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11
CARMELA
It was a heck of an ask, for sure, but he had to say yes. He just had to. If he didn’t, I was going to be humiliated beyond anything I had ever experienced. But my embarrassment, or potential of it, might not be enough to convince him. Asking someone to be a date for a wedding was one thing, but with the story between Jade, Trevor, and me, it wasn’t just a date. It was an act.
“Geez,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and looking away.
The hesitation was giving away everything. He didn’t want to tell me, but he wasn’t interested. It was too much to ask. He was going to say no.
“Look, I—” I began, ready to let him off the hook so he didn’t have to outright say it. It would be better that way. Easier for both of us.
“I’ll do it,” he said, interrupting me.
I paused for a second, unsure if I’d heard what I thought I heard.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “It could be fun.”
He shrugged and flashed a boyish grin that was wildly attractive, especially when plastered on a face that sat on top of his athletic, muscular body.
“You will?” I asked. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he said, grinning wider and nodding. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
“Oh, Mark, thank you!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him for a quick, tight hug. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach him, and for just a fleeting moment, I found myself relishing having his body pressed against mine. Surrounding me. Holding me. Squeezing me gently with his massive arms that could squeeze so much harder if he wanted.
I pulled myself away.
“Thank you so much,” I repeated. “Seriously, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said.
“Wow, just, this is great. I’ll give you all the information when I get it,” I said. “Just one night, and all this will be behind me.”
“She said it was a destination wedding, though,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
Then it hit me. He was right.
“Oh no.”
“Something about a beach? I think?” he said. “Riding a horse off into the sunset, I believe.”
I had been so frazzled by the whole thing I’d completely missed that part somehow. It went in one ear and out the other. This made everything way more complicated.
Almost on cue, my phone made a sound, and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was a text message from a number I didn’t recognize. I opened it and groaned.
“Ugh,” I muttered.
“Let me guess, Jade?” Mark asked.
“Yes,” I said. “She’s going on and on about how excited she is.” The phone binged over and over. “She always did this. She can’t text in full thoughts. It’s always three or four words at a time. This will keep happening for the next ten minutes or so while she tells me all about the plans for her wedding.”
“Yikes,” he said. “Anything interesting?”
“Well,” I said, looking at the messages that were still coming in rapid fire speed, “she’s really excited, obviously. It’s going to be so pretty, she’s excited about her dress...” I skimmed ahead a bit and then stopped. “It’s going to be four days. A lakeside campground with a pavilion and cabins for the guests. She says it’s going to be so much fun. Somehow, I doubt that.”
“Depends on your definition of fun, I guess,” Mark said.
“Does anyone define fun as watching your former fiancé marry the former best friend that he left you for?”
“Probably not,” he laughed.
“Then, no.”
Leaving to go home and clean up before an afternoon at the office, I felt like I was going to explode. The shower I was looking forward to taking wasn’t just to get clean, although I was exceptionally grimy as usual after the horses, but it was also to get in a hot shower and relax. Anything to get my shoulders to stop feeling like two bricks that were shoved against my neck.
By the time I pulled into my place, it was just after noon, meaning that my time in the office was going to keep me there until well past six. Thankfully, I pretty much made my own schedule these days, and since I shared the office with two other lawyers who did most of their work in the mornings, I had the building to myself after three or so anyway.
Getting in, I peeled my clothes off before I even made it to the bathroom, wanting to be out of the dirty, sweaty things as fast as possible. The calculation of how long my day would be was running through my head. I had two families that were coming in and another client who was looking at drawing up a will and wanted advice. None of the three appointments started before four, and none of them should take more than a half hour. I had some time to kill.
