Page 129 of Just (Fake) Married
Sunshine: Of course it isn’t. You fell in love with him, didn’t you?
Harmony: How do you know that all the way from New York?
Sunshine: I could just sense it…fucking McGraws.
“Rise and shine!Today is the big day!” Bliss and Amity announced as they burst into my bedroom.
“I don’t wanna,” I muttered into my pillow. It had been hard work getting out of bed every morning since I’d left the lodge a few days ago and I really didn’t want to get out of bed today.
The Feud Day Festival.
I didn’t want to dress up like Widow McGraw. I didn’t want to smile at everyone and pretend like I was happy and in love. I didn’t want to answer everyone’s questions about set up and tear down. I didn’t want to get bossed around by Marion.
I didn’t want to re-enact my own fake wedding with the man I was madly in love with.
Had I done the right thing? Should I have said yes, that I would love to visit him in Phoenix? Why did I have to commit my life to this town? Why couldn’t I at least consider other options for my life?
How hot was Phoenix?
I felt the twin mattress dip at the bottom as my sisters sat down beside my feet. “This is the part where I say he’s not worth it,” Bliss said.
“This is the part where I say you can do so much better,” Amity added.
“He was worth it, though. And there is no one better,” I groaned.
“Well, it’s too late now,” Bliss said glumly.
I sat up in bed and tossed my hair back. “What do you mean?”
Amity looked to Bliss, then back at me. “He’s gone.”
“Gone! What do you mean, gone? It’s the Feud Day Festival. He’s running that stupid 5K and judging the chili cook-off. We have to do the re-enactments.We have to get re-married today!”
The animals did not like me shouting like that and Jenny howled. Bruce let out a ferocious war honk. The Calloway Chaos machine was in full swing.
The door opened and my mother, wearing her tye-dyed fuzzy robe, brought in a very large mug of coffee. “You’re going to need this,” she said, pressing the coffee into my hands.
“When did he leave? Where did he go? Did he leave me a note? Where’s my phone?”
I’d stuffed it under my pillow last night and I reached for it now. No text. No voice message. Dying battery. Of course.
“How do you know he left?” I asked them.
“Apparently, he told Marion that he needed to leave for an emergency and that she had to find a replacement for him, if he didn’t make it back in time,” Amity said. “Darryl J. will be playing the role of Duncan/Ethan McGraw.”
“He left without saying goodbye?” I asked them. “I…I didn’t think he would do that. What do you think this means for the festival? The Blue Ribbon?”
Mom, Amity and Bliss shared a look and Amity reached out to touch my leg. “It doesn’t look like there is anyone coming down from the state. Mayor Gallup said he tried everything he could think of, but apparently these blue ribbons are a big deal and trying to get someone to come to your fair is like trying to get a Michelin reviewer to show up at your restaurant.”
I put my coffee down on the bedside table already crowded with mugs and collapsed back into bed. I pulled the pillow over my face and wailed, “We failed. Me and Ethan. Our marriage. The festival. We failed at everything. Carter’s going to lose the ranch, the town will…how is this happening? This is all my fault!”
“No, it’s not,” Mom said, in her stern mom voice. She pulled the pillow off my face and I tried to wrestle her for it, but she smacked my hands and I let it go. She threw it over her shoulder onto the floor. “None of this is your fault and I’ll be having words with anyone in town who says differently. This was all a crazyidea cooked up by Leroy McGraw and I should have put my foot down in the first place.”
“We had to try, Mom,” I moaned.
“Well, you did. And look what you got for it. A broken heart,” Monica said grimly. “Now, here is what we’re going to do. We’re going to get up, put on those ridiculous costumes and make this the best Feud Day Festival these tourists have ever seen. And whatever happens after that…happens. And it will be no one’s fault, because the fate of a ranch or a town doesn’t rest on the head of one individual. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Mom,” Amity and Bliss said simultaneously. I was silent until they both pinched me.
