Nothing had changed. Nothing was different. I was drowning in the same emptiness and sorrow that had me standing on a balcony in New York City, staring down at the sidewalk. The future looked bleak and apocalyptic.
The next step is not seeing a future at all.
“Let’s go back to the hotel and eat and take a really nice nap, huh? Sound good?” Sriracha barked deep and low, and I nodded to myself as I twisted to back out of my spot. They weren’t even full grown, yet, and I had nothing but pride in my dogs. They were greatly trained, big, and bad, and I could bring them anywhere because I’d registered them as therapy dogs.
The hotel was just down the road, a smaller place without a big name attached to it, but very nice and worth the money of a big name. Their parking lot wasn’t full to the brim, and that’s what mattered to me when I arrived here. Pulling up to the valet, I jerked the gear and popped open the door, and my dogs jumped out the back.
I’d been here long enough that the kid that parked my car didn’t jump anymore at the sight of them, and I skirted by him to head into the hotel. The lobby was in a tizzy, and I swiped back my hair as my water shoes slapped against the hardwood.
“What’s going on?” Wandering over to the receptionist desk, I leaned on my elbow as nicely dressed people headed out in packs of three or four. “Does it have anything to do with that wedding that tried get me thrown off the beach?”
“Oh-h, yeah. I’d never, ever have a destination wedding. They all come here and act like jerks. The bride seems miserable, and her mom just took over everything.” The receptionist lady leaned in, and I frowned at the conspiratorial gleam in her eye. “Her dress isugly,too, and I think she knows it. They’re about to leave, so if you stick around, you can watch the mayhem.”
“Ah.” I was tired, but when I glanced over at the elevator, people wereblockingit. There was no way I was going to get my ass up the stairs, either. “There’s not much point in trying to get upstairs, I guess.”
On the beach, there’d been no signs of a wedding being set up, so I could only assume that woman didn’t want anyone wandering in out of nowhere. I hadn’t paid attention on the drive back, and I tapped my cheek absently in impatience. Standing in half a wet suit, I stood out like a sore thumb and got more than a few glances. Some people were taking pictures, and I hoped I ruined them because they ruined my afternoon.
Let’s face it, my life was ruined the day Lucy got in that Lyft and . . .
The elevatorpinged shrilly, and the bodies crowded even tighter as the doors slid open. Just in that moment, that woman from the beach rushed into the hotel, panting slightly, and I tapped my foot as eagerness crept up my spine. My back hurt, I was covered in salt, and I hadn’t eaten lunch.
“Get going already.” Sriracha perked up out of the corner of my eye, and I glanced down through narrowed pupils as he started sniffing the air. “Hey, sit. You too, Ketchup, sit.”
A dog came slithering out from between legs in a top-hat and a bow, and Sriracha almost stood up as he growled lowly. Hehatedother dogs, got super territorial and made dog parks barren in seconds, and I reached down to grab his scruff. Surprise shocked my chest when the brown lab started crawling over on his belly, head low and eyes big. Ketchup met him, sniffing around him, biting his top hat, and I almost opened my mouth before awretchedshriek echoed around the lobby.
“Everyone justget away before I suffocate!” There was so much sorrow in that hoarse scream, and I looked over as the secretary behind me harrumphed softly. “God, this can’t be thehappiest dayof my life if I’m dead.”
People laughed, but time stopped for me as the thick waves ofunhappiness and stress and mocking, disgusted sarcasm hit me square in the face. My jaw hit the floor, and Sriracha took advantage of my slack to bull rush into the crowd. He even knocked someone over, and the bodies parted as squeaks lifted high into the air.
“Lucy.” Her name was a bare whisper on my tongue, and those haunting, blue eyes, like the ocean outside, met mine to widen. The blood drained from my face as disbelief aired my skull, and my heart squeezed to the point that it’d explode. Clutching my chest as flames engulfed my lungs, I wheezed painfully, and my pupils blew to zoom out of her face.
The white dress Lucy wore was more fitting for a church wedding than a beach wedding, and itdid notflatter her at all. She was even wearing heels, and everyone knew that was a horrible idea in the sand. Her hair had been pinned up in a way that didn’t fit her face, and her makeup was something that should be painted on someone else with a thinner jaw and cheeks.
“What the fuck?”Whoin the fuck picked out that dress? Who directed her hair and makeup? Who in their right mind put her in heels? “What the fuck!”
I couldn’t hear my own voice even as it boomed across the lobby, and I breathed fire asrageseared my veins. Storming over to her as Sriracha sat at her feet, a verifiable apoplexy blanketed my mind, and I shoved a faceless person out of the way that tried to get in my way.
“What the fuck? What the fuck?“ I couldn’t bear it, to see Lucy like this, and I grabbed her ugly-ass, puffy sleeves in trembling, white-knuckle fists to tear them down her arms. The sound rattled my teeth, but my eyes never left hers as tears spilled down her cheeks. Her lips turned white as everyone around us stared in shocked silence, and I yanked up the admittedly pretty lace that decorated the outside of the dress. But the rest was all tulle and mesh to give the skirt body, and ithad to fucking go.
All the while, I grumbled my disbelief as my hands grabbed and ripped and tore with just enough mind to keep something covering Lucy. In that dress, no one could see her curves— she looked like she was a box, or a bunch of pool noodles taped together because of the bodice. So, I ripped that off, too.
Now, at least, Lucy looked better- granted, she looked like she’d been shipwrecked and washed ashore and all mangled, but . . .
“Better.” She’s having a fucking beach wedding, for Christ’s sake! This was perfectly acceptable! Cupping her cheeks to gingerly wipe away her tears, her makeup went with it because whoever did it didn’t use resistant stuff. Which was amateurish at best. “Much better.”
14
Lucy
“You didn’t break up with Seth.” Mateo’s hoarse whisper caressed my ears so beautifully, and my eyelids fluttered closed to savor the sound that haunted my dreams. “Ah, don’t cry. Your makeup is cheap and can’t handle it.”
My mouth opened but nothing came out, and I could only turn my face into Mateo’s touch to soak up his warmth. Deep silence stretched around me, but that only made our moment better as I reached to cover his palms with mine. The smell of the ocean and his breath wafted up my nose, and I sniffled hard when it threatened to clog.
“Oh, myGod! You just ruined a thirteen thousand-dollar dress!” The quiet, peaceful few seconds shattered as my would-be stepmom’s horrified shriek, and I tensed as the world around me devolved into chaos. It all swirled around me, like I was in the eye of a hurricane, and I was calm and safe, and Mateo held me against his chest with a hand in my hair and his arm around my waist.
“It was an ugly ass dress, and she was ugly in it.” Seth’s mother raged, and I cracked open my eyes to watch her try to rush at Mateo only to be halted in her tracks by a thunderous, vicious snarl. The pure black pit at my feet stood up and bristled, and suddenly, everyone took a few steps back. Meredith was red, panting, nostrils flared and lips twisting ugly, and my mom seemed to catch her fury at Mateo’s nonchalant reply. “Plus, if it cost thirteen thousand dollars, someone ripped you off. That wasn’t even good material.”
Mateo was warm, tanned, he had a little bit more muscle and was a little bit more solid. His heartbeat furiously against my cheek, and I wanted to melt as all the pent-up emotions over the past nine months just disappeared, as if they’d never been. Clearly, Mateo’s utter disregard for what he’d just done was as maddening as it was stupefying, and an awkward, tense silence settled on my shoulders.
