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Right before the wedding?
“Well, I do want to be involved in all the festivities,” she admitted. “Watch it all go down in flames in real time. The shower, the bachelorette party. Ooh! InLas Vegasperhaps? Have you been?” Gale pursed her lips into a perverse sort of self-satisfied smile.
Were those rhetorical questions? Oh, she thought she was so cute,managing to warp my innate confidence into major doubt. Insidious. Anyone could mention Las Vegas for a bachelorette party, but thewayshe said it.Howshe said it. Like she knew something. The conversation had to end. I thought fast about what to do next, and while it was kind of a long shot, I knew it would throw Gale off her game, which was the point for the time being.
I burst into tears.
Yes, a bit reductive as far as manipulation tactics go, but it turned out to be a very well-timed strategy because predictably, Collin was searching for me. He was jogging over to us in his tailored suit and shiny shoes. My very own knight in Giorgio Armani.
“Bea! Hey, what’s the matter? Are you okay?” And then Collin’s tone changed, in Gale’s direction. “What the hell is going on?”
Collin always looked for me when I was out of his sight at any event we attended together, even for a few minutes. He was territorial. I liked the feeling. Some women found such a thing boorish. To me, it signified safety. He enveloped me in his arms and I continued to cry into his chest.
“Gale, I asked you a question.” He hugged me tighter, but I took an opportunity to look out at Gale, making teary eye contact. She didn’t know what to do.
“Ta-take it easy, Collin!” she faltered. “We were just talking about our families and—”
“Well, that’s enough. Whatever you’re talking about, whatever you’ve been talking about, Gale, it has to stop. Right now.” I relished his verbal lashing of Gale. “I’m serious, Gale. It’s over,” he added.
Gale was woebegone at Collin’s tone with her, but any response would be insufficient. What could she say? Gale had made the bride cry at her own engagement party. That’s never a good look on anyone. She offered a small nod of understanding his request. He was her weakness. Then the three of us headed back to the Musket Room in relative silence, save for a few sniffles from me, you know, for effect.
Collin held me very close the rest of the evening, more than usual. I suspected he was tiring of the lack of support from everyone in his life. Perhaps he was nervous he would lose me. That would only strengthen my position. “I think we should talk about what happened with Gale,” he whispered into my ear, “but let’s wait until tomorrow. This is our party, Bea. Enjoy the moment.”
Our intimate stance spurred on a sprinkle of clinking glasses, most partygoers jubilant at the sight of us, and so we kissed to appease the crowd’s demand for it. I saw Gale wincing at the sight.
“I enjoy every moment with you,” I purred into Collin’s neck. “And we don’t have to talk about it, babe. Seriously. It’s already forgotten.”
But I wouldn’t forget.
Gale Wallace-Leicester lingered for a little while longer at the party, out of duty to the optics. Eventually, she left, relatively unnoticed. But I noticed. I would have to notice everything going forward. No excuses. She had lit a new fire in me, one that had the potential to become a wildfire if necessary. We could all burn if she wasn’t careful. I didn’t want to be like her, like Mother, but I knew what I was capableof when my back was against the wall. If Gale knew something, anything, I had every reason to be shaken. She was clearly on the offensive and even if she lost this battle, I needed to get ahead of her for the sake of the war. That settled it.
I’d just have to grant her wish and make that bitch abridesmaid.
CHAPTER
8
GALE WOULD CERTAINLYbe thrown for a loop when I asked her to stand next to me as I married the love of her life. Good. I wanted her on defense moving forward. I could always survive in that role, but I thrived when on the offensive, and if there was ever a time to tap into such aggression, it was now. Throw my opponent off course. Be unpredictable. Don’t let her see me coming.
Certainly no one had ever asked Gale to be a bridesmaid before. Though, of course, I had never been a bridesmaid either, always destined to be a bride. Now I had to rise to the occasion. I had a good idea of what it all entailed considering modern society’s obsession with wedding culture. I knew that as a newly engaged woman it was expected that I would conduct some sort of “bridesmaid proposal” to between four and seven lucky girlfriends who would be at my beck and call, completely against their will, for the next nine to twelve months. Women always seemed to do this to each other. Stuck in acycle of expected performance and for what? The sake of tradition? We all know what that means. Keep the women busy with all these silly little things. Keep them jealous of each other. Keep them in constant competition. And they don’t even know it.
But I knew it. So I’d work with it. Like I always did.
Chloe and Calliope would both be a given as sisters of the groom. I was actually grateful because it was an easy way to up my numbers when my prospects were slim due to my lack of friends. Collin wanted to have his whole bevy of bros by his side on our big day, but lucky for me, his mother thought anything more than four per side would be crass.
For my third, I decided to ask this horrid woman from spin class who thought we were friends because she followed me to get green juice after class a handful of times. Wren Daly was a fitness influencer—I know, shoot me—and a social climber targeting all of the new money circles. Basically, desperate for attention at all times. I figured she’d be entertaining to terrorize with all the over-the-top finery that would surround a Case family bride like me. Another cheap thrill, and I needed somebody who wasn’t already in the circle.
And the fourth slot would go to Gale Wallace-Leicester. Keep my enemy close. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when I popped the question. I knew she’d be perplexed, but excited, too. Surprised by my gall and filled with dread, but thrilled all the same. She really thought she could best me, but so what if she knew about Morris or Philip or Dan or any of my former conquests? So they all had money. So. What. We all have exes, for God’s sake. Collin would understand that. What else could she possibly have? Something about my early,ahem, entrepreneurial days in New York? No. There was no record of such a thing. Potential fabrications were the more likely culprit withGale. I had to ensure that they wouldn’t be convincing. Call her integrity into question should any opportunity arise.
A small part of me entertained asking Syl to stand up with me, since I was genuinely starting to enjoy her company, but it seemed like too low of a bar, socially, and undeniably improper, as she was Collin’s assistant. Still, the thought was appealing if not altogether insane.
Once I sent my list over to Haven, and she approved it, she suggested an afternoon tea in Connecticut. I could ask everyone in person and we could begin the planning process as a unit. The whole thing sounded completely terrible, but I agreed because it was all part of the gig. Smile, girls! Parade yourselves around for others’ amusement. This is how things have always been done. Women supporting women.Please. We would all hate it and pretend we loved it. And the vicious cycle continues. The cursed event would take place the coming Saturday, which left me plenty of time to begin my personal and thorough investigation into Gale Wallace-Leicester.
•••
MY RECONNAISSANCE INTOGale was so important that I took a personal day from the agency, knowing that Gale would be at an office of her own. It had been some time since I engaged in old-fashioned breaking and entering. Online and digital were largely the way I conducted such business for the majority of my adult life under regular circumstances, but Gale was proving to be anything but regular, so I hopped back into the proverbial saddle, well-worn and comfortable no matter how many years it had been. Sometimes the old way is the only way. Mother would be amused. Maybe even proud.
After Collin left that morning for work, I rummaged through hiscloset, his nightstand and his desk in search of a spare key to Gale’s apartment. It sickened me that he would have one, but I knew it would be true. Collin was enthralled by an exchange of keys. He had asked for one ofmykeys when we were dating and I still lived with Morris. I had to come up with a whole story about a neurotic roommate who was uncomfortable with strangers, which wasn’t too far from the truth, but it was a bump in the road in our relationship. He was upset when I denied him, but in a good way. The way that left him wanting more.
