She took a deep breath and he thought he saw her counting in her head again. Then she turned to look at him, her face a picture of cold fury.
“I did listen to you, Nick, and that’s the problem. I listened to you when you told me you were a big deal photographer who was doing me a huge favor by helping me. I listened to you when you told me you loved taking photos of me. I listened to you—Itrusted you—when you told me you were single and successful and so happy to take whatever I had to offer you, and it was all bullshit. So forgive me if I don’t want to hear more of your bullshit now.”
“It wasn’t bullshit!” he cried. “Yes, I let you all believe that my career was going better than it really was, but I wasn’t trying to screw over you or anyone else. I was just scared that I wasn’t far along enough in my life, that I didn’t have it all together like Marcus and Heather and everyone else we know. Don’t tell me you don’t know what that feels like.”
Her eyes filled with tears, then narrowed in anger. “Of course I know what that feels like.Youmade me feel that way. And then you made me feel like Iwasenough, but that was a lie, too.”
His stomach dropped, but before he could say anything else, she pushed past him and stalked down the hall towards the kitchen. He followed her, unwilling to let her out of his sight before he could apologize, explain.
“Carly, please, just stop. I need you to listen to me, because I’m trying to tell you that I’m sorry and I’m fucking falling in love with you!” He caught up to her at the kitchen doorway and grabbed her forearm to keep her from walking out the back door. He tugged on her arm and she whirled around to face him. Her eyes were sparkling with tears again, and she looked more furious than he’d ever imagined her.
“I swear to God, Nick, I don’t want to hear your bullshit apologies. I don’t want your pity job. And I sure as shit don’t want to hear that you’re falling for me. You lied to me. Over and over. And Alice is standing out there and she’s about to hand me a microphone, so unless you want me to light your ass up in front of all those people, I suggest you let mego!” She yanked her arm out of his grasp, probably expecting him to hold on to her, but he let her slip through his fingers, and as she pulled her arm back from him, her purse flew out of her hand.
They both watched in horror as it sailed across the room towards the countertop and whacked into the second tier of the cake.
“Fuck,” they gasped in unison, and they both lurched towards the cake as the middle tier collapsed. But neither of them got there in time to stop the top tier from toppling over and splattering onto the floor.
“Oh my God,” Carly squeaked, jumping back to avoid getting icing and cake all over her feet. She stared at the demolished cake, which was now nothing but a pile of white rubble lying on top of the bottom tier. “Oh my God, oh no, no,shit.”
She looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open in mortification, and before he could move, she stooped and picked up her purse, and then turned around and ran down the hallway. A second later he heard the front door slam.
Carly ran down the garden path and out onto the street, barely registering the hot, hard pavement under her bare feet. She ran to the end of the block, adrenaline racing through her body and making her legs move faster than she’d known they could.
She’d fucked everything up. Everything. She’d fucked up by fooling around with Nick. She’d wasted her chance to get promoted. She’d lost her job. She’d destroyed Heather’s wedding day.Classic fucking Carly.
She ran until she reached the front door of her rental, not caring how strange she must have looked running barefoot down the street in a gown and in tears at four in the afternoon. She fumbled with the keys and let herself inside and sprinted up the stairs, hearing nothing but her own wet, gulping breaths.
Once inside, she stood panting and shaking and stared unseeing at the beach house decor around her.
She had to leave. She had to get out of here. Out of this apartment, out of this city, out of this country. She had to go home. Now.
But she still had another three days left in Sydney before her flight, and a last-minute flight change would cost money she just didn’t have. She stared around again, thinking hard. When her breath had settled enough to speak, she dug into her purse for her phone and dialed. She only had to wait two rings before the call went through.
“Hi, Dad, it’s me. I, um, I need your help.”
Chapter 24
When Nick woke up the morning after the wedding, he allowed himself a brief, delusional moment of hope that when he rolled over, he’d find Carly asleep beside him. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn’t help himself. After a few seconds, he turned over under the sheet and saw exactly what he’d known he would find: an empty, Carly-less bed.
He laid on his back and let out a deep sigh, letting his memories of the night before wash over him. After Carly had vanished from the house, he’d gone outside and grabbed Alice and Davo as discreetly as he could. Alice had been horrified by the damage Carly’s purse had done to her brother’s magnificent cake creation. Davo said nothing, which was standard for him.
“Davo, how much have you had to drink? Can you drive?” Alice had asked in a decisive tone, once she’d recovered herself.
“Uh, yeah, but—”
“Good. Get your keys, and go up the street to the bakery. Buy the biggest pavlova they have. Bring it back here,carefully, and we’ll put it on top of the bottom layer. We can clean the cake topper off and put it back on top.”
“I don’t know if that’ll work,” he replied, looking at the messy remnants of the cake.
“It’s either that or get them both so drunk they don’t notice their wedding cake looks like a car crash,” she said. “Go. Nick and I will stall the speeches and the cake cutting until you get back.”
Davo gave her a skeptical shrug, but he dug his keys out of his pocket and headed for the front door.
Once he was gone, Alice turned to Nick. “What the hell happened?”
“Carly and I were arguing, and she threw her purse.”
“At you?”
