Page 92 of Wedding Season
Angi snorted. “When the going gets tough, Mariella starts lobbing bombs. She and I have that in common.”
He gave a humorless laugh. “I would love to resolve this without any other casualties, but easy or hard, I’m in for all of it.”
“You have to find Mariella and tell her that,” Emma said as she straightened. She and Angi each offered him a hand.
Alex certainly could have stood on his own, but he let the women help him. It wasn’t a bad idea to save his strength because getting through to Mariella might be the battle of his life.
“She didn’t do it,” a shaky voice called out. The three of them turned. Heather stood soaking-wet just inside the tent. She looked like she was waiting at the gates of hell.
Kay had an arm around the girl’s shoulder, and Alex realized it wasn’t rainwater running down her cheeks. Heather was quietly crying.
“What’s going on?” he asked as his heart flipped over in his chest.
“Mariella was protecting me,” Heather said. “I’m the one who put itching powder in Amber’s clothes. All of this is my fault. I’m so sorry.”
Emma and Angi gave twin gasps of surprise, but Alex couldn’t even manage that. The breath whooshed out of his lungs like he’d been sucker-punched.
He thought about Mariella’s unwillingness to explain or defend herself or even to apologize. None of it had made sense, but this explanation did except...
“Why?” he asked Heather. “Why pull a prank on Amber?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be that bad.” Heather wrung her hands in front of her Fit Collective logo sweatshirt. “I saw a video online. It was just supposed to irritate her and keep her from participating in the fashion show. That way she couldn’t do something to make Mariella mad or upset you. I didn’t want anybody else bothered by her. I care about you guys too much to let some stupid, spoiled starlet mess everything up.”
Alex forced his lungs to pump air in and out. Kay shot him a beseeching look. “She didn’t realize the consequences,” the mom explained. “I’m not excusing the behavior, but her intentions were good.”
“Why didn’t you admit to it from the start?” Alex asked.
“Mariella told me to stay quiet. We didn’t know what Amber was going to do in retaliation. I’m sorry. It was stupid and selfish. I thought she could ruin my acceptance at UNC or post something that went viral and the whole world would hate me.”
She scrubbed a hand across her face. “I should’ve just said it then. Because now I hate myself and that’s even worse. Mariella is gone and you guys don’t know where she is. What if she doesn’t come back?”
“We’ll find her,” Alex said. His heart settled just as quickly as it had flooded with panic.
Mariella hadn’t tried to destroy what was between them. She should have told him, but he understood why she felt like she had to make the choice she did. It was her chance to be a mom to the daughter she loved with her whole heart. He loved her even more for her misguided loyalty.
Angi elbowed him hard. “You have to find her.”
He held up his hands. “I’d like to. I just wish I knew where to start loo—”
A crack of thunder split the air. In that instant, he knew where she would have gone, and it made his heart tighten with panic all over again. “I’ve got it,” he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
“Then go,” Emma said with a gentle shove. “Bring her home.”
Alex nodded but in his soul, he knew he just needed to get to her because when he found Mariella, he’d find his home.
MARIELLANEEDEDTOgo home—if only because Millie would be waiting for her evening fish flakes.
Well, that and the fact that Mariella no longer had feeling in her toes.
She wrapped her arms more tightly around her knees as if that would help keep her extremities warm after sitting on the beach in the rain for the past hour.
At least it had stopped thundering and lightning. The rain now came down in a steady stream, but Mariella was already soaked from her head to frozen toes.
It had been stupid to be on the beach in a thunderstorm, but the jolt of terror she’d felt at each booming clap had allowed her to feel something.
Something other than the crushing heartache of walking away from Alex.
She’d done the right thing for Heather. The girl had too much riding on her future for Mariella to have allowed her to risk Amber’s wrath. She still wasn’t sure they could trust that Alex’s threat would keep Amber silent. Even if she had a guarantee, she would have made the same choice.
