“You never did like Eric.” I smile sadly. “Guess you were right.”
“I wish I’d been wrong.”
The reality of my situation hits hard and fast. I lean back against the seat and close my eyes.
“I guess I need to let the caterers know the reception is off,” I say. “And the band.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Dad says. “Aunt Jonie texted that she’ll take care of it.”
“I guess…yeah, you’re right.”
My father gives me a serious look, his brow furrowed with concern. “Reese, promise me you won’t let Eric talk you into taking him back.”
“Are you serious?” I cry. “I’d cut his balls off if I could. I wouldn’t get back with that lying sack of crap if he was the last man on Earth.”
“Good.”
“You really thought I’d get back together with him?” I ask, astounded. “After that?”
“No, I just…” He shrugs helplessly. “I just wanted to be sure. Your mother was better at this stuff than me.”
“You’re better at it than you think, Dad.”
He gives me an appreciative smile. “Where do you want to go? You can come home with me if you want, or I can take you to a hotel if you want to be alone.”
I look out the passenger side window at the bright June day, all sunshine and possibility. It doesn’t feel like the kind of day your heart gets stomped on in front of two hundred and eighty-six well-dressed onlookers.
“Just take me to my apartment so I can grab my bags before he gets there. And then if it’s okay, I’ll stay with you tonight.”
“You can stay as long as you want, you know.”
I lean my head against the window, squishing the gorgeous updo my hairstylist spent more than an hour on this morning. The tiny beaded tiara in my hair digs into my head, so I grab the front and pull it out, before tossing it into the backseat.
“Just tonight,” I say. “And then if you can, will you take me to the airport in the morning?”
“To go where?” My dad gives me a puzzled look.
“Hawaii.”
“You’re still going on the honeymoon?”
I shrug. “Might as well. I decorated about a hundred cakes and God knows how many cookies to pay for it and the tickets are non-refundable.”
“You seem to be taking this whole thing well.”
I shake my head, my throat tightening with tears. “I’m not. I just want to get as far away from him as I can. And Mandy. Oh, and also Kelsey.” I laugh bitterly.
“That shitbag,” my dad says in the pissed-off tone I haven’t heard from him in a long time. “He’d better hope I never lay eyes on him again.”
“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be,” I say tearfully. “Any of it.”
“Reese, your happy ending is still out there. Don’t stop believing just because of some worthless asshole who never deserved you in the first place.”
“I’ll find my way, Dad. Don’t worry about me.”
I cry in silence for the rest of the ride to my apartment, not even bothering to wipe away the twin streams of tears running down my cheeks.
The shock is starting to give way to anger. And a sadness that runs deeper than anything I’ve felt since losing my mom.
I’m not just going to Hawaii to get away from Eric, but also because I need to be alone. I don’t have a best friend to turn to anymore. My dad and my brother Drew are there for me no matter what, but I need to let this devastation sink in all by myself.
Will my trip to Hawaii be long enough for that? I have no idea. I just know that I’m not ready to face anyone I know right now. I just need to crawl under a proverbial rock and wallow.Chapter TwoKnox“How many breasts do we need?” Anton asks, mentally calculating as Rhett and Vic snicker.
“You guys need to get laid,” I mutter.
“I got laid last night, thank you very much,” Vic says with a smug smile.
“Hey, dipshits, how many people want chicken?” Anton asks, turning to us in the meat section of a small grocery store in Kauai.
“Abby and the kids all want chicken,” Luca says. “I think everyone else wants steak.”
“Just get a bunch and we’ll grill it all,” I say. “We’ll eat the leftovers.”
Anton nods and picks up two large packages of chicken breasts.
“I got the steaks,” Jonah says, approaching us with a half-full grocery cart.
“What else do we still need?” Luca asks.
I grunt in response. “We’ve got beer and steaks, we’re good.”
“Chips?” Anton gives us a confused look.
Luca shakes his head. “You guys need to cook more often. We’re not having steak and potato chips.”
We arrived here this afternoon for a weeklong team vacation at Luca and Abby’s beach house. Anton wanted to be the big hero by saying the guys would cook so the women could spend the day at the beach. Now we’re stumbling around the grocery store, absolutely clueless.