“Oh . . . pretty,” Abby said, trying to sound as peppy as her sister. “Wow. You guys didn’t go for simple when it came to the food, huh?”
Abby looked at Carol, whose face had suddenly crumpled. “This is all wrong!” she wailed.
“Is there a problem?” the guy asked, paling slightly.
“Yes! Yes there’s a problem,” Carol said, shoving the box at Abby. She held the menu up with both hands in front of the guy’s face. “See this ribbon? What color would you say this ribbon is? Huh? What color?”
“Blue?” the guy asked, glancing desperately at Abby.
“Um, Carol? Let’s just—”
“Well duh, Mr. Rhodes Scholar, but what shade of blue?” Carol practically screeched.
“I—I don’t—” the guy stammered.
“Don’t you do this for a living?” Carol shouted. She walked forward and the guy retreated a couple of steps. “This ribbon is supposed to be violet blue. I don’t know what this color is, but it is not violet blue!”
“Carol,” Abby said cautiously. “Calm down—”
“Don’t ‘calm down’ me, Abby. My invitations had a violet blue ribbon!” Carol’s eyes grew wide. Her hand was flailing around wildly and the delivery guy kept a close eye on it like it was some kind of weapon. “They’re supposed to match! Is that too much to ask? I mean, I didn’t want much, but I figured I could at least have that!”
Carol dissolved into sobs again, holding the menu over her face.
“I—I’m sorry,” the guy said, swallowing nervously. “Of course we’ll reprint them for you at no extra charge.”
“Oh yeah? When?” Carol demanded, throwing her arms down again. “The wedding is this weekend! How are you going to do it before Saturday?”
The poor delivery guy stumbled back a few more steps and Abby realized it was about time to defuse the situation. She stepped in front of her sister.
“Carol, you need to chill,” she said.
“But this is my wedding!” Carol blubbered.
“Yes, Carol,” Abby said, forcing herself to sound calm. “The fact that this is your wedding is not something that I haven’t noticed. Trust me.” Then Abby turned to the delivery guy and gave him a sympathetic smile. “These are fine, thank you.” The delivery guy just nodded, then promptly turned and ran. Abby pulled Carol back inside and closed the door before she could say anything else. She walked by her and dropped the box on the kitchen table. “Okay, Carol. Deep breaths. Come on. It’s gonna be okay.”
Carol sucked wind, bracing her hands against the counter. “I’m okay . . . I’m . . . I’m okay,” she said.
Abby took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her face. “What the heck was that?” she asked.
“I know! You’d think they could get one little thing like a ribbon color right!” Carol exclaimed, grabbing a tissue and dabbing at her eyes.
“Not that!” Abby cried. “That!” She pointed toward the window, behind which the sound of squealing tires could now be heard. “You scared the crap out of him because of a ribbon, which, by the way, looks exactly the same as your invitations!”
Carol looked down at the tearstained menu in her hands as if she’d never seen it before. “It’s . . . it’s not. It’s a different shade of . . .”
Her hand reached out shakily and she grasped the top of the chair at the head of the table. The menu card fluttered to the tabletop and Carol closed her eyes.
“Oh my God. Tucker’s right,” she said. “I am a Bridezilla.”
“It’s okay,” Abby said after a long pause. “The first step is acceptance.”
Carol’s eyes popped open. “This isn’t funny, Abby,” she said. “I’m exactly what we always despised. I’m exactly what we always promised we’d never be.”
“Carol...”
“I need to get out of here,” Carol said, grabbing her purse from the kitchen counter. “I need to be alone for a while.”
Before Abby could say anything else, her sister was out the door.
Menu
Cold Vodka and Honeydew Melon Soup
Garden Salad with Pine Nuts
and Raspberry Vinaigrette
Tricolor Farfalle with Capers, Black Olives,
Olive Oil, Garlic and Fresh Basil
Roast Rack of Lamb with
Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Or
Red Snapper Provençale
with Fresh Vegetables
Wedding Cake
Viennese Display
Rice Pudding
Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
“Thanks for doing this with me,” Abby said as Noah turned his car into the dry cleaner’s parking lot. “When Carol bailed with the van I had no idea what to do.”
