Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
A rising din in the adjacent chapel jerks me from my thoughts. It sounds packed in there. Which means any minute now, my mother’s best friend, Darcy, will come in here to fetch me from my requested moment of solitude. Thankfully, Delilah promised not to give her big brother a heads-up about what we discovered last night. After she saw the phone’s contents, she agreed it was my news to break and nobody else’s. Poor Delilah. I think she was as devastated as me last night, in her own way.
At any rate, thanks to Delilah’s discretion, I’ve got a decision to make. Am I going to follow through with the juicy plan my friends and I cooked up last night after Delilah fell asleep, or am I going to quietly sneak out of this dressing room and leave Brandon standing at the altar in front of everyone he knows and tries so hard to impress?
If I’d found out about Brandon’s betrayals before last night—at least, with enough time to get my father’s money back from all the wedding vendors—I’m sure I would have broken up with him back then and quietly cancelled everything. It’s never been in my nature to make a scene. But given the actual timing here, I’m not willing to go gentle into that good night. The last thing I want to do is give Brandon the unfettered opportunity to create some false narrative about me in front of everyone we know. Now that I know Brandon’s true character, who knows what he’d be willing to say to save face?
A soft knock prompts me to turn away from the mirror. But it’s not my mother’s best friend who enters the small room; it’s Kaylee, Tatiana, and Harper—aka my life support system.
“Have you decided?” Tatiana asks gently.
“Whatever you want to do,” Harper adds, “we support you one hundred percent.”
A puff of air escapes my nose. “Well, what I want to do is douse that motherfucker in gasoline and barbeque him with a flamethrower in front of everyone he knows.”
Everyone laughs, including me. But nobody more so than Kaylee.
“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Kaylee says with a gleam in her eyes. “I’ll go get the flamethrower, baby.”
“Sadly, I can’t do that without going to prison, though,” I lament with an exhale. “Not with this many witnesses, anyway. So, I guess I’ll settle for torching Brandon’s reputation, instead.”
“Shoot,” Kaylee says, snapping her fingers. “I was so hyped about the barbeque idea.”
“Life is full of disappointments, my love.” I rub my forehead. “I should warn Delilah. She might want to contract a mysterious case of the stomach flu right about now.”
Tatiana shakes her head. “I just talked to her. Delilah said she supports you, one hundred percent. She wants to stand by you today, literally and figuratively.”
My heart lurches at the unexpected vote of confidence. “Delilah said that, or that’s your interpretation?”
“She said it, just like that. This has been humbling for her. Before last night, she thought Brandon walked on water.”
My heart squeezes for poor Delilah. “Brandon fooled everyone, including every person sitting in that church.”
“All the more reason to go in there and torch him,” Kaylee says. But when Harper and Tatiana glare at her, she adds, “But, of course, we’ll support you, no matter what you decide.”
“I’m going to do it,” I whisper. “I’ll regret it if I don’t.” I look at a circular clock on the wall. “Will one of you grab my dad and brother and ask them to meet me in the hallway? I don’t want to blindside them when everything goes down.”
“I’m on it,” Harper chirps before scurrying away, the long skirt of her yellow bridesmaid gown whooshing glamorously as she goes.
“What a waste,” I mumble softly, my heart panging with memories of our ebullient day of dress shopping months ago. “I was giddy about your bridesmaid dresses when we picked them out.” I look down at my own gown. “About mine, too.”
“None of our dresses will go to waste, honey,” Kaylee declares. “We’re going to wear the shit out of them while celebrating you dodging the biggest bullet of your life tonight.”
I hang my head. “I don’t feel much like celebrating.”
“Then you’ll drown your sorrows while we dance around you,” Tatiana insists. “Kaylee’s right. Why let all that money go to waste?”
It didn’t occur to me I’d go forward with the reception tonight, but I think my friends are onto something. Everything is all paid for, after all—the food and booze and so on. Why not enjoy all of it in celebration of me not marrying a serial cheater/sociopathic narcissist?
“Okay, count me in.” As my friends express support, I take a deep breath to calm my racing pulse. “I need to get this show on the road, or I’ll lose my nerve.” I double-check that Brandon’s weapon of mass destruction is still nestled inside my bra. When I see that it is, I head toward the door with my shoulders set and my head held high. “This is going to be fine,” I murmur to myself. “I’m going to stay calm the whole time, stick with the facts, and torch him with his own words.”