Page 17 of The Cost of a Bride

“Russell!?” I cry out, spinning around with excitement. But it’s not Russell I see stepping into the house; it’s a woman I’ve never met before.

She’s pretty, clearly older than me by a few years, tall, slim, fake tan with bleached blond hair, wearing yoga pants and a vintage Metallica T-shirt. She also has alotof makeup on, including very bright-red lipstick.

“Who the hell are you?” she asks, glaring at me in a way that makes me feel like this isherhouse.

“Nikki.” I immediately regret saying it. “Who are you?”

“Hi, Nikki, I’m Cheryl,” the woman replies. “Where the hell is Russell?”

“He…he’s at work right now,” I reply. There’s something about this woman that is making me extremely anxious. She gave me her name, butwho is she?How did she get in here? How does she know Russell?

“I see,” Cheryl muses as she saunters forward, glancing at me as though I were a part of the furniture that doesn’t belong. “So he’s just cheating on me now…”

Something happens inside my chest. It’s like a dagger has been plunged into me, and every second that passes feels as though someone is twisting it, causing excruciating pain. I take a deep breath and try to get ahold of myself, but then comes the adrenaline dump – an ice-cold chill flooding through my veins, causing every one of my limbs to begin to tremble.

I know I shouldn’t feel this way immediately. That I should give Russell the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know this woman. She could just be some crazy bitch who wandered in off the street. But there’s something about the way she’s looking at me, the way she’s moving around his house like she’s been here a thousand times before that’s really causing a seed of doubt to form inside me. And that’s not good.

“Cheating…on you?” My voice, like the rest of me, is trembling.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Cheryl replies with a nod. “Russ didn’t tell you he was engaged?”

My heart sinks. “No, he didn’t.”

“Well, I’m his fiancée,” she replies, pointing at herself. “I told him I was going away on a conference for work because I suspected he wasup to something, and it looks like I was right.”

My heart continues to sink. My stomach twists, and a sickly feeling begins to come over me. This can’t be happening just as I was beginning to place my trust in him.

“I…you can’t be…”

“I can’t be serious?” Cheryl asks. “Russ teaches at Pineside, right? He has a few friends named Jim, Nate, and Tyler. Maybe you’ve met them, maybe you haven’t. We met years ago when he approached me at a bar with a silly pickup line. We dated for a couple of years before he proposed.”

Cheryl extends her hand and shows me a beautiful engagement ring that causes my jaw to drop.

“Wow…” is all I can say.

“Yeah, that’s what all the other women would say to him,” Cheryl scoffs. “And he wasn’t strong enough to remember his commitment to me.”

The eyes she’s giving me now – I can see exactly that she’s including me in that group ofother women,and I immediately feel defensive. “I – I’m so sorry!” I stammer. “I didn’t know! I never would have – I didn’t know!”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s not your fault!” Cheryl says, her voice sweet like a mother as she takes my hands in hers. “Russellis the lying, cheating, son of a bitch. He didbothof us wrong here!”

“Yeah…” I mutter as I look down at my feet, feeling more despondent than ever. “So you’ve come home? You live here?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl replies. “I wasn’t due back for another week. I don’t know what he was planning to do with you then.”

Well, that does it. I can’t stay here for the rest of the day – not with her here. There’s just no way. She may be a nice woman for all I know, but just knowing who she is and what she’s been through with Russell would make that absolute torture for me. And I can’t even imagine how things would be when he gets back and we’re both here.

No, I’m leaving.

I turn around and start back upstairs. “Where are you going?” Cheryl calls after me.

“To get my things,” I call back. “I’m going to text my friend to come get me.”

“Oh, don’t bother, sweetie,” Cheryl replies, following after me. “I can take you. My car’s outside.”

“No, really,” I say. “She’ll be happy to come and get me.”

I pull out my phone to text Alyssa, but Cheryl gently pushes it back down and takes my hand into hers. “Honestly, sweetie, it’s no problem.” There’s something about her smile that’s comforting, even in this terrible situation.

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