Page 68 of Promise Me Ever After
“Dad, you don’t need to give Alex the third degree.” Georgie covered my hand with hers.
“When he’s seeing you, Georgie, I need to. If I’d have done it in the past, you wouldn’t be in this situation now.” Howard leaned back in his chair and I noticed Veronica, Darcy and Fraser exchanged nervous looks.
“Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom.” I pulled my hand away from Georgie.
“Sure, it’s upstairs, you’ll see it.” Darcy gave me a weak smile.
As I left the room, I knew I would be the topic of conversation. I took the stairs two at a time and locked the bathroom door behind me, leaning against it. This was exactly why I hadn’t got involved before, the examination of my choices and decisions. Howard had decided I wasn’t good enough for Georgie and was calling me out on it. I didn’t know whether I could take another hour or two of being pulled apart. I needed to get out of there.
Quietly, I opened the bathroom door, padded down the stairs, grabbed my coat from the peg by the front door and got the hell out of there.
Georgie deserved better and it wasn’t me.
32
Georgie
I hadn’t heardfrom Alex in two days.
Two days without a text, a message, a call.
Nothing since he’d taken off from Darcy’s house without saying a word.
Tess and Ellis had agreed to me taking off the days leading up to Darcy’s wedding, so I hadn’t been anywhere near Anna’s Kitchen. And Darcy had kept me busy with working in Itsy Bitsys and running any last-minute errands for her.
Now, I sat in one of the hotel rooms where Ems’s friend Sara, who worked with Amber at Blossom, was doing my hair and make-up. Ems was there, ostensibly to check on how the preparations were going as the event organiser, but in reality making sure I didn’t have a total meltdown.
“He really hasn’t contacted you?” She shook her head.
“Not a thing. Look at this.” I tossed her my phone, already open at the messaging app. “He hasn’t even read them.”
“Amber says he’s been around to hers to talk to Curtis,” said Sara.
I twisted around in my seat. “Where’s Amber? She can tell me what she knows.”
Sara placed a hand on my shoulder. “Not now, I haven’t finished with you yet. Amber’s making Darcy look every inch the blushing bride and she wouldn’t appreciate the interruption.”
“Then what doyouknow?”
“Sorry, Georgie. Nothing.” Sara shrugged and twisted another piece of my hair around her curling iron. “Sit still before I singe your ear. Your sister will kill me if you’re anything other than perfect.”
The door opened and Stella, the other bridesmaid, came in. “Sorry I’m late! Couldn’t get a taxi from the station. What have I missed?”
“It’s all my dad’s fault. He was asking all sorts of questions, saying he should have been more aware of what a prick Russ was and how if he had been, I wouldn’t be there dating an apparent no-hoper without a future.” I paraphrased the thoughts which had been swirling around in my head since the other night. If that was what had bothered Alex so much, why hadn’t he talked to me about it? Why give me the silent treatment?
She halted in the doorway. “Um, okay? Who’s Russ?”
“No one.” He really wasn’t important in my life any longer.
“Right. Good to know.” Stella hung her dress bag up next to mine. “Is there any champagne left?” She held the bottle up, then tipped the remains into a glass. “I can’t believe today’s the day. It’s been so long in the planning.”
I almost laughed out loud. If only they knew Darcy had been planning her wedding day since she’d been old enough to know what it was. There were boxes in our parents’ loft full of scrap books and magazines as evidence. My phone rang.
Ems held it up. “It’s Alex.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. He was calling with bad news. He was calling to tell me he wasn’t coming. He was calling to tell me he didn’t want to see me anymore.
“I can’t answer it.” She walked over and gave the phone to me. “Don’t keep him hanging, Georgie.”
