Page 12 of Polly

“No, Polly, I —”

“No?” the young man scoffed. “I was the best man at your wedding! I gave your oldest son a piggyback ride last night after your wife — my sister — fed us family dinner. Look at this picture.” He waved his wallet in front of Grady’s face then showed Polly the picture of the happy family. “It’s true.”

Tears spilled down Polly’s cheeks.

She sobbed, “Mark, I’m sorry. Grady and I have been together for years. Since high school. I never knew he got married. I would never. Grady, fuck you. We’re done. I expect all my shit back. Leave it with my parents.”

She slid her engagement ring from her finger and placed it on the table, then stood and ran away.

“Polly,” Grady shouted.

She heard him stand and start to follow. Then she heard chatter and saw cameras flashing.

Polly grabbed a menu off a table, opened it, and obscured the side of her face with it. She hoped that would ruin most of the paparazzi pictures. Who had told them she would be there anyway? She rushed out of the restaurant, tears flowing readily. Polly tore open the door on the rental and scrambled in. She tossed the menu on the passenger seat. Quickly, she peeled out of the parking lot. She left behind Grady and the paparazzi.

Polly sobbed so hard she had to pull over a few miles down the road because the tears blurred her vision to the point that she couldn’t see.

Grady’s infidelity devastated her. Yes, she’d gone away to college and toured with the band, which left him alone a lot — but they visited and talked on the phone as often as possible. He’d promised commitment and said he would wait as long as it took. She’d believed him. But Grady had a whole second life that she knew nothing about. She’d planned to marry that man... but he already had a wife and kids. A beautiful family. She’d seen the picture.

Her stomach heaved, and she barely pushed the car door open before she puked all over the berm.

Polly closed the door. She wiped her mouth with her hand and sobbed. Overwhelmed, she sat there and cried for what seemed like hours but was probably only minutes.

Finally, she wiped her nose, took a deep breath, and put on her brave face. She had to get through this.

Where could she go? Her parents couldn’t see her like this so she couldn’t go there. They thought she was staying the night with Grady, anyway.

Polly shifted to drive and went to a hotel on the edge of town. She pulled into the parking lot and was about to get out of the car when her phone rang. She dug through her clutch to find it, accepted the call, and put it to her ear without even seeing who called.

“Hello?” she asked on the last ring.

“Polly, hey,” Flynn’s deep voice rumbled in her ear. “I saw the news. Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Grady.”

Their fight made the news already?

She said, “You know the news exaggerates. I’m sure whatever they said was only half true.”

“Uhh... Grady. Spaghetti. Secret life. Kids.”

She sucked in a breath and the tears welled up again. The news got the main facts right for once. Usually they mangled reality and fiction together.

“Shit.”

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. It’ll blow over. We’ll get shitfaced together and pretend this never happened,” he said. “It’s okay. I never liked that guy, anyway.”

She sob-laughed. “You’re the second person to say that tonight.”

“With good reason. He’s a sleaze. Good riddance. What do you need?”

“I don’t know.”

“Company? I’ll come to you if you want.”

Polly shook her head. “No, I’ll be okay. Stay on tour.”

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