Page 14 of The B!tch List

With a huff and a haughty shrug of my shoulder, I continued across the road and made a left onto Calderdale toward Bronte’s salon, hoping a nice facial would help me forget about her stupid brother.

* * *

“What do you mean you’re not going to Kitty’s birthday party?” Bronte asked, her fingers massaging the lotion around my eyes. “Most of Dayton Valley will be there.”

I couldn’t say because I didn’t wish to see her brother sucking face with Ruthie again. If I did it would sound like I cared and gave a shit that she was getting the orgasms I knew he was so good at giving.

“I don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “Everyone will be paired off and I know that Alaska and Jennifer still feel bad about Minnesota dumping me like he did.”

“As they should.” Cool pads were placed over my closed eyelids, and I heard Bronte start to clear everything away. “The boy is an idiot and as his older brother, Alaska should have pointed him right. I mean,” she sighed heavily, “if you were dating my brother, I would’ve.”

Jeez, if only she knew!

* * *

It was only a little while later, when Bronte had just finished waxing my brows for me, that Ellie came bundling into the salon and made my misery complete.

“Thank God you’re here, Nancy.”

“What’s wrong?” Bronte asked, placing a glass of water on the side table next to my chair.

“I just came from the bakery. Hunter likes Jennifer’s blueberry muffin cake so I went in to get one, but they were sold out, so I said to Jennifer, “Hunter will be real disappointed and I wanted it to surprise him because he’s been so tired recently”. She stopped talking and stared at us wide-eyed. “Sorry.”

Bronte shook her head. “I can guess why, but why do you need Nancy?”

“I can’t bake, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Ask me to cook a meatloaf and I’d be great, but cake… not my thing at all.

“God no.” Ellie waved her hand at me and flopped down into a chair the other side of the small table. “I have some news. Jennifer wanted you to hear it first and Trick Denton from the hardware store said you were in here, so she asked me to do it.”

That was a small town for you—everyone knew your business and where you could be found at any given time, or so it seemed.

“Okaaay.” I nodded indicating for her to lay it on me. Whatever the ‘news’ was I could guess it was about Minnesota. Why else would Jennifer have news for me? We were friendly but not close enough that she would want me to be the first to know the gender of the baby she was going to be having in a couple of months.

I was right.

“Minnesota called the family last night. He’s getting married to a girl from London. They met in Rome a month ago.” Ellie blurted it out like it might hurt me a little less if she said it quickly.

“We were only talking about him just a half hour ago,” Bronte gasped. “It must have been my sixth sense that made me bring him up.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it’d been me that had raised the subject of my ex, not her. That aside, I felt hurt.

“Wow,” I replied, feeling a little tremble in my bottom lip. “Married?”

Ellie nodded silently and reached for my hand I had resting on the table. “I’m sorry, Nancy. I know he’s been gone a few months, but it’s still gotta hurt.”

I swallowed back the lump in my throat and shrugged. “It’s not like I still love him or anything, but we were together a while. He never even suggested we live together, never mind asked me to marry him.”

“And he dumped you just before you were supposed to go on a big adventure together,” Bronte said glumly.

“Okay,” Ellie snapped. “You don’t need to remind her.”

“You’re the one who just told her the love of her life was getting married after a quick romp in the hay with some girl who probably sticks out her pinky while drinking endless cups of tea and eating cucumber sandwiches all day.”

“I don’t think Brits eat cucumber sandwiches and drink teaallday,” I said. “And I’m pretty sure he wasn’t the love of my life.”

“You’d be surprised about Brits,” she replied as she picked up a towel and folded it. “I heard they also eat eels straight from that big river that runs through London.”

“I think you mean the Thames.” Ellie rolled her eyes. “Nancy is right, they do more than eat cucumber sandwiches or eels and drink tea. The point is, Jennifer asked me to tell you because Talia Pitt heard Mr. & Mrs. Michaels discussing flights to London when she was in the travel center picking up a brochure. Apparently, Mrs. Michaels was beside herself and mentioned it was for their son’s wedding, and as Alaska and Tallahassee are already married, well even Rett could add two and two together and make four on that one.”

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