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“Will that be enough?” Cora asked.
“I don’t know. Frankly, I’m out of ideas. Do you have any other suggestions?” she asked the other woman.
Cora shook her head, chewing on her bottom lip. “Nick adores Adler. I think I’ll try to remind him what’s important. Maybe you can do the same with Adler?”
“I will. We can’t let them go to bed until they have made up,” Juliette said.
“Agreed. Olivia, come with me,” Cora called to her daughter. “I’ll text Mari after I’ve talked to Nick.”
“Sounds good,” Juliette said. The two women didn’t have each other’s cell numbers.
Cora and her daughter left, and she turned to Adler and Mari. Adler’s mascara hadn’t run, but her nose was red and her eyes were still watery. “Why did I think I wanted to get married to him?”
“Because you love him,” Mari said. “And he loves you. Don’t forget men can be dumb sometimes...not saying women can’t too, but Inigo has done some really stupid stuff. Our wedding is stressing me out and it’s just going to be a small affair in Texas at his family’s estate.”
“That’s right. Mari’s situation is a good example of this,” Juliette added. “This wedding is a party to celebrate the couple that you are with your friends. All of these events are just icing on the cake. Right now, it seems like the cake tipped over in the back of the truck and the icing is smeared and pieces of cake are showing through, but the cake is still good. You and Nick are still good. He’s still the man you fell in love with.”
“Is he?”
“Yes. He’s struggling and you’re nervous because nothing is going according to the plans you’ve made. But the two of you are meant for each other, Adler,” Juliette reminded her. “If you want to send everyone home and cancel the film crew, then we will do it. But I feel like you’ll regret letting Nick go.”
Adler appreciate her aunt and cousin trying to reassure her, but this wasn’t something either of them could understand. Their fiancé hadn’t turned from a sweet great guy into someone they didn’t recognize. Nick was out of control. He’d been drinking way more than he normally did since he’d learned that August was his biological father.
And the thing with Logan had really sent him into a spiral. She was trying to be understanding, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and let him have space to come to terms with it, but they were getting married tomorrow.
There wasn’t time for him to fall to pieces and put himself back together the way he needed to. She needed him here and present.
“Darling girl, what can I do? Do you need me to go and talk some sense into Nick? Do something outrageous so everyone gives you both some space?” her dad said as he came in to the hall. Sonia was behind him, wearing her trademark long flowy skirt and her bangles, which jangled as she moved.
“Don’t do any of that, Dad,” Adler said.
“Cora is talking to Nick,” Aunt Jules added. “I’m sorry for my part in this, Adler. I wish... I just wish this wasn’t happening now.”
Adler took a deep breath. She wasn’t mad at her aunt anymore. She was more upset by how Nick was acting and changing. Jules had done the best she could with the hand she’d been dealt. The coming-out timing could have been better for Adler, but she wasn’t going to worry about her aunt right now. She was worried about Nick.
He wasn’t acting like himself and seemed to have completely shut down on her. She’d wanted to force him to show her what he was feeling, and her outburst hadn’t been planned, but once the words had left her mouth and he’d let her go, she was beginning to wonder if this wasn’t what she should have done yesterday.
Marriage was a big step. Her father had been married so many times that she’d lost count. Not really, but it felt like that. He’d had eight wives, and that didn’t count the number of live-in partners he’d had while she’d been growing up. For her, marriage was a one-time thing.
Adler had thought that Nick got that. That he was on the same page as she was. But tonight...when he’d let her walk away and hadn’t followed her...well, she wondered if he was ready for a life with her.
“Everyone is wondering what’s going on,” Sonia said.
“Let them,” her dad said. “Adler’s what matters.”
“I agree, but I thought if we went out there and rocked the house, maybe they’d forget about Adler for a while and that will give her some time to get things worked out,” Sonia said. “Unless you’re not working things out?”
Sonia had reddish blond hair that was shot with gray and warm, brown eyes. From the moment she’d started dating Toby, Sonia had been caring and motherly toward Adler. That was something she’d really appreciated, and right now her suggestion sounded perfect. “Can you do that, Dad? It would give me a moment to breathe and think of what I should do next.”
“Of course I can, darling girl,” Toby said. “I’ll do whatever you need.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said, hugging him. “Go rock out and I’ll... I guess I need to find Nick.”
“Not yet,” Mari said. “Cora’s texting me after she talks to him.”
Adler took a deep breath as her dad and Sonia left, and then turned to her cousin. “If his mom can’t get through to him, then no one will be able to.”
“I think everyone just wants to bring the focus back to the wedding,” Aunt Jules said.
