Elsie:He’s an adult man. He needs to take responsibility for his life-altering decisions.
Elsie:You stick your dick in crazy, expect her to tamper with the condom and tie you to her for the next eighteen years.
Ivy:Camilla’s going to ruin our business.
Sophie:Don’t pay her any mind. She's basically a possum hissing at you for walking past her trash. Best way to handle it is to keep walking and leave her with her pile of precious garbage.
Amy:Let’s go. The rehearsal dinner is set up. We can grab drinks and you can complain about Evan.
I sniffed. I had great friends. I washed my hands then tried to push the door open, but the latch was stuck. It only opened a crack. I heaved my weight against it.
Crash!
Clank!
CLANG!
I looked through the open doorway in horror. All of the rehearsal party guests were dead silent as they surveyed the carnage.
The cake, all of the gift bags, and the table with the bottles of custom-labeled champagne were fizzing together in a sugary slurry on the floor. The karaoke machine that Teddy and his friends had set up was slowly drowning in the liquid. A cord lay across the floor. I looked wildly from it to the electrical outlet next to the bathroom door. The outlet had been partially ripped out of the wall. Those stupid men must have strung the chord in front of the bathroom door!
The cork blew off one of the champagne bottles on the floor. It spun around, spraying me with the sweet alcohol. The lights flickered then went out as a fuse blew. That was when Imogen began screaming.
“You ruined my wedding! You ruined it!” she shrieked, stomping through the soggy cake. “This is a disaster. Get out! You’re fired.”
She picked up a soaking gift bag and threw it at me. “All of you are fired! Fired! Don’t show up for my wedding tomorrow! And forget about being paid.”
I looked to Evan, but his mouth was a thin, hard line.
But it wasn’t my fault!I wanted to protest. But that was not what a wedding planner did. As a wedding planner, it was always your fault.
Amy grabbed my arm and hauled me outside. Grace followed with her camera equipment.
“Oh no,” Sophie said, using a tissue to blot up some of the champagne. “Let’s go grab a drink.”
I shook my head. “I just want to go home. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
I smelled like a bar as I slopped to my little condo.
“There’s lasagna in the fridge,” I told myself. “We’ll eat it and celebrate that we don’t have to deal with Imogen or Evan ever again.”
But when I stomped up the stairs to my condo, a blond-haired, grey-eyed man in an expensive custom suit was standing in front of the door.
“Ivy Williams,” he said. “My name is Carl Svensson. Svensson Investment now owns this building, and I am here to evict you from this condo.”
49
Evan
Imogen threw a tantrum after Ivy and her friends left. While trying to block out the sounds of her wailing, I fought a nasty battle with myself over my feelings toward Ivy. A part of me felt terrible for being so harsh to Ivy. I just wanted to go comfort her, make her laugh, take her somewhere nice.
She cheated on you.
And that was the thing, wasn’t it? I could not, would not, forgive cheating. Ever.
“I’m glad the trash is finally out,” Camilla said to me, rubbing her stomach slightly.
I wanted to throw up.
