Rett jumped up and hustled to the patio, where large water dispensers waited. He carried a cup back to the altar and dropped to one knee next to the woman who was still checking vitals. The groomsman was sitting up and appeared no worse for the wear. The bride, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, thank you,” the woman said when he presented the cup.
“No problem.” He stood and winked at Jade before going back to his seat.
It had happened once or twice at his winery too. Hungover bachelorettes on their fourth stop of the day. There was always emergency water at the tasting tables.
When he sat back down, he glanced at Jade. How was she feeling? The idea of standing up with Chris while he married Alexa was enough to make him itch for the punching bag strungup in his gym. But it would never come to that. Alexa would eventually get tired of him, and then she’d be gone for good.
Eventually, the officiant restarted the ceremony. Ashley emerged in yet another white dress, though this one was a lot less complicated-looking. The rings were exchanged, the vows were repeated, and finally, mercifully, everyone stood for the recession.
Rett checked on Jade again. Her eyes were closed, and her shoulders dropped away from her ears. Even in a wrinkled dress, she was a vision.
Was it the catharsis she had been hoping for?
As people drifted away from the ceremony site, he sidled up next to her.
“You did it.” He laid a hand gently on her arm. “How does it feel?”
Her eyes snapped open. “Good. I’m kind of glad I stayed. I never in my wildest daydreams would have imagined this shitstorm of a ceremony.”
“It’s not often you get to see karma in real time.”
“Right. You want to go get drunk and eat a stupid amount of hors d’oeuvres?”
“I’ll have a glass, but one of us needs to keep their head above water. Especially since I’m driving you back to?—”
She inhaled sharply. “Oh, shit. I didn’t even think about the fact that I was supposed to stay overnight and leave with them in the morning. Ashley won’t be there, but?—”
He shook his head. “We’ll leave early and get your things. You can bring them to my house. We’ll figure out how to get you home later.”
She hesitated, and he almost proposed a different plan. Was he being too forward?
“You know what? Fuck it. That sounds great.”
A night alone with Jade? He couldn’t imagine a better distraction.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JADE
“What’syour favorite memory of your parents?”
Rett sat cross-legged underneath a table, tuxedo jacket discarded on the floor. He was wearing a waistcoat again, and his white shirt was rolled up to his forearms.
Jade sawed off a bite of prime rib and leaned back thoughtfully while she chewed. They were concealed by a white linen tablecloth that hung to the floor. Music droned in from the ballroom down the hall. They had run off with their dinners and taken refuge in the smaller event room after Patricia elbowed her on her way to the dance floor.
“It’s so hard to choose. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we never traveled very far outside the city. But once in a while, my mom would take me out of school on a ‘mental health break.’ We’d take the train into the city and go to museums or head to Coney Island. She was so patient, even when I was a bratty teenager. I hope she knows how much she meant to me.”
Was it physically impossible for her to not overshare? Get it together, girl.
Rett leaned over and squeezed her hand. “Trust me, she knows.”
Warmth flooded her. It was hard to tell if it was the wine or Rett’s strong, comforting presence, but she was feeling a thousand percent more grounded than she had this morning.
“What about you? It sounds like your parents were gone a lot.”
He finished his bite before speaking. How civilized. “They were. But I’ll never forget the first time I saw my mom onstage on Broadway. She was amazing. She just effortlessly captivated everyone in the room.”