THE JUNIOR BRIDESMAID (21 page)

My eyes
immediately traveled to said ‘rags.’ My eyebrows pinched together. These
rags
, as she called them, had cost me a
fortune. I had on Joe’s Jeans and a Lucky Tee. But my NY fashion, no matter how
expensive, was falling short for Julia. Julia was all about ruffled skirts,
high heels and femininity.

“Now, git!” she
ordered with her southern inflection and a slap on my behind. I think she was
just trying to get rid of me for a minute but I wasn’t sure why. I needed to
use the bathroom anyway so I asked Julia to point me in the right direction.
Then I told her on my way that I needed coffee before I tackled any wardrobe
decisions. Julia didn’t argue. Even she knew I was addicted to the liquid gold
and there was no way I could match an outfit without caffeine.

“Where are we
going?” I asked before I closed the door to the bathroom.

“Preacher’s,” she
announced firmly.

I froze with my
hand on the handle just as the door clicked closed. Preacher’s was an old
hangout that we used to frequent when we were in high school. It had good bar
food and a great vibe. The problem was Ryan Rowen bought it five years ago and
there was no way in hell that I was stepping foot in his joint willingly.

Julia must have lost her marbles
because the only way she would get me inside Preacher’s was if I was heavily
sedated with an IV drip and wheeled in on a gurney.

“That ain’t happenin’, girlfriend!”
I yelled through the door.

“Wanna bet?” she
barked back.

            I
could lie and say that I won the throw down. But what would be the point? Julia
was no one to be trifled with and when she had her mind set on something it
didn’t turn out any other way. So essentially my options were to show up to
Preacher’s willingly or show up exhausted from fighting. We had already had it
out over the outfit I thought was ‘good enough’ to go to Preacher’s. Needless
to say she made me change into this sweet (I had to admit) skirt and fitted top
that she thought would do wonders for what she referred to as my ‘sallow
coloring.’ What could I say? I’d been through a lot and it was showing in my complexion.

Though my outfit
definitely brightened my mood, I still wasn’t happy about going to Ryan’s
establishment, which I conveyed through the sighing and whimpering as we
approached the door.

“Seriously? There
are so many other places that we could go instead.” I begged annoyingly.

“That’s true. A
whole bunch of new places opened up while you have been living it up big in
N.Y.C. But not one of them holds a single memory from our youth. So we are
going inside and we are having some awesome hot wings and an ice cold beer.”
She pointed toward the door authoritatively. “Go on,” she ushered me from
behind.

“You suck,” I
stated matter-of-factly.

“So do you,” she
answered in kind.

That was that. We
stepped inside and I was forced to deal with whatever was about to fly my way-
good, bad or indifferent.

Fortunately for
me, I was hit by a little angel with wings. “You’re here!” Dolly announced to
the restaurant while hugging me fiercely. She was dressed up in a fairy
costume. She must have been excited about Halloween, which was just around the
corner, and couldn’t wait to show it off.

I swallowed hard.
My hand went to her upper back trying to avoid any damage to her delicate wings
while attempting to give her a genuine hug. Between the fragile wings and my
reluctance of being in her father’s bar at all, the hug came across a little
more tentative than I had intended. But given how much her mother despised me,
there was a good chance that the next body part to hit me was her mother’s fist
if Darcy found me anywhere near her daughter. So my hugging Dolly in any
capacity was a risk.

“Hi, Dolly,” I
said in the sweetest voice I could muster.

“Uncle Hugh said
you were coming,” she replied.

Just hearing his
name resuscitated every butterfly in my belly. I wasn’t sure how Hugh would
know that I would be showing up at Preacher’s. Maybe Ryan told him after Julia
made the reservation. Whatever.

“Oh?” I had to say
something. Sadly that was all that I could come up with.

She wrapped her dainty hand in mine
and held on tight. “Come see,” she pulled me with all of her might.

Come see? Come see
what?

“Do you like my
costume?” she asked on the way.

“Mmhm.” I was
hoping my strangled answer sounded genuine. “It’s perfect. But I would have
thought an angel would want to dress up as something else for Halloween.”

