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“Sounds like a plan,” Molly winked and started moving toward the door with Kat and Mike, and Austin.
Jane hung back, knowing she could have left with everyone else, but she just needed a minute to process everything. Being the good girl that she was, she wanted to check in on Robert who was exhausted from the craziness of the last two days. She wanted to make sure the cleanup crew had arrived. She also knew she could finally take a deep breath, knowing that most of the wedding details were locked down, at last. The next two weeks were going to fly by in a flash, and she felt like she would finally be ready for them. The day had been long, and she had been up for hours. Right now she was running on adrenaline, but she was still determined to go down for dinner—she could always leave early. There was no way she was letting Molly get away with excluding her again.
After a good 20 minutes of sitting on one of the comfy sofas with her heels off, and chatting with Robert over a glass of bubbly, she thought she had delayed an appropriate amount of time before heading down to the restaurant. She thanked Robert once more and then checked her appearance one more time. She took a moment to fix her makeup and redo her hair a bit but, all in all, she looked fine. As she made her way to the restaurant in the lobby, she saw Austin sitting at a table with three other people, none of whom she recognized. What had she missed in the last 20 minutes?Who were these people, and who was Austin talking to?
Austin happened to look up and noticed her walking toward the table. He waved her over with a smile. As he did so, the entire table turned in her direction and she was face-to-face with three strangers, all of whom had smiles on their faces, and all seemed genuinely happy to greet her. Jane smiled back, suddenly feeling exhausted and not feeling up to this dinner party. She had thought it would just be the three of them for dinner, not a small dinner party. She had planned for an early night since they had an early flight back to Rhode Island.
She didn’t know a soul at the table, and not wanting to appear rude she kept smiling and nodding in a friendly manner as she approached everyone. She walked directly to the empty seat next to Austin, who was still deep in conversation with the guy next to him. As she was about to sit down, she heard Molly’s unmistakable voice behind her.
“Oh, Jane, that seat is for me,” she shouted, practically pushing her out of the way. “I was held up with Kat and Mike. I told Austin to save me a seat. There’s a seat over there for you,” and she pointed to the other vacant seat at the table.
Jane glanced over at Austin, but he was still talking, not knowing what was going on between the two of them. Seeing he was obviously clueless, Jane walked over to the empty seat between two strangers and sat down. Having been dismissed by Molly, again, was the final straw. Anger, frustration, exhaustion, and…jealousy consumed her. She felt her blood pressure start to rise, and she didn't want to explode or say anything to Molly that could impact her professional relationship with her before the wedding. But she was not interested in watching Molly and Austin flirt all evening, so she stood up almost immediately. She looked around the table and politely said, loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Sorry I didn't get to meet everyone, but you know what, it's been a really long day and I'm actually not feeling that well. I think I’m just going to make it easy on myself and order room service tonight.”
“Oh, sweets,” Molly said, suddenly paying attention to Jane and showcasing a frown on her face, “are you sure, Jane? We do understand. You must be exhausted.”
Jane, not wanting to deal with her or give her the time of day, walked right past Molly and simply stated, “Thanks.”
Realizing Jane was leaving and looking upset, Austin turned to Molly, “Why is she leaving? I’m going to go check on Jane. I’ll be right back.”
“Oh, Austin,” Molly whispered back, not wanting the guests to hear her. “I'm sure she’s fine. If you leave now, my clients will start wondering what’s going on, and that won’t look good. They are great contacts for you,” she said, nodding her head.
“Well, did Jane say anything to you when she first came down?” Austin asked Molly.
“She said she wanted an early night,” Molly shrugged, trying to downplay it.
“And that was it?” Austin asked, sounding annoyed because he knew there was more to this. This was not like Jane, at all.
“Yeah,” Molly shared, not liking that Austin seemed overly concerned about Jane.
“Well, she seemed upset when she just walked off,” Austin added. Austin knew that dealing with a table full of strangers would be exhausting after the day Jane had had, but she didn't look like she was going to take off when she first arrived at the table. Ignoring Molly’s advice, Austin got up and apologized to the guest seated next to him, “I’ll be right back.”
He caught up with Jane near the elevators, thankful that she hadn’t gone up yet. “Hey! Jane. Are you OK? Listen, I'm sorry our little dinner turned into a meet-and-greet with potential clients.”
Startled by Austin coming over to check on her, Jane just stood there, feeling her heart start to race in her chest. “Yeah,” was all she could muster, “I’ll be fine. I’m just tired.”
“Schmoozing not on the top of your list?” Austin asked with a smile, feeling himself want to reach out to her and walk her back to her room because she looked so tired.
“Definitely not tonight. It’s been a long day,” Jane answered, wanting to add that she had had to do everything herself.
“Me too. I didn’t know Molly was inviting clients tonight. This is not what I was expecting. I’m guessing you’ve had all the fun you can stand for one day, and just want to chill out. Believe me, I get it. If you need anything, just text me.”
“Will do,” Jane said and smiled politely at him. She had missed this version of Austin all day. He had been captured by Molly and hadn’t given Jane a second thought until right now. She felt distant from the Austin she had spent the entire morning with on the plane, liking him the best out of all the Austin’s she had met and created in her head throughout the years. “And listen, I’ll just meet you at the airport tomorrow morning. I think I’m going to leave extra early, just to calm my nerves a bit.” And, almost on cue, her elevator arrived, the doors opened, and Jane got on without a backward glance.
