“Leelee, I know you’re upset, but this isn’t supposed to—”
“I think you should probably go,” Eli said before Scotty could get the rest out.
“Who are you?” Scotty asked, his forehead scrunching. “Exactly?”
Eli stalked toward him, spatula at the ready. “I’m the caterer. We met when you picked out hand salads and carrot tarts.”
Marlee could tell the instant Scotty remembered. He’d been a bit of a pill the day they’d picked out the hors d'oeuvres. Marlee had insisted he come along, take some part in the wedding planning. He hadn’t wanted to. She’d assumed he just preferred his time on the golf course, but she was now pretty sure it was because he had known the wedding wouldn’t happen.
“And you’re here because…?” Scotty asked, drawing out the last word.
“Because I invited him.” Marlee stepped forward. “And you’re being rude, so you should go.” Her words came out breathier than she wanted them to.
Lothario let out a bark.
“This isn’t how I wanted us to be.” Scotty backed up, palms toward Marlee. “I’ll just grab my suitcase and get out of here.”
His suitcase. His suitcase for their honeymoon. Their honeymoon to start their marriage. Their marriage that would have existed because he’d proposed. He’d proposed because he loved her more. She didn’t move, only vaguely aware that her friends were all there, Scotty was there, and Lothario was barking his little head off.
His alert bark. It took only a moment for her to realize she had been holding her breath. No, not holding it. Her chest had gone tight. A vise around her lungs and throat. She wasn’t pulling air like she should. Her exhale sounded like her esophagus had sprung a leak.
Dammit.
She tried harder to pull a breath.
“Marlee?” Sadie shook her. “Where’s your inhaler?”
Lothario was going bananas.
She pushed against her chest.
“The cabinet with the plates,” she tried to say.
The closest inhaler was in the cabinet. She struggled to say it again, but Scotty grabbed the red tube and held it to Marlee’s lips like he’d done a thousand times before. She inhaled at the exact moment he pressed the cannister, an orchestrated dance she’d have to start doing on her own. She grabbed the container from him, gripping it tight in her palm. “I’ve got it.”
Scotty let go, and for the first time since he’d broken it off, Marlee realized that once upon a time she’d loved him. And he’d always said he loved her more. And there was a time when it wasn’t on autopilot. He’d said it and they’d both believed it.
“Why did you say I was the best thing that ever happened to you?” And now she was crying again. Tears trailed down her cheeks.
He didn’t answer. Only shook his head.
This was the last time, the very last time, she’d ever cry over him. He didn’t deserve her tears. She wiped them away with the back of her hand.
“Sadie, you’ll watch her? Make sure it doesn’t happen again? She’ll probably need another puff in a minute and then her steroid treatment tonight.” Scotty’s voice was rougher than usual.
Scotty didn’t need to brief them. Marlee could manage this on her own.
“We’ve got this,” Eli replied. Sometime in the middle of everything, he’d picked up Lothario and held him in his grip.
“Then I’ll just…” Scotty shook his head and moved to the office, closing the door behind him.
“So… Vegas?” Sadie linked her arm tighter with Marlee’s.
Marlee nodded.
Yes, Vegas was sounding better and better.
Chapter Four
