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“I hate you,” I said just loud enough for him to hear. “And I never want to see you again.”
The doors shut, and as the elevator began to move downwards, my knees buckled underneath me, and I slid to the floor and sobbed.
* * *
That was how Michelle found me.
That Friday night, which was three days ago now, she left the restaurant right after I did and followed me back to my apartment. She said she went because she didn’t want me or Bret to have to be the designated driver since this week was all about celebrating us, so she was going to offer to drive all three of us back. I, however, had a sneaking suspicion that she knew something was wrong. Michelle had a sixth sense when it came to men. She could always pick out the players from the lover boys in the bar, and she knew when to call it quits with the guys she dated before they could end things with her.
A part of me thought she knew what was going on with Bret, but she swears she was just as clueless as me.
“If I had a hunch he was cheating on you, don’t you think I would’ve said something?” Michelle was in the bathroom washing her face while I was sitting on the extra bed in her hotel room. I’d been staying at the inn where she and the other girls were booked to spend the rest of the week, giving Bret enough time to pack up his things and get the hell out of our—my—apartment.
“I don’t mean that you knew I was being cheated on, per se,” I called back to her. “I just mean that you have a spidey sense for when shit is about to hit the fan. That’s what made you follow me. I think.”
“You’re crazy.” She came out of the bathroom with a fresh face.
“I’m just really glad you were there,” I said. “Can you imagine how embarrassing it would’ve been for some stranger to have been standing in the lobby when the elevator doors opened? I would’ve been mortified. Or—God, it could’ve been so much worse. Bret and his girlfriend could’ve called the elevator back up, and I don’t know if I would’ve been able to pull myself together to get out in time!” I put my head into my hands and let out a heavy sigh—my third or fourth one that day and it wasn’t even 9 am. “I’m unraveling just thinking about it.”
Michelle came to the bed and sat next to me. She reached out and took my hands away from my face and made me look her in the eye.
“Well thendon’tthink about that. Today we’re not going to think about Bret at all. Nope, instead, we are going to do something fun.”
“Like what?”
“Like anything! Tell me what you want to do, and we’ll do it, and the girls and I will be here the whole time making sure you never think about him.”
I smirked. “Yeah, well, that’ll be impossible because I have to start making calls and canceling everything.” I reached for my phone on the bedside table. “Oh! Which reminds me, I have to start by canceling the resort in Hawaii for our honeymoon. I doubt I’ll get a full refund, but maybe I can get a partial one if I call first thing today.”
“The honeymoon,” Michelle said, a wicked smile spreading across her face. “I forgot about the honeymoon.”
“I didn’t,” I said. “That was what I was looking forward to the most.”
Her eyes lit up with excitement, and she grabbed the landline. “What are you doing?” I asked, but she didn’t answer. She called the room that Gina was sharing with Steph, and told them to come over right then and to bring Rose. The girls arrived within a minute of Michelle hanging up the phone.
“I’ll get it.” Michelle walked over to the door after we heard a knock. She let the girls in but kept them in the entryway where all four of them talked in hushed tones.
“Uh, hey guys,” I said. “You know I hate being out of the loop! Come in here and talk.”
They went on whispering and ignoring me to the point where I was beginning to feel a little invisible, and just when I was about to stand up and see what was going on, they all entered the room and smiled at me. They were clearly up to something, but I had no idea what.
“Can someone please fill me in?”
Michelle grinned. “You’re not canceling Hawaii. Instead, we’re all going on that honeymoon.Together.”
“What—”
Gina interrupted me. “It’ll bejustwhat you need! A week spent with your best friends, relaxing on the beach, getting away from it all.”
“I can’t go on my honeymoon without my husband,” I said.
“Why not?” Rose said.
“Well, because—I don’t know. It just isn’t done. Besides, I have way too many things I have to do here in San Diego, like try to get some of my money back on all the wedding stuff, call all my friends and family, and tell them the wedding is off. That sorta thing. I can’t just leave all of that.”
“Yes,” Steph said. “You can because we are going to take care of it. But we’re going to do it from a lovely seaside suite at the resort in Hawaii.”
“You're on board with this?” I questioned Steph. “Really? You hate stuff like this! You and me, we’re planners, that’s what I’ve always loved most about you. We’re too practical to do things like this!” Steph laughed, but I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere with her. I turned to Rose. “And what about Jess?”
