Page 36 of One Night Valentine

“Fuck.” He groans and runs his hand through his hair.

“Morning. I missed you this morning.” I feel Cruz’s arms around me, and then he’s kissing the side of my neck. I tense automatically, and he turns me to look at him. “Hey.”

I force a smile I’m not feeling. My hair is in a wild bun on the top of my head. I have on jean shorts and a T-shirt, and besides brushing my teeth this morning, I probably still have last night's mascara smeared under my eyes. “Hey. Can you help me get these to the dressing room?”

He looks between Ben and me and then releases me. “Sure.”

Ben strides down the hallway without a backwards glance. It kills me not to know what is going on with my best friend, and as soon as I get out of here, I’m going to find out.

Cruz starts pushing the cart on his own, and I catch up with him, leading him to the dressing room. As soon as we enter, Brynn and her friends look at me, and Brynn starts in. “Where have you been? There’s so much to do and you’re late. Tara, why do you look like that? You do know the wedding is in two hours.”

I grit my teeth and remind myself this is her wedding. “I know, Brynn. I have all the arrangements and the boutonnieres right here. Everything is taken care of.”

She rolls her eyes and spits out a laugh. “Right, don’t act like you have it all together. We all know you’re a mess.”

“Excuse me,” Cruz starts, but I put my hand up to his chest to stop him. “No, let her finish.”

She lifts her chin. “We all knew you would try to ruin my wedding day. You’re so jealous that of course you couldn’t just be happy for me.”

I’ve had enough and hold my head up high. “I did all the decorations for this wedding as a gift to you. It cost me a small fortune, but I did it. I’ve tried to be your friend, Brynn, but I’m now finding out that will never be possible. Grant was my boyfriend. You had sex with him, you lied and told him you were pregnant when he said he didn’t want you, and you made sure I caught you having sex with him. If anything, I think you’re jealous of me.”

Brynn’s face is bright red, but she tries to play it off and scoffs. “Right. Like I’d be jealous of you.”

Defeated, I shrug. “I hope you have a good wedding. A good marriage. You and Grant deserve each other. Now I’m leaving. You have your wish. You don’t have to worry about me ruining your wedding, your pictures, your flowers, or anything else. Goodbye, Brynn.”

I turn on my heel, and the tears don’t start until I’m at the stairwell. I’ve left my cart behind, but I don’t care at this point. I’ll just have to buy another one.

I’m halfway up the stairs when Cruz catches up to me and stops me. “Tara, wait, honey.”

He pulls me toward him, but I struggle out of his arms. “Stop, Cruz. I can’t do this right now.”

“I just want to be here for you. Let me hold you.”

I hold my hand up. “Cruz, look at me. I’m a mess.”

He shakes his head. “You’re not.”

I laugh bitterly. “I am. My own family hates me.” I suck in a breath, but it feels as if I can’t get any oxygen into my lungs. “Look, I’m sorry I got you mixed into all this. This was supposed to be easy. One night, fake date. That was it, and now it’s over.”

“It’s not—” He starts, but I can’t stand here and listen to him while he looks at me with pity on his face. “Look, I’m going to grab my stuff and get out of your hair. You’re off the hook. I’m not going to the wedding… so you can go home.”

“Tara, please.” He pleads with me, but I’m already backing away from him. “Cruz, please, this is embarrassing enough. Thank you for everything. Really.” I suck in another breath, hoping that I’m not about to have a panic attack. “Last night…” I put a hand to my chest over my racing heart. “Last night was perfect and everything... Thank you for that. I’ll never forget it.”

I turn on my heel, running up the next two flights of stairs. I get to the room and grab my clothes, leaving my bridesmaid dress in the closet as I stuff everything into my suitcase. I haphazardly throw all the toiletries into the same bag and then I walk out of the hotel room, down the hall, and to the elevators.

I’m making the right decision. Walking away from this wedding and how my family treats me is the best thing for me. And it’s better to walk away from Cruz now. It already hurts, so there’s no sense in dragging it on.

No, I can pick up the pieces and move on, and I’m going to do just that after this Valentine’s Day is over.

18

CRUZ

“Where is she?” I ask my sister as I look around Tara’s flower shop. Her car was outside, but she’s nowhere in the store. I point toward the office. “She in her office?”

Lexi looks at another woman in a pink apron. “Kaci, can you watch the register?”

The woman looks me up and down with a smile and nods at my sister.

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