Page 19 of Love in Tandem
“I thought you knew.”
“How would I have known?” But now that she knew— “I have to go.”
“Charlotte, wait.”
This time she made it five steps before he stopped her. “No, Zach. Please. I have to get out of here. I can’t face your brother. I already feel like an idiot.”
“Trust me when I say I understand your feelings exactly. I don’t want to be here either. But listen . . .” Zach gripped both of her shoulders with a gentle squeeze, crouching down a bit to meet her gaze at eye level. “You know my mother adores you. I don’t know why she got it into her head that we were a couple, but we need to tell her we’re not, and it might not sting as much coming from both of us. Please?”
He would have the nerve to be attractive and say please and bring his mother into this. How could Charlotte say no to a woman who still owned a corner of her heart? “Fine. For your mother’s sake. But I’m not going back into the restaurant.”
His eyes narrowed as if he didn’t trust her not to bolt. “How about if you wait right outside that room they reserved for the rehearsal dinner?”
Charlotte folded her arms. “To the cheesecake stand. No further.”
“This is my mother, Charlotte.”
She huffed. “Fine. Hallway, next to the bathrooms. Final offer.”
“Deal.” He escorted her to the chalkboard sign with the arrow. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.”
She nodded. The sooner the better. A quick word with Zach’s mother, then she could finally be out the door and back to her heartbreak sabbatical. With any luck she’d have time to pick up some cheesecake and make it home to finish the first movie, maybe start the second, before it got too late.
A scream broke off her trail of thoughts right before the door to the women’s restroom banged open, nearly hitting Charlotte’s face. She jumped a step back.
“I told you not to choose one of the Minelli cousins to be your maid of honor.” A tall, dark-haired, attractive middle-aged woman wearing a plum dress strode out of the bathroom. “They’re notorious pukers whenever they’re pregnant. And goodness knows, they’re always pregnant.”
A dreadful retching sound punctuated the statement, followed by the flush of a toilet. Charlotte winced, hoping Zach hurried back with his mom. Especially when a younger, shorter woman wearing a cute strapless dress stepped into the hallway, and Charlotte realized she knew her.
It was Shannon. Oh goodness. It was Shannon. Zach’s girlfriend. Or apparently, Zach’s ex-girlfriend. Charlotte recognized her from a picture Zach posted on social media right before he deleted all his accounts and Charlotte had heard through the grapevine they’d split up.
Wait, so that’s who Ben was marrying? Shannon? No wonder Zach didn’t want to be here. And how had Charlotte not heard this through the grapevine?
“Momma, it’s going to be fine,” Shannon said, a weight of fatigue in her voice Charlotte would have to be deaf not to hear. Which apparently her mother was, because she prattled on without missing a beat.
“This is exactly why I said you needed more than one person in your bridal party. At least then you would have had a backup. Now you have nobody.”
“We were just trying to keep things simple.”
“Simple my foot. Look at the mess we’re in. What about your friend Taylor? I bet she could fit into the dress okay.”
“She’s in Germany for her job. I already told you that.”
“Valerie?”
“Tore her ACL playing volleyball last week. I already told you that.”
“What about that one friend you used to have? The two of you were always so close. What was her name? Marci . . . Margo . . .”
“Monica?”
“That’s it,” she said, snapping her fingers.
“She moved away when I was ten.”
“Well, you should have stayed in touch. She had such beautiful auburn hair. Would have gone great with your wedding colors.” Another terrible retching sound echoed out from the bathroom. “Good night,” Shannon’s mother muttered. “What are we going to do? Tie a barf bag around her neck for the ceremony? Nobody will even be able to hear your vows over that sound.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Momma.”
