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I swallowed down the urge to run and let myself in, coming face-to-face with a whole lot of tulle and almost ten copies of Kaitlyn dancing around with champagne glasses in their hands. I spotted Kaitlyn sitting in what looked like a throne at the back of the room, watching over everyone as another woman touched up her hair.
“It’s the best day of your life, Kaitlyn! You’re marrying a man with a TV show!” At that party cry, all the women in the room started screaming and throwing their arms around.
I nearly turned around and walked right back out.
“Poppy?” Kaitlyn’s voice calling my name over the music didn’t sound happy. “Turn the music off!”
Oh, dear god. I had a vision of being strangled to death by Kaitlyn’s bridesmaids’ tulle dresses as they rushed to defend their queen. I’d been watching too muchSnapped.
The music screeched to a halt and what had once been one of the loudest rooms I’d ever been inside became silent instantly. A whole lot of eyes were on me as I inched around them and tried not to step on anyone’s trains. “Excuse me. Sorry. Oopsy. My bad. Oh, wow. Yep, it’s still me. I’m still coming through. Excuse me.”
By the time I reached Kaitlyn, I felt like I needed a rest. She was frowning at me from her throne, though, and I knew it wasn’t a great time to ask her to get up so I could sit for a while.
“Why are you here, Poppy?” She crossed her arms and I gaped in wonder as her dress managed to keep her boobs in.
“Your boobs look fantastic, first of all. Let me start there.” I leaned in. “How the hell is that dress holding you up like that?”
“Poppy, why are you here?” She wasn’t ready to take a compliment from me, apparently.
“Well, youdidinvite me to your wedding.” I twisted my hands together behind my back. “Is there a way we could have some privacy? I have something serious I need to talk to you about.”
“Whatever you need to say to Kaitlyn, you can say to all of us. We’re sisters.” The angriest looking tulle monster half blocked my view of Kaitlyn and scowled at me.
The rest of the girls did a chant following her sisters comment and I wondered if anyone had ever been murdered inside a church before. I didn’t want to be the first.
“Sorority sisters, Poppy.” Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and sighed. “We’re in the middle of getting ready. I can’t just stop everything to talk to you.”
“Trust me on this one, Kait. You’re going to want to hear this alone.” I looked around at all of her friends and winced. “Not that I don’t think you guys are a great support system. Do the chant again. I think it really raised the morale in here.”
“You’re not going to leave, I can tell. You always have been a stubborn ass.” Kaitlyn looked at the lead tulle monster and nodded. “Wait in the hallway. This won’t take long.”
I felt like I was meeting with the godfather instead of my cousin. The power of a bride on her wedding day was scary.
When the last woman left, Kaitlyn frowned at me. “Well? Go on.”
57
***Poppy***
Ididn’twantto.My stomach twisted as I thought about what I was going to have to say to her and I wasn’t sure I could do it. She was a pain, but no one deserved to have their wedding day shit on.
“Poppy? Just spit it out.”
I looked away and tightened my ponytail. “I don’t want to have to say this, Kaitlyn. You’re not my favorite person in the world, but I would give anything to not be standing here right now.”
“Fucking say it, Poppy!”
“Andrew’s been calling me every day for weeks. Multiple times a day. He even came to my house and tried to kiss me. He let himself in and just went for it. I didn’t let him, of course. Even after I rejected him, he still kept calling. I never answer, but I did one night because I thought it was someone else. He’d called from a different number. He told me that he’d called the wedding off. He said a lot of stupid shit, but I swear to you, Kait, if I’d known he was lying, that he was trying to cheat on you, I would’ve called you right away. I only found out the wedding was still on earlier when Mom asked me why I wasn’t here.” I sucked in a breath and rushed on. “This is fucking awful. I never wanted to do this and I’m sorry that it’s happening. I’m sorry I didn’t call right away when he came to my house. I should’ve, but I had a lot of stuff going on in my own life and I just…dropped the ball.”
She was frozen in place, not even blinking. As the silence dragged on, I was half convinced she’d slipped into a coma. When she did speak, it scared the hell out of me. “I don’t believe you.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to the call log. “Look through it. I wouldn’t lie to you, Kaitlyn. I’m just trying to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life. Andrew is a soul suck. He’ll wear you down until you don’t even recognize yourself, Kait.”
She scrolled through the hundreds of calls until finally she froze. “This one you answered?”
I looked at where she was pointing and saw there was a call time listed. “I guess so. That would’ve been when he told me the wedding had been called off.”
She shook her head and pushed the phone back at me. “No, that’s impossible. That was the night we stayed with some friends at the lake. He was with me the whole…”
