She could be putting salt in our refrigerated water, rearranging our cutlery drawers, or filling our bed with sex toys. There has to be a reason my missing bridesmaid’s car is in my driveway when she should be on her way to the church.
There has to be a logical explanation.
Don’t cry, bitch. Don’t mess up your makeup. Go in, grab your vows, and offer to give Lina a lift to the church.
I blink rapidly, refusing to test my waterproof eyeliner and mascara.
Shit, Lina won’t fit in Hunter’s car.
“Livia?” Hunter brings his car to a smooth stop, applying the handbrake. The panic I’ve been fighting all day is gone. I’ve been waiting for the axe to fall, for my world to fall apart, again. What made me try to believe in happily ever afters? They’re for other people, not me.
I look over to Hunter, his firm jaw set, and brow furrowed while he gives me undivided attention and concern. I don’t need his concern. Somehow, five years ago, I survived losing, us. No matter what’s waiting for me inside my house, I can and will survive again.
I suck in a breath, repeating my new mantra. If Mitch is inside my home with another woman,I will survive.
Hunter’s hand finds my knee, his fingers lightly grazing against the embroidered flowers on the lace overlay. His light touch is somehow reassuring that whatever happens, he’ll be on my side. Except, he never answered my earlier questions. Evaded,yes. Answered,no.
“Hunter,” I ask with as little emotion as I can manage, “do you know where my fiancé is?”
My breathing is surprisingly calm and I can’t feel the expected vein pulsing in my neck or head. It’s as if I’ve already lived thenightmare and this will be a second-rate replay for those who’d missed watching the car crash in real time.
“Caleb and Peter were getting him to the church.” Hunter might be speaking the truth, but we both know there is more. Will he have the guts to be honest with me, or will he protect his friend?Just like Tash when she refused to tell me if Lina was helping with flowers at the church.
Somehow, if Hunter has betrayed me, it will hurt more than Mitch’s infidelity. I once trusted Hunter with my heart and life. Mitch had only ever wanted my heart and bank account.
“Was my fiancé getting ready with you or was he MIA?”
Hunter blinks several times, shaking his head. He seems more stunned than me, rolling his neck until it clicks in the same way he used to before running onto the rugby field.
He didn’t know. I’d bet my life that Hunter didn’t betray me. Somehow, that makes facing Lina’s presence in my home, tolerable. My fiancé and good friend might have betrayed me, but my oldest friend hasn’t.
Mummy, Daddy, Hunter. The three people I can trust.
“Livia,” he says, squeezing my hands, and thumbing over the engagement ring that suddenly feels heavy and wrong. “How about you stay in the car? I’ll go in and grab Mitch’s laptop and you can email the vows to your mobile.”
“Do you know something that I don’t?”
“Livia.” Hunter doesn’t try to hide his fake smile. I brace for the words, knowing how this will play out. My future melts away in slow motion.Once melted, ice cream can never be refrozen.Why is my mother’s voice in my head? Why does it matter?
“Livia, sweetheart,” he continues, “it was hard enough to get that dress into my car once. Stay here. I’ll deal with it and be back in a flash.”
Deal with it? This stopped being about my vows when Lina parked her car in my driveway. But when I look at Hunter’s jaw,it is tight with anger and I feel him tremble with a slow-building rage. He hasn’t betrayed me. He wants to save me from whatever is going on in my house.
My home. My father’s gift to me. At the time, I wanted him to put the house in joint names, but he insisted it wasn’t a wedding gift, but payment in lieu of thousands of unpaid hours I’d worked during high school and college.
Damn them.
“I’m coming.”
“Livia, please don’t do this. Let me.” I can see how hard he is fighting to control his anger and how hard he wants to save me from myself.
“I’m coming.”
I try to break my hands away, but Hunter is quicker and stronger.
“Okay, think about your dress. There are a thousand ways it can get dirty on the driveway, caught on one of those climbing rose bushes you insisted on planting at the entrance.”
“I call bullshit.” I snort but without malice. “Hunter, you’ve never been able to lie to me before, what makes you think you can start today.”
