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I look at the plate she’s fixed me and my stomach growls. But I’m a bag of nerves and need to get the hell out of here. “Oh,thank you, Betty. I need to get somewhere. Maybe another time.” I do grab a biscuit, however.
It kills me to pass up food, but my desire to hit the road is a lot stronger.
She smiles graciously, but I swear I see something like disappointment cross Rake’s face.
Is that possible?
No. No way. He doesn’t give a shit about what I do.
On the way to Sonoma, I call Gilly, flinching from what I know will be a big scolding.
She gets right to it. “Oh my God, girl, it’s about damn time you called me. I can’t believe you freaking eloped. Without me there!” she bellows.
Make way for more lies. “Sorry, Gilly. It would have been amazing to have you and Lu there. I wasn’t thinking. You know how Vegas is. It’s like there’s something in the water that makes you do crazy things.”
I’m not even kidding about that part.
“I’ll get over it but not so sure about Lucy. You know how prickly she can get and being left out is one of her sore spots. Anyway, I’m happy for you, especially after what happened with asshole Andy. So are you all settled into his place yet? Is it nice? I heard he has this killer condo in South of Market,” she says.
The support in her voice makes me feel awful. When I agreed to Rake’s idea, I hadn’t thought through what it would feel like to lie my ass off to every last person I know.
I’m telling her how nice it is with views of the bridge when she interrupts me.
“When can we celebrate, just Lucy, you and me, since our weekend up at the cottage is on hold. Although your mom already reached out about the party she’s giving for you. Sounds like quite the bash. Will the whole Aftershocks team be there?”
Ugh. No big surprise, Gilly’s more excited about this than I am. How does one get amped up about the most deceitful thing they’ve ever done? If Gilly, Lucy, my mom, and hell, everyone I know finds out this is all fake, they’ll want to kill me.
Or, never speak to me again.
Not sure I’d blame them.
But I keep my eye on the ball. This is my chance to redeem myself. Show all those people who think I’m a horrible heartbreaker that they’re wrong.
“Petal, your mom asked me to sing at the party,” she says.
I’d usually be thrilled with an idea like that. Gilly is an amazing singer and she’s been trying to break out of the dingy nightclub where she works since forever. This could be good visibility for her.
But I’m finding it a little hard to get excited about a party held in my honor celebrating something I’m doing to fool everyone.
“Well, um, are you… are you going to do it? Sing?” I ask, my voice croaking.
“Of course! And who knows, if there’s a single hockey player there, maybe I’ll have the chance to make a new ‘friend’. If you know what I mean.”
I breathe a sigh of relief when I drive into Sonoma. Something about being an hour and some change from San Francisco, in such gorgeous countryside, has always made my concerns less worrisome. Like I can finally chill, and at least partially forget the crap I left behind in the city.
Things are busy at Twisted Hearts, which my boss is thrilled with, until she finds that half the people coming in are looky-loos looking atme.
“I’m sorry about this, Tina,” I tell her. “If this is too much of a distraction, I’ll leave.”
I hate to do that. The bookstore’s a big part of my safe haven.
“It’s okay, honey. People who never heard of Twisted Hearts are learning about us. I’ve already taken ten phone orders today. I don’t normally have that many in an entire month.”
Holy shit. All righty then. At least Tina’s getting some business out of my ‘marriage’.
UPS delivers a big box of books and I eagerly dig in like it’s Christmas morning. I check the new books in, then pile them on a cart for shelving. While it’s tedious, I actually love this task. It gives me the opportunity to check out our new stuff and see what’s on the shelf that I’ve never noticed.
That’s when I hear a commotion come from the front of the store, where the bell on the front door rings over and over. I peek my head around the corner.
