Cecily
You married Dom.You married Dom. You married Dom.
The refrain is all I think, all I hear, while I get ready for brunch. At this point I can't tell if it's the alcohol making me sick (it certainly is) or my new status asmarried(also possible).
The long, warm shower I took revived me, but only barely. I haven't thrown up again, so I'll take that as a win. I dress in loose-fitting boyfriend jeans and a square neck tank top that is, blessedly, not tight. My hands deftly work my hair into a fishtail braid. It is all I can manage, and given how poisoned my insides feel, I am proud to have managed to wear deodorant and brush my teeth.
My phone charges on the nightstand, but it may as well be a bomb with the amount of hesitation with which I regard it. I've put it off long enough. It's time to read my family's response to my irresponsible and impetuous behavior.
Duke: Are you kidding, Cecily?
Duke: I'm really asking if this is a joke. A bad one, but a joke nonetheless.
Kerrigan: I have a lot to say about this, starting with, Paisley better not have been your maid of honor because that's my job.
Grandma: Well, well, well. The middle child hits a homer.
Nothing from my parents.Nothing.
It makes me sad. And angry. Why would I expect anything different from them?
I thread turquoise studs through my earlobes and dab my smoky vanilla perfume behind my ears. It makes me think about what Dom said on our date, how he had a vanilla upbringing.
Lucky guy. If my family had a flavor, it would be that putrid durian fruit, the one that's visually appealing but stinks like rotting garbage.
It's a good thing I have Paisley and Paloma. Klein, too.
Slipping my phone into my purse, I push the unanswered messages from my siblings and my grandma from my mind. Undoubtedly, Kerrigan will spam my messages in our private conversation, demanding to know what is going on. I don't have the energy for her right now.
If I could choose how I spend the rest of today, it would include pajamas, movies from the '80s, and room service. But then I would be missing Klein and Paisley's special weekend. And what if Dom thinks I'm so upset that I'm in hiding? That's the last thing I want.
I will spend today parading around him with my head held high. I'm going to show that obnoxious, annoyingly tall and handsome man that he hasn't shaken me. Come Monday, we will take an eraser to this mistake, and it will be like it never happened.
CHAPTER 9
Dominic
Not only doI craft backstories for people in my mind, but I know the ending of every book, every story, every movie I see. Sometimes the plot surprises me, but never the ending.
Until now.
The story where I go to Vegas for my cousin's bachelor party? I did not see it ending inI married the girl who abandoned me on a date and wishes me dead without me knowing why.
At long last, I'm surprised by an ending.
Great.
Klein, that bonehead, finds this allhilarious. Maybe he feels some vindication for how much grief I gave him for fake dating Paisley before they fell in love. Not that I truly tormented him, but there was no way I was going to let that opportunity get away.
Judging from the text he just sent, Klein is enjoying this far too much.
Klein: This is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Klein: I'm really mad I didn't get to be your best man.
Dom: This topic has an expiration date.
Klein: Set by me.
