That’s when I heard the tear.
Followed by a glass-shattering shriek.
Missy’s dress split across her ass, the expensive satin fabric making a perfect line.
Grandma Helen pushed to stand on her own and held on to the counter. I grabbed her walker and tried to scoot Missy out of the way as she turned to look in the mirror at the damage.
“My dress is ruined. It’s ruined!” she screamed.
“Well, you shouldn’t have gotten down on the ground. What was the plan? Were you going to hoist me over your shoulder?” Grandma Helen asked.
“Get her out of here!” Missy yelled, and I pulled the bathroom door open and used my headset to ask Blakely to come pick up Grandma Helen, Velveteen, and the bridesmaids.
I spent the next ten minutes sewing Missy’s dress back together with the needle and thread I kept in my belt bag while she complained about her mother. I didn’t respond. I just got the job done.
“This will have to do. You have your wrap, and you can just keep that around you tonight. You’d have to look close to see it.”
“I can see it when I look in the mirror.” She frowned as she glanced over her shoulder at her ass.
But can you see what a raging bitch you are?
I ignored her and listened as Montana said that it was time for the MOB, or mother of the bride, to be escorted down the aisle.
“They’re asking for you, Missy.” I led her out the door, and she quickly hurried toward the ushers who would walk her down the aisle with Peggy Parker, Ralph’s mother.
“I need you to walk with me and stay behind me, Violet,” Missy said, her voice softer now. “Just in case anyone can see the rip.”
I nodded. My job was to make this as smooth as possible.
Montana had the bridesmaids, Velveteen, and my father in a room around the corner.
I let her know I’d be there soon.
I followed behind Missy and Peggy, who barely acknowledged one another.
We made our way outside, where the rain clouds were so dark that it appeared much later than it actually was.
I said a silent prayer to the nature gods to hold the rain for forty more minutes.
My gaze moved toward the crowd and found Charlie and Harper, sitting in the back. He wore a navy suit, and I swear my breath hitched in my throat.
My gaze locked with his.
And that’s when all hell broke loose.
“Let go of my arm,” Missy grumped under her breath to the woman beside her, who was suddenly clinging to Missy to keep from falling.
“I’ve been stung.”
I’ve. Been. Stung.
A motherfucking bee had just beaten the rain and stung the MOG under the clouds of doom and gloom.
I watched as she clutched her throat and started to fall.
I grabbed her arms as I braced her fall, and I moved to the ground with her.
“She’s allergic to bees!” Ralph shouted.