“Oh, this isn’t
for Halloween. I just like to wear it,” she educated. “All girls like to get
dressed up once in a while and this one makes me feel like a princess. I can’t
tell you what I’m going to be for Halloween. So don’t ask me,” she tried to be
authoritative, “cause it has to be a surprise.”

I nodded assuring
her I wouldn’t ask.

As we neared the
back room, every muscle in my body became rigid frightful of what she wanted to
show me. We rounded a corner, which brought us into the private party room. It
was full of people. “Oh, Dolly, hon.,” I pulled back slightly, “my friend Julia
and I are just here for dinner,” I tried to explain gently. Clearly she didn’t
know that there was a gathering already taking place in the party room. When my
head popped up from her blonde pigtails that swished this way and that from the
bounce that she put in her step, I focused on the crowd before me with an
apology for interrupting on my tongue. But when I looked more closely, all the
faces looked familiar to me. I whipped around to confront Julia who was ready
for me.

“Don’t start. Just
suck it up,” she interjected before I could utter a word. Julia brushed past me
and took a seat at the crowded table. She air kissed the girl to her left. I
recognized her. Her name was Holly Hoss. She threw up all over her desk in
fourth grade. An image I would never forget. Most of the other girls were our
high school cronies. There were a few faces I sort of recognized but didn’t
really know. I hadn’t seen any of these people in years. But that didn’t seem
to quell their excitement to see me.

“Delilah!”

“Hey, Girl!”

“Good to see you
back home!”

“Too long, Dee.”

Everyone was so
welcoming that it was difficult to comprehend. I was embarrassed to admit that,
for me, most of them had been out-of-sight out-of-mind. In my haste to leave
Virginia and start a new life I never gave any of these people a second
thought. But for them it was like I’d never left. I gave a tight smile and a
mass, uncomfortable ‘hello.’ My eyes traveled down the long table hoping I
would remember everyone’s names. When I got to the end I saw Darcy with a glass
of wine to her lips at an adjacent table. Her eyes, which were all I could see
with the big glass in front of her face, appeared guarded. Obviously she knew
the truth of what happened. Dolly must have told her. But she didn’t look any
more accepting of my presence than her usual. I swallowed hard because I was
uncomfortable and on her turf. Our last encounter was a nightmare. I watched
her slowly lower her glass as her eyes traveled over my shoulder. Her face
remained expressionless. Dolly trotted over to her mother’s side and when she
turned to lean into her, she smiled a huge smile and wiggled her fingers to
wave hello to someone behind me.

A deluge of fear
consumed me. I had a terrible feeling that I knew who was standing there. Even
though I was holding onto a tiny shred of hope that the person that had Darcy
and Dolly’s attention was Ryan. I knew in my heart it wasn’t. I could feel him.
And he wasn’t even standing that close.

He approached
silently and I knew this because I watched Dolly and Darcy’s eyes follow him.
Then I heard him swallow and I could tell he was right on top of me. I didn’t
turn to look. I just closed my eyes as the warmth of his body penetrated mine
from behind.

“Hey,” he
whispered as he wrapped his warm hands around my biceps. That one word slid
through my heart and soul. He pulled my back into his chest and brushed his
cheek against the side of my head. I could feel my hair tugging from the
strands that tangled in his five-o’clock shadow. “You ready to hear me out?” he
continued on a grumble.

I opened my eyes
and saw that little Dolly had lost her smile. She looked pensive. Maybe she was
worried that I would protest her uncle’s request. Then my eyes went to find
Julia. And she looked like she was trying to pay attention to the person
sitting next to her but couldn’t. I knew she was paying closer attention to
what was happening behind me than to whatever bullshit Tiffy was spewing. I
pressed my lips together and then ran my tongue over my front teeth because my
mouth had suddenly gone dry. Trying to sort through all of the mayhem that was
occurring in my head while simultaneously filtering out all of the banter at
the big table in front of me, I focused on the chest that was expanding and
contracting against my back. When I couldn’t find the words to respond to Hugh
quickly enough, he roped his arm around my stomach, grabbed my hip and turned
me around.