“Well, you called the right guy,” Noah said. He yanked up the parking brake. “Just call me Wedding Man.”
“Okay, that may be the dorkiest thing you’ve ever said.” Abby laughed.
“Yeah. That was pretty bad,” Noah said.
They got out of the car together and headed inside. Carol and Abby had planned a whole afternoon of errand running. When Carol had disappeared, Abby had realized it was time to flip into true maid of honor mode. It was her responsibility to pull off this wedding no matter how she felt about it.
Inside, Abby handed the pink claim ticket to the man behind the counter. He disappeared into the back. Abby turned around to find her father walking through the door.
“Dad!” she said, surprised.
“Abby!” he replied.
“Hey, Mr. Beaumont,” Noah said.
“Oh, hello.” He seemed confused to find them there. Abby’s father handed his ticket to the counter person and then turned to Abby. “How’s your mother doing?” he asked.
“You still haven’t talked to her?”
“Not yet. Things are—”
“Complicated. I know,” Abby said. Her father’s eyes looked so sad she could barely stand it. “Actually, Dad, she’s a mess. Kind of like you.”
“I’m not a mess,” her father said, pulling out his wallet.
A ton of change, lint and crumpled pieces of paper came with it and scattered all over the floor. Noah dropped down to pick them up and Abby’s father flushed. He rubbed his hand over his face—hard—as if he were trying to keep himself awake.
“All I was trying to do was give Phoebe a wedding she would always remember,” he said. “That’s all I wanted.”
Noah stood up, his hands full, and exchanged a glance with Abby.
“You mean Carol,” Abby said, her heart racing.
“What?” her father asked.
“You mean you wanted to give Carol a wedding to remember,” Abby said. “You said Phoebe.”
Her father’s brow furrowed. “I did?”
The guy who had taken her father’s ticket came back and hung his tux on the rod between the registers. Noah handed her dad his things.
“Thanks, Noah,” her father said. He counted out the money he owed the cleaner. Abby watched him as her mind slowly put everything into place.
A candy store wedding was totally her father’s kitschy style. And at the stationery store he’d told them that if he were getting married, he would use those modern invitations from the red book. Red was, in fact, his favorite color, and he tried to push nouvelle cuisine on every VIC that walked through the Dove’s Roost door.
Her dad hadn’t been planning Carol’s dream wedding. He’d been planning the wedding of his dreams. The one he wished he could have had for himself and his wife. For Phoebe.
“Where do you want this?” Noah asked, holding up a box full of light blue votive candles.
“I think my mom’s showing a VIC around the Roost so let’s just bring it to my room for now,” Abby said.
As they trudged up the stairs, all Abby could think about was crashing on her bed and taking a nap. This had been one long, emotionally draining, wedding-intensive day. Her brain couldn’t stop going over her revelation about her dad. Her
back hurt from all the lifting and lugging and packing and unpacking. Wasn’t back pain something only old people complained about?
The second Abby dropped the dry-cleaning bag full of linens on her bed, the doorbell rang. She sighed heavily, casting a longing look at her pillows.
“That’s probably another delivery. I’ll be right back.”
She trotted down the stairs, through the kitchen, and opened the door.
“Hey! Ready to go?” Christopher asked brightly.
“Go? Where?” she asked. She looked down at his Revolution T-shirt and slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, God! The game!”
Christopher’s face fell. “You forgot?”
“It’s been really crazy around here lately. I’m sorry,” Abby said, stepping back. “Come in for a second. I just . . . I need to get changed.”
What she really needed was a shower and a long sleep, but that was clearly not going to happen. Christopher followed her back upstairs, chatting excitedly.
