She had seen him and Gretchen on the church lawn after the ceremony and several times during the reception, drifting in and out of her range of vision as they mingled with the other guests. Gretchen wouldn’t meet Sunny’s eyes. Sunny had felt a pang of regret over the loss of that friendship, but knew it couldn’t be helped.
Don asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“We are talking.”
“I mean in private.” She was about to tell him no, but he rushed to say, “Please, Sunny. We owe each other that much, don’t we?”
She turned and left the church parlor where the reception was being held. Don followed her. She stopped in the hallway outside. “I think this is as private as it should get,” she said.
He looked nervous and kept shifting from one foot to the other in a way she had once thought endearing, but which now irritated her because it made him appear indecisive.
“I’ve thought about calling you a lot,” he began.
“I’m glad you didn’t. It would have been awkward. And wrong. You’re a married man, Don.”
He laughed mirthlessly. “How well I know.” Sunny didn’t remark on his lack of enthusiasm. “It’s ... Gretchen and me, well ... Did you know she’s pregnant?”
Sunny was surprised but not crushed. Why not? She wondered. Not long ago, the idea of Don’s child growing inside Gretchen’s body would have been unbearably painful. “No, I didn’t. Congratulations.”
“Don’t congratulate me,” he said with a grimace. “She shouldn’t be having this baby. The marriage has gone sour and this is Gretchen’s last-ditch effort to hold it together.”
“You shouldn’t be telling me this, Don. Excuse—”
“Sunny, please.” He caught her hand when she tried to move away. “I need to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to hear about your marriage. It’s none of my business.”
“But it is. I made a big mistake, Sunny. A terrible mistake. I told you that when you caught me with ... uh ... the day we were supposed to get married. I guess you didn’t believe me. Anyway, I forgive you for walking out and making a fool of me in front of the whole town.”
She recoiled as though he’d slapped her. “I don’t recall asking for your forgiveness,” she hissed angrily. “Don’t you dare put me on the defensive. I did nothing wrong. I covered up for you and Gretchen.”
“I know, I know. Don’t get mad. Please. Just hear me out.”
He glanced over his shoulder as though afraid someone might see them. Sweat glistened on his forehead. Sunny made the ludicrous observation that he didn’t sweat as attractively as Ty Beaumont did.
“Sunny, I still love you,” Don said with desperation. “I’m not happy with Gretchen. She’s ... she’s nice and all, but she’s not you. And with the baby coming, I feel trapped. Yeah, that’s it, I feel trapped.”
To his consternation, Sunny began to laugh. “I’m sorry, Don,” she said, watching the incredulity break across his face. “There’s nothing funny about what you’re saying. It’s just that I think this is probably the same speech you gave Gretchen three years ago. On the night before your wedding to me, you suddenly felt trapped and had to do something naughty just to prove you were still free to.”
She shook her head with pity for him. And for herself. For three years she had clung to the memory of a deep love that hadn’t existed. He was a shell of a man. Weak. Always blaming others for his unhappiness. A whiner. Why had it taken her this long to realize it?
“I’m sorry you’re unhappy, Don. Really I am.”
She turned her back on him and started down the hallway. “Sunny, I love you. I never stopped loving you. Doesn’t it mean anything?”
She faced him again. “All that it means, if it’s true, is that you’re as big a fool as I am. Goodbye, Don.”
She was in no condition to stay. Tears were standing in her eyes, precariously close to overflowing. She would make her excuses to Fran later, and, being the friend she was, Fran would understand.
Sunny brushed past a small crowd of people standing in the breezeway and rushed toward her car. Seconds later, she was speeding down the lake road, the wind playing havoc with her hairdo.
She left a cloud of dust in her wake, but rising out of it like a specter was the sheriff ’s car. When Sunny saw it in her rearview mirror, closing in on her, she cursed. Instead of slowing down, as the flashing red lights dictated she should, she accelerated.
Nine
She drove right to the edge of the porch before stopping the car, then racing up the steps. She let herself in the front door and slammed it closed behind her, taking only a second to lock it. She ran through the large common room to her bedroom and immediately began unzipping the long zipper down her back.
She had to get the dress off. She wanted no reminders of weddings or marriage. She had to get away from everything bridal once more and forever. She had to flee this place.