“I fucked up,” his
eyes danced on mine. “I should have known better.”

I stared at his
chest with great concentration. “Hugh. I…”

“Please look at
me,” he whispered. “I’m dying, Delilah. I’ve spent the last two weeks in hell
not understanding how you could do such a horrible thing to my niece. Then when
Dolly told us what actually happened I felt so much relief that I came straight
to see you. Maybe I don’t deserve to be forgiven. But there is no way in hell
that I’m not going to try.” When I didn’t respond Hugh got more insistent.
“Damn it, Delilah. Look. At. Me.”

Upon hearing his
demand my eyes left his chest. They slowly traveled to his beautiful face and
that was that. My heart made her decision before my mind had a chance to catch
up. Damn heart. Way too impetuous. As I studied his face I could see he was
genuinely sorry. But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. My heart just couldn’t
be trusted.

“Please,” the
words he whispered melted into my soul. “I’m begging you. Give me another
chance.” I could hear the honesty behind the words that he so carefully chose.
The tone of his voice was steady but demanding.

I nodded slightly
even though my face still held the pain of what I had been through.

He pressed his
lips to my temple and exhaled loudly outlining his relief. Then he pulled me in
for a tight embrace. “God, I love you,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m so sorry,
Delilah.”

I slowly wrapped
my arms around Hugh’s shoulders and heard the cheers of encouragement erupt
behind me as my toes left the ground momentarily so Hugh could hold me tighter.

I watched out of
the corner of my eye as Darcy quietly left the room with Dolly in tow. “I know
you’re sorry, Hugh,” I murmured as Dolly turned to get one last look at me
before she disappeared around the bend. I gave her a meek smile and noticed her
lips form a faint smile in return. “I’m sorry, too,” I murmured into his
shoulder as he expelled a warm sigh of relief against the skin on my neck. “But
things just don’t always turn out the way we want them to.”

Hugh’s entire body
stilled. I guess he thought my apology in return was referring to the
misunderstanding that had occurred between us. “What are you talking about,
Delilah?” His voice sounded different. It wasn’t soft or endearing like it had
been only seconds before.

“You know. It’ll be
hard. I’ll be here and you’ll be back in New York,” I clarified. “The odds are
stacked against us.”

“Well that
would be
hard but that’s not what’s
going to happen,” he educated.

“What do you
mean?” I asked pushing off of his chest.

Hugh tucked his
chin so he could see my face. “We had this conversation already. You’re staying
in New York…with me. I found an apartment. I moved in last week.”

“Hugh, I don’t
have a job in New York. I accepted the job here, remember?” I reminded him.

“Well, tell them
you changed your mind,” he insisted.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? You were
willing to do it up until Darcy showed up in your bedroom.” Hugh was getting
confrontational and though I understood the basis of his argument, he was
forgetting the role he played in the whole drama. Had he stood by me, believed
in me, I would have made calls that Monday morning explaining that things had
changed. But that wasn’t what happened. That Monday, having nothing left for me
in New York, I essentially solidified my plans to move.

“That was before,”
I stated trying to avoid the actual accusation.

“Before what?” he
pressed.

“Look,” I evaded
further shaking my head. “I’ll look like an even larger nut case than I do
normally. Norstride is under the impression that I asked to be transferred.
They don’t know Stacey, my evil partner, orchestrated the entire fiasco. Not to
mention they are my biggest client. I’ll never get a recommendation from them
if I don’t take the job that they think I wanted in the first place. Nowadays
it’s hard enough to find a job in New York City with good credentials. No
matter what PR firm I approach they want to see a list of clients. I’ll have
nothing to show them,” I bolstered my reasoning. “I’m here now. I have no
choice but to stay at least a couple of years.” As the realization sunk in my
expression became pained and Hugh’s became more resentful.

“That’s not why
you won’t do it. You and I both know the real reason,” he stated heatedly.

I wasn’t sure
where he was trying to lead the conversation but I knew one thing for certain.
It was fruitless. I didn’t say anything in response to the trap he just laid
before me. No matter how I responded I would lose. I could tell that he was
angry with himself over the choices he had made. But what was done was done and
there was no going back.