“So we’ll definitely get to check out the locker room. And we’ll take pictures with the players, which will be awesome and—” Abby opened the door to her bedroom and the chatter instantly stopped.
Noah was standing in the middle of the room holding a piece of paper. He looked stunned and confused. Then he glanced up, saw Christopher and clenched his jaw.
“Are you . . . going to Italy?” Noah asked, holding out the page.
Abby’s throat instantly went dry.
Oh.
Crap.
“How did you . . . ?”
“I was looking for a pen,” Noah said, glancing quickly at Christopher. “Were you even going to tell me about this?”
“Wait a minute, you got in?” Christopher said. He stepped around Abby so he could face her, his grin huge. “You’re coming?”
“Hold on. He’s going?” Noah’s voice shifted from shock to anger. “You have to be kidding me.”
“Okay, wait. Everyone just hold on a second,” Abby said. “Noah. I was going to tell you—”
“We are going to have so much fun, yo,” Christopher said.
“Christopher, you are not helping,” Abby said.
“You know what, forget it,” Noah said. “You two go to Italy and I’ll just go home.”
He walked past them and ran down the stairs at record speed. Abby shot Christopher a look, then took off after Noah.
“Noah!”
“What is he doing here?” Noah asked. His hand was on the doorknob. Christopher stopped in his tracks and hovered behind Abby.
“We’re going to a Revolution game,” Christopher said.
“Oh. Really? So that’s why you couldn’t come over for dinner tonight, Abby? Because you were going out with him? This just gets better and better!”
Abby brought her hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I—”
“For what? For lying or for dating another guy?” Noah asked.
“He is just my friend,” Abby said. “And you’re more than that. You know that.”
“Then why lie to me?” Noah asked. There was so much pain in his eyes that it hurt Abby to look into them. “Why are you keeping all this major stuff from me and going out with other guys behind my back?”
“It’s not like that,” Abby said simply. She was so exhausted, she didn’t even have it in her to argue.
“Well, it sure looks that way to me,” Noah said.
Then he turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Abby’s eyes filled with tears and she took a deep breath.
“Anything I can do?” Christopher asked.
“You’re gonna have to go without me,” she said.
“Ab, come on. I know you’re upset, but we’re talking about all-access passes here!” he said.
“I know! It’s just . . . there’s too much going on around here for me to go out and have fun,” Abby said, barely holding it together. “I’m sorry, Christopher. Tell your dad I said thanks.”
“Okay,” Christopher said with a sigh. “Well, call me if you need anything. And for the record, I’m psyched about Italy and I’m sorry about Cakeboy.”
“Yeah,” Abby said, her eyes welling up with tears. “Me too.”
Abby walked Christopher to the door. As soon as he was gone, Abby started upstairs to commence her nervous breakdown. She could barely catch her breath. First Tucker, then Carol, then her dad, then Noah. Everything was falling apart.
Suddenly a cell phone rang, stopping her in her tracks. It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t her mom’s wedding march, or Carol’s phone, which played some classical tune. Abby saw a silver cell on the counter. Tucker’s phone.
Don’t do it, a little voice in her mind warned. You really shouldn’t.
Abby grabbed the phone and hit the talk button.“Hello?”
“Oh . . . sorry,” a girl’s voice said. “I must have the wrong number.”
“Wait! Are you looking for Tucker?” Abby asked. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was amazed she was even able to speak.
“Yes. . . .”
“I can give him a message,” Abby said, biting her lip. “I’m his sister.”
She gripped the countertop. What was she doing? Had the events of the last twenty-four hours sent her completely over the edge?
“Oh, great!” the girl said. “This is Margery. He’s a little late and I just wanted to make sure he’s still coming. Is he already on his way to the restaurant?”
Margery? I thought her name was Melissa! Is he having two affairs?
“I don’t know,” Abby improvised. “He . . . just left. Where did he say he was going again . . . ?” she said as if she were trying to remember.
“The Seascape, right? I hope he didn’t forget,” Margery said.
