. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I just didn’t want you worried about it. Now, come on, we gotta get you to the limo!” She tried to gloss over the whole thing and pull Katie back inside.
Katie maneuvered herself until she was standing in front of the door. “Um, hello, it IS a big deal! And of course I’m gonna worry about it, are you kidding me?”
There was a loud knock on the door and the girls looked up to see Aunt Wendy tapping on her watch indicating that it was time for Katie to go. She didn't look happy.
“You see?” Chelle said, “Seriously Katie, go. I’m fine. Really.”
Katie shook her head and waved off her Aunt, indicating she wasn’t leaving yet. When she turned back to Chelle, she wore an earnest expression, and she said, “What are you going to do, Chelle?”
Chelle wanted to laugh. Katie asked ‘what are you going to do?’ as if she assumed that Chelle had formulated some sort of a plan. Honestly, Chelle thought Katie was giving her more credit than she deserved.
Chelle felt the hysteria bubbling back up, “Umm...get a hotel, I guess?”
Katie looked taken aback, “Get a hotel? You mean while he clears his stuff out?”
Chelle shook her head, “Oh, no. He has no intention of leaving. He's given me five days to get out. The skank's gonna change my locks.”
Katie's eyebrows raised and her voice became deadly calm as she said, “Yeah, that's not gonna happen. It's forty different kinds of illegal, and I'm going to make sure he's aware of that fact.”
Chelle shook her head, “Katie, it's your honeymoon. You should just be having fun.”
“Believe me,” she replied grimly, “The conversation that he and I are going to have will be a LOT of fun. For one of us. Quick hint – it's not going to be him.”
Chelle shook her head, “Oh, Katie. I'm just sorry this whole thing happened on your wedding day.”
Katie wrapped her up in a warm embrace, “Seriously, don't give that a second thought. Besides, it's not like you chose the timing. But, honestly, sweetie...what's the plan? I can't just fly off to paradise not knowing what you're gonna do!”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll be fine. Really,” Chelle did her best to sound convincing, “How did you find out anyway?”
Katie’s arms flew up as she animatedly explained, “Well! Jason and Eddie both cornered Alex because they thought he was trying to hook up with you all day today, and they were pissed. Eddie because, well, you know how he is about his baby sis. And Jason just because he thought that it was super tactless to be trying to score with you at his wedding reception. Alex cracked under the pressure, or maybe they gave him a wedgie? I'm not totally clear on that part. At any rate, he spilled. I’m not sure exactly how it came down, but the end result was that he sang like a canary. Of course, he told Jason not to tell me, but, come on, please. Jason knew I would have killed him if – make that when – I found out that he knew what happened and waited until we got to our honeymoon to tell me.”
Panic swept from the top of Chelle’s head to her tippy-toes. “Oh, no! I have to get in there! If Eddie sees David he might actually kill him.”
Katie shook her head and remained standing in front of the glass door, “Don't worry, DFF. Jason an
d Alex have Eddie in the back room and David already left.”
Chelle felt her shoulders slump as she sighed in relief, “Oh, good.”
“But for the record, I think he deserves to get his ass kicked,” Katie crossed her arms.
Chelle shook her head, “Sure, but not at your wedding reception!”
Katie barked out a bitter little laugh, “Please! That would have been the Best. Wedding Gift. Ever! In fact, I'm actually kind of pissed that you deprived me of it.”
Chelle laughed regretfully, closing her eyes as she let the reality of the situation – and the fact that most of the people who were important to her in the world now knew about it – sink in just a little further.
Katie, however, was not done discussing. “When did you find out? How did you find out? Have you confronted the little home wrecking ho? Is she really only 18?!” Katie’s voice was getting louder and more strident with each question, so Chelle decided she'd better jump in and try to bring it down a notch before a passersby decided to come over to the glass door and eavesdrop.
Chelle answered the inquiries one by one, ticking them off on her fingers,” I found out right before I got to the church this morning. David told me. No, I haven’t talked to Kayla. Yes she is 18.”
This marked only the second time that Chelle had actually spoken the words aloud, and it didn’t feel any less surreal than the first.
Katie took a deep breath, shaking her head back and forth, her face a mask of disbelief. Then, a look of determination crossed her face, indicating that her mind was made up. Chelle recognized that expression from many exchanges with Katie, starting way back in the second grade. It was a “Katie Classic.”
“Well I’m not leaving you,” Katie declared, “There's just no way in hell that's happening. I’ll see if we can get a later flight. Let me just go tell Jason, I’ll be right back.”
My Last - Riley & Chelle Page 3