Page 103 of Count Your Lucky Stars
Margot lifted a shaking hand, resting her fingers against the notch at the base of her throat. Her pulse fluttered wildly under her skin, her heart going haywire. She couldn’t think that way. She couldn’tletherself think that way. Olivia wouldbe here. Shehadto be here. There was too much riding on this wedding, it mattered too much to Olivia for her to simply blow it off.
Unless... unless Margot was wrong. Unless Olivia had changed her mind. Made it home and talked to her dad and decided to do what Margot had feared she would, set what she wanted aside to take care of whatever was going on in Enumclaw that she hadn’t even let Margot know about.
Margot had never felt so utterly in the dark in her life, desperately wanting to believe that Olivia would show up, but not knowing. Not knowing where Olivia was, what had happened last night with her dad and his house and his health, if Olivia was on her way. A million terrible scenarios flashed through her head. That Olivia’s dad wasn’t actually okay. That maybe Olivia was there in Enumclaw, needing Margot and afraid to say so after their fight. That the reason she wasn’t picking up her phone might not have been because it was dead like Elle had suggested but because she didn’twantto pick up. Or worse, maybe she couldn’t.
The pressure in her chest ballooned further, each breath she sucked in shallower than the last.
Or, there was always the possibility that she’d made it to her dad’s and thought about everything Margot had said and had taken it all to heart, but instead of deciding that putting herself first for once meant getting in the car and coming back to Seattle, she’d realized that this—the city, this career, this life—wasn’t what she wanted. ThatMargotwasn’t what she wanted.
Margot set her jaw.
No, absolutely not. Olivia cared too much to simply blow off the wedding. She would, at the very least, show up to make this weekend happen, and then—
Only time and talking to Olivia would tell what would come after. What their future would hold.
Eight minutes.
“She’ll be here,” Margot said, sounding a whole hell of a lot more confident than she felt.
Elle smiled and reached out, squeezing Margot’s hand, a brief show of support that made a tiny bit of the pressure in Margot’s chest release.
“It’s starting to rain,” Elle murmured, and Margot turned her face up.
A light sprinkle, heavier than a mist but lighter than a drizzle, had started to come down. Margot hadn’t even noticed. She shrugged and reached behind her neck, flipping her hood up over her head.
“Hey, you guys?” Darcy poked her head out of the door of the venue and frowned. “You can wait inside, you know?”
“Darcy’s right,” Elle said. “We can wait right inside by the window. You can see the street and stay dry. So when Olivia shows up you won’t look like a drowned rat.” Her lips quirked. “Though I’m sure you’d make an adorable drowned rat, Mar.”
Margot snorted. “Nah. You go on. I’m going to wait out here.”
Something about going inside the venue, even to wait by the window, carried a note of finality she wasn’t ready for. Like if she walked through that door without Olivia by her side, she’d be accepting that Olivia wasn’t going to show. That this thingbetween them was over. Over before they’d barely gotten the chance to begin.
Maybe it was silly and symbolic, but Margot was going to wait right here, on this sidewalk. Where she was standing gave her a perfectly unencumbered view down the street in each direction. Even if the clouds overhead opened up and unleashed a torrential downpour, Margot’s feet were glued to the pavement. Nothing short of Olivia showing up would make Margot come inside before she absolutely had to. Until she had no choice.
“Meet you inside?” Elle gave Margot’s hand one last squeeze before letting go.
Margot nodded. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Elle slipped away, and a moment later, the heavy door behind Margot shut with aboomthat made Margot lurch, nerves shot from lack of sleep and spending most of the day on edge.
Despite being midday on a Friday, the street was quiet. This part of town was far enough away from the downtown market to attract fewer tourists, but there was usually a little more action. Several cars zoomed down the road, and across the street a group of friends laughed before ducking into a coffee shop.
The door opened a minute later, and Margot shut her eyes. “I said I’ll be there shortly, Elle.”
A throat cleared and Margot craned her neck, looking over her shoulder. With one hand braced against the door, Brendon poked his head out from under the awning and frowned up at the sky for a second before lowering his gaze to stare at Margot. His lips turned down at the corners and—her stomach dropped. She knew that look. What it meant.
Her raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s, uh, one o’clock.The officiant’s already here and the facility manager has”—he winced—“kindlyreminded us that we need to be out of here no later than two so they can start setup for the event they have here tonight.”
Right. The, uh,show must go on. Margot clenched her back teeth together and pasted on a smile. “I’ll be right in.”
Brendon stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and throwing the door open the rest of the way. He stepped out onto the street, rain be damned, apparently, and wrapped her up in a hug so tight that something in her chest cracked and her toes actually skimmed the ground. She buried her nose in his shirt, breathing in the smell of his aftershave and the faint smell of Annie’s perfume that clung to his collar.
She pressed on his shoulders and ducked her chin, sniffling hard at the sidewalk. “Just give me a minute, Bren. Just—one minute, please?”
One of his fingers lifted her chin. When she raised her eyes, he offered her a crooked smile. “I’ll stall for you, okay? I can ask a bunch of questions about... I don’tknow ... the timing of the dove release or something.”
She smacked him on the arm. “Youdidn’t.”