I should totally be a detective, Abby thought.
“Yes! That’s it! The Seascape!” she said. “I’m sure he’ll be there any minute. Bye!”
Abby pressed her thumb into the off button—hard. The rat. How could he do this to her sister? How could he be seeing not one, but two women?
And how was she ever going to prove it?
And suddenly Abby knew what she had to do. She ran upstairs, grabbed her keys and the digital camera she’d gotten for her birthday and headed outside. She was on a mission. At least it gave her something to do other than sit in her room and obsess about Noah.
As soon as she stepped out the door, she realized the flaw in her plan—Carol had the van. The sun was just starting to go down and Abby’s mom was still inside with her VIC. Abby looked down at her key to her mom’s Avalon. She was only supposed to use it in emergencies. This definitely qualified.
Abby jogged over to the car, got in and pulled out to the road. She turned right and headed for the water.
Fifteen minutes later, she eased over to the side of the road, right across from the Seascape. It was the newest restaurant in Watertown and sat overlooking the docks at the edge of town. The front windows were big and bright, and Abby could see the couples dining inside at candlelit tables. It looked like a very romantic setting, most of the tables just big enough to accommodate two.
Suddenly Abby saw him. Tucker. Walking along the sidewalk toward the restaurant, carrying a bottle of wine. All of Abby’s emotions seemed to come to a head at that moment—her heartbreak over Noah, her confusion and anger over her parents, her resentment of Tucker, her annoyance at Delila for exploding at the mall, her irritation at Carol for getting married and leaving her. All she wanted to do was get out of the car, walk over to the restaurant and punch that Tucker in his stupid cheating head.
Get a grip, she told herself. You’re not going to drop anyone, least of all the Colorado cowboy.
Abby slouched down in her seat, peeking through the window. Tucker walked into the restaurant. A pretty girl with blond hair got up from her table when she saw him and smiled. Tucker stepped over and greeted her with a kiss. It wasn’t entirely on the lips, but it wasn’t entirely on the cheek either. He definitely caught half and half. Not t
he kiss of a mere friend.
Abby’s fingers instinctively curled into fists. That was when she felt the camera in her hand. In her shock she had completely forgotten about it. But looking at it now . . . it seemed so petty. She didn’t want her sister to see this. She didn’t want photographic proof of Tucker’s infidelity burned into Carol’s mind forever.
She was just going to have to tell Carol what she’d seen, and hope that her sister believed her.
• 14 •
The Big Day
Abby lay on her bed wondering if life could possibly get any worse. It was later that night and she desperately needed to talk to someone, but so far had had no luck. Delila’s cell phone went directly to voice mail and she wasn’t home when Abby had tried her house. Abby had left Noah three messages and gotten no reply. Christopher had left her a message, but she didn’t want to call him back and hear about all the fun she’d missed. Her mother had gone out for a last-minute fitting for her mother-of-the-bride dress, leaving Abby and her dad to eat dinner alone. Abby had considered saying something to her father, but he looked haggard enough already eating his sad lonely bowl of soup. She just didn’t have it in her to make him feel any worse. Her sister still wasn’t back. And neither was Tucker, which probably meant he was out there right now, making out with Margery in the back of some car.
This had to be what they called rock bottom. Only Abby felt she was about ten layers of igneous crap beneath rock bottom. She sighed and turned her head to look at her clock. It was one a.m. Sleep was apparently not going to happen.
Suddenly she heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. She got up and rushed to the window. It was Carol! Thank goodness. Abby had to tell her about tonight and she had to tell her now.
Except that right behind the van was Tucker’s truck.
What the . . .
Abby watched as Tucker and Carol both got out of their cars. They walked over to each other and quickly embraced. Then they joined hands and disappeared around the side of the house. They looked positively giddy. Abby sat down on her bed. Why were they so happy? And how was she going to tell Carol that the guy she was clutching fingers with had been out on a date only a few hours ago?
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