Page 1 of What If We Do

Chapter 1

Scarlett

One Week Ago

“SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING LIMP DICK TAINT STAIN!” I slam my ornately decorated fall bouquet to the ground, gold-glittered spirals gliding across the floor as flower petals and stems break apart on contact. “I should have known!”

An entire sanctuary full of people turn at my outburst, which pisses me off even more now that I’ve made myself a spectacle.

Go big or go home, right?

“FUCK!”

“Shhh, Scarlett,” Maria, my Maid of Honor sputters, closing the narthex doors and trying to avoid a scene. “Maybe he’s just…you know, stuck in the bathroom.”

“HE’S AFRAID TO SHIT IN PUBLIC, MARIA! YOU KNOW THIS!” I shout. “He wouldn’t be caught dead shitting in a church.” A low rumble of laughter comes from the other side of the door as I pace back and forth in the narthex where I had been patiently waiting with my bridesmaids to make our grand entrance. I was supposed to marry the love of my life today, but apparently, my asshat of a fiancé had other plans.

“Okay so maybe he just needs a little more time. Maybe his shoelace broke. Or his pants ripped.”

I cock my head at my other bridesmaid, Jess. “Do you know how many hours I put into planning this…this…” I flail my arms. “Party? Do you know how many sleepless nights I had trying to plan this wedding so everything would be perfect for him? I wanted a fun Halloween themed wedding but noooooo. Mark said that would be classless for his line of work so I gave in and planned this fucking beautiful day.”

“I know, babe.”

“And I look amazing!” My chin begins to quiver. “And I feel…I felt…”

Aaaaand cue the waterworks. “I felt beautiful today.”

Jess pulls me in for a hug. “Scarlett, honey, you do look amazing. Nothing about what’s happening changes that.”

“I fell in love with this dress and now it’s…tainted. Everybody came here today for this grand event that Mark paid for! Why would he do this if he had no intention of showing up?”

“Could he have been in a car accident?” Maria asks with a cringe.

Feeling terribly guilty for my outburst when it is entirely possible that Mark was in an accident on the way here, I start to panic.

“Oh God! What if you’re right? My phone. Who has my phone? I need my phone!”

“Here, I have it!” Jess dips into her pocket and pulls out my cellphone. I tap it on and open my LIFE360 app to see where he’s located and my face falls.

“He’s at the fucking office.”

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this means.

He chose work over our wedding day.

He chose work over me.

He doesn’t want to marry me.

Ripping my veil from my elegantly twisted and pinned hair, I drop to the floor. “It’s over.”

“Oh Scarlett.” Maria and Jess both try their best to comfort me but sometimes a girl just needs to cry it out before she can pull up her big girl pants and figure out a way to make the sweetest lemonade out of the big fat lemons she’s been tossed.

“What am I going to do?” I ask them, my fears and self-pity finally surfacing.

Maria takes my hand, giving it a supportive squeeze. “You’re going to do just what you’re doing because your feelings are valid. Be sad. Be furious. Be whatever you want to be.”

“Yeah.” Jess nods. “And then we’re going to go drink all the top shelf alcohol at the country club because Mark is footing the bill. He may think he’s a good businessman but he has yet to experience the hell that is a woman scorned on her wedding day.”

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