“Good.” Hollander sighs into the phone, almost sounding relieved. “I really don’t need any information on the Senator—tonight’s my last shift before my next assignment.”
“Okay. Do you need any information about your next assignment?” I bite my lip, trying to think of another reason Hollander would want to talk to me.
“Actually, two of my best friends found the loves of their lives and are getting married next weekend. They visited me here in Halo City a couple of months ago, and their twin-sister fiancées fell in love with one of the Neo-Gothic cathedrals in town. Of course, Jack and Trace can never say no to their women.” He laughs his genuine laugh that I’ve come to love. “They’re having their wedding reception at the Morrow Museum.” I’m not sure why Hollander is telling me all this—he’s never gotten this personal about his friends, only about himself. “I was wondering if you would do me the honor of being my date.”
“What?” I screech into the phone. There is no way I heard him correctly.
“I just thought that since we get along so well over the phone, it might be nice to meet in person outside of work.”
All the air feels like it’s being squeezed out of my lungs. I can’t meet Hollander in person. Once he sees I’m not the fun, sexyBaby Girl he thinks I am, I’ll lose that relationship with him—I can’t risk it.
“I’m sorry, Hollander, I can’t go out with you to the wedding or ever. I’ve got to go.” I hang up, not giving him a chance to respond, and bury myself under the blanket, refusing to look at Tom and his constant disapproving stares.
I knew whatever this was with Hollander had an expiration date. First thing in the morning, I’ll call Vance to ask to be reassigned. It’s better this way—make a clean break before my heart becomes too attached to a man who will never love the real me.
Who am I kidding? I’m already too attached to Hollander.
two
Hadley
In the end, Ididn’t have to call Vance to be reassigned to a different partner. It seems Hollander took the whole week off to spend time with his friends before today’s wedding. Vance decided to give me the week off as well, as he put it, because I’ve been working too damn hard for the last three months and I deserve a week of paid leave.
Instead of relaxing and enjoying myself, I’ve been plagued by thoughts while I’m awake and by dreams while I’m asleep about Hollander finding someone at the wedding and falling helplessly in love. I’ll definitely have to quit my job at Halo Protective Group if that happens.
To make matters worse, I ended up at the animal shelter and adopted two cats on the first day of my week-long vacation. I had only intended to get one cat, but when I saw how strongly bonded they were, I couldn’t separate them and couldn't risk someone else adopting one of them and splitting them up.
Now, instead of having only one cat who constantly judges me, I have three, since Bella and Luna have both fallen in love with Tom and copy his every move—luckily, everyone is spayed or neutered, so I won’t have to worry about a whole big family of cats judging me until I’m old and gray.
I pop the lid off the chocolate cookie dough ice cream container and shovel a huge spoonful into my mouth, to the utter disgust of my cats. “Get out of my office if you don’t like it.” I stick out my tongue at my cats like a child, only to be met with three sets of rolling eyes.
“I wonder if there is a return policy at the animal shelter,” I mumble, knowing full well I would never give up any of my three cats.
After another bite of the ice cream, I power on my computer and put my hacking skills to the test. “Let’s see how hard it is to hack into the cathedral’s security cameras.” Obviously, not that hard, since Halo Protective Group set them up and maintains them like almost every other security camera in Halo City. But that doesn’t mean I want to get in trouble with Vance for hijacking the video feed for my own reasons. “Bingo.” A live stream of the church’s interior pops up on the screen.
With a few more keystrokes, my screen splits into four views of the church interior. My eyes are instantly drawn to Hollander standing in a line with four other groomsmen, while the two nervous grooms anxiously sway back and forth, patiently waiting for their brides.
The bridesmaids make their way down the aisle, each as beautiful as the next, which doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is that they are all curvy like me, with large breasts, small waists, and wide hips. I can’t help but wonder if Hollander is physically attracted to any of them.
I don’t have time to dwell on that thought before two of the most beautiful women, as curvy as their bridesmaids, stroll down the aisle arm in arm. Their identical faces brim with so much love for their grooms waiting for them at the front of the church that I have to blink back the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I set the ice cream container on my desk and reach for a tissue.
Tom must sense my distress because one moment he’s lying in one of the window hammocks, judging me without shame, and the next he’s jumping into my lap. “Hey buddy, did you come to make mommy feel better?” I run a hand over his soft fur and continue to watch the wedding.
The ceremony is beautiful, from what I can see, since there’s no audio on the security feed. The grooms grab their brides and dip them low in their arms for a deep kiss that is more R-rated than the normal PG-13 rating of most weddings I’ve ever been to, and there haven’t been many.
Just when I think it wasn’t that bad watching Hollander at the wedding, the brides and grooms walk down the aisle, followed by the bridesmaids and the groomsmen. When it’s Hollander’s turn, I swear the bridesmaid he’s paired with licks her lips, then smiles at him and loops her arm through his as they walk down the aisle.
Any thought I had about hacking into the security cameras at the wedding reception at the Morrow Museum has flown out the window. There is no way I can watch Hollander and the nameless bridesmaid dance the night away and fall in love.
I power off my computer, grab the melting container of ice cream, throw it in the freezer, then head to my bedroom and crawl under the covers, refusing to get out of bed until Monday morning, when it’s time to go back to work. But not before I promise myself I’ll text Vance tomorrow night to ask to be reassigned—there is no way I can continue working with Hollander and listen to him talk about his love life and his new girlfriend.
three
Hollander
I’ve spent most ofthe wedding reception dodging the roaming hands of Natalie, the bridesmaid I was paired with for the wedding. She made sure to let me know her hotel isn’t far if I wanted to slip out with her for a while.
Natalie is one of Ember and Elsa’s distant cousins—one they don’t really know well. Since they don’t have as many friends as Jack and Trace, they asked Natalie to be a bridesmaid. If I had known I would be spending the wedding reception hiding from Natalie, I might not have agreed to be a groomsman.
