Page 56 of One Night Bride
“Okay, seriously. I’ve had enough.” She grabbed the remote off the coffee table before I could slide my slippered foot across and guard it. The television clicked off, leaving us with only the soundtrack of my sniffles.
I crossed my arms across my chest and pouted. “Hey, I was watching that.”
Izzy rolled her eyes and had a seat on the recliner, out of the tissue zone. “I know. You’ve been watching this drivel nonstop for days. Don’t you think we should talk about it?”
Remington’s face as he stormed out of the house flickered through my brain, and I braced for the searing pain in my chest that would come next. Yep, right on schedule, there it was. I’d been trying to distract myself with movies, and here was my twin, rubbing it in my face.
“What’s there to talk about, Izzy? I messed up. He no longer trusts me, and he wants a divorce. I’m waiting for the doorbell to ring, and a guy with halitosis and questionable steroid usage will serve me with the papers.”
The doorbell rang, and I nearly jumped off the couch.
My abused heart hammered away, thinking the end was here. The final nail in the coffin of this sham marriage. I grabbed a few more tissues and stood up, thinking I’d face the end with dignity and grace. My head went light, and I thought I might pass out from the exertion.
“Don’t freak out. It’s just the fam.” Izzy ran out of the room and I frowned, sitting back down and rubbing my forehead until the spots dancing across my vision passed. When was the last time I ate?
And the fam? I didn’t want visitors. I thought I’d made that clear when I made her pinkie swear to let me grow old on this couch. You don’t break a pinkie swear, for God’s sake.
“What’s that awful smell?”
Vee scrunched up her face when she hit the living room, choosing to sit as far away from me as she could. Mom and Dad came in right behind her. Dad took one look at me on the couch and turned right back around. Oakley took him by the shoulders and made him come into the room.
“We can arrest him later this afternoon,” she murmured in Dad’s ear.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” This was what happened when you called in the family for something they simply couldn’t handle. Births, marriages, job offers. That was the sort of thing they excelled in as far as encouragement went. Divorce and heartbreak, though? Might as well call in the traveling circus. At least then there’d be yummy peanuts.
Izzy clapped her hands and spoke softly. “We’re down a sister, unfortunately, but I think we can still work a miracle.”
Mom brushed aside some balled-up tissues and sat on the couch, her hand coming up to smooth the snarled hair away from my face. “First things first. You need a shower. I love you, sweetheart, but you stink.”
“Mom!” I gaped. “That’s Vee’s line, not yours.”
Mom simply shrugged, not looking at all contrite for being so harsh. “Sorry, darling, but we didn’t rehearse before we got here.”
I groaned, leaning my head back and covering my face with my hands. Maybe if I pretended they weren’t here, they’d go away. Like the boogey man at night when I was a kid. With the blanket over my face, I was invisible.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Dad said. “I know what’s wrong. I forgot to hug him last time I saw him. I needed to give him the ditch-digging spiel. He wouldn’t have messed with my girl otherwise. It worked for Wyatt, didn’t it?”
I looked over to see Oakley with her hand on his arm, physically keeping him in the room, placating him.
“He didn’t do anything, Dad,” I said, wanting them to understand that I was the one at fault here, not Remington.
“How about you explain everything first and then we can decide on that?” Mom suggested, voice rising as she continued. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation you told the world about your quickie marriage, and Remington isn’t even here. You’re in sweats, haven’t showered in days, and I’m guessing it’s because you broke up. Why am I the last to know freaking everything where my own daughters are concerned?”
Vee winced. “Damn. Mom cursed.”
“‘Freaking’ isn’t cursing,” Izzy interjected.
“Close enough in Mom’s book,” Vee argued.
“Girls!” Mom scolded.
They were all giving me a headache. Between the crying and the yelling, I felt like I had a heartache hangover of epic proportions.
“I’ll tell you the whole thing if you just please stop talking so loudly.” When they all kept their mouths shut, I proceeded to explain how things went down when our pictures were leaked to the internet, ending with my current vigil of waiting to be served divorce papers.
“So why haven’t you gone after him and apologized?” Oakley asked, her eyebrows drawn so tight she looked a lot like Dad, minus the handlebar mustache.
I ripped a tissue in half and shoved one side up my left nostril. The skin around my nose was red and raw from all the blowing and wiping. I was desperate, okay?
