Do I have a favorite book?
Sure do. The tale of Paisley Royce.
And I’ll be damned if it doesn’t end in a happily ever after.
Paisley is waitingup for me. Cross-legged in the center of the bed, wearing a gray jersey T-shirt of mine. Her face, free of the makeup she wore to the rehearsal dinner, is dewy with her nighttime moisturizer.
My hands ache to touch her, to lean her back on the pillows and kiss the hollow of her throat. The look on her face tells me to press pause on my desires.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, toeing off my shoes and kicking them beside the door.
Paisley sniffs. “If you want to try kiteboarding again, tomorrow would be a good day. Turns out I’m available.”
I settle on the bed, one leg bent and the other extended to the ground below. “Something happened with Sienna after I left?”
“You could say that.” Paisley exhales a terse breath of disbelief. “She kicked me out of her wedding party.”
My head rears back. “She… What?”
Paisley, hands folded in her lap, begins to rub at the top of one hand with the opposite thumb. “That was almost my exact same reaction.”
I reach for her hands, gently squeezing to let her know I’m here for her. She didn’t want to be a part of this wedding in the first place, but she gathered up her courage, and she made it here, only to be kicked out?
“What happened?” I ask cautiously.
“Sienna thinks I still have feelings for Shane.” She rolls her eyes. I roll mine too, but internally.
“I’m going to be honest, I thought we did a damn fine job selling our relationship this week.”
“Sienna saw your account. She knows our relationship is fake.” Paisley’s eyes meet mine, flustered by the admittance. “Or was, anyway. Whatever. I don’t know.”
“Was,” I confirm.
Her smile is small, but it’s there. It’s also grateful, and relieved.
“How do you feel about what Sienna did?”
Her cheeks fill with air, like a puffer fish, and she lets it out in one noisy breath. “I felt angry at first. Indignant. Like,how dare you? Do you know what I went through to get here? And then that feeling subsided, and I felt sad.”
“Because you’re going to miss your sister’s wedding?” Will she? Does getting kicked out of the bridal party mean you’re also barred from the wedding? I haven’t a clue, and this doesn’t feel like the right time to ask. Right now is for listening.
Paisley shakes her head. “Maybe to a certain degree, but not really. It’s more that I can’t believe how quickly my family is to cast someone out when they don’t do exactly as they’re told. And then I started to think about it, and I realized it’s only me they do that to. I’m the one my dad expected to follow in his footsteps and attend his alma mater, I’m the one he wanted to take over his firm. Sienna expected me to do as she said, no questions asked.” Paisley blinks twice, staring down at the comforter until she lifts her gaze and meets my eyes. “Why? Why me? My dad did this super awful thing by cheating on my mom, and then asking me to hide the truth from her. And it’s not like he begged me to do it. Heinstructedme. He assumed that once he spoke, I would follow. Like a commandment.”
I’ve been where Paisley is now, staring into the reality of loved ones’ shortcomings. Nobody is perfect, but when someone’s flaws cause you harm, it hurts a little extra when you love them.
“Paisley, I don’t know your family well enough to form concrete thoughts about this, but here’s my two cents: some people are inherent manipulators, and sometimes the intention is not malicious, but habitual.” She nods, and I take that as my permission to continue. “Also, there are some people who cannot see their own shortcomings. Some people call them narcissists, some people might saythey have narcissistic tendencies, or, they can simply be called selfish.”
Paisley looks at me in wonder. “How do you know all this?”
“Research for my book. It ended up helping me a lot, also.”
She smiles in a not-happy way. “It looks like I’m a benefactor of your knowledge.”
“Remember when we were in the car driving to the coast after we landed? I told you I would put you on my back and swim you off this island. The offer stands.”
She rises, uncrossing her legs and placing her weight on her knees. Her arms pretzel around my neck and she pulls me close. Nestling my nose into the dip of space at the bottom of her throat, I breathe in deeply.
“You smell divine.”
