“Let’s go back to the villa, where you can tell me all about it.” She nods and follows my lead.
She leans on me as we walk the shoveled sidewalks, with marshmallow snow piled on either side. Caroline tells me all about meeting Gregory in college. “He gave me his seat on the shuttle,” she begins tearfully.
Several hours later and she’s still telling me about her ex. “We dated for six years, six years. But he never proposed.” We are hanging out in the third-story bedroom of the bachelorette cabin. We’ve loaded our bed with snacks piled in between us since we missed dinner. Caroline shares all her feelings about Gregory, how stupid he is, and how wonderful and, oh so, treacherous. Downstairs, the others have returned. Strains of karaoke float up through the rafters, but I promised Caroline I wouldn’t leave her, and that’s what I intend to do. Sometime around ten, when she takes a bathroom break, I text Liam.
Lettie
Trying to cheer up a very sad Caroline. Won’t see you until tomorrow.??
I hate to put off seeing him, but a cowardly part of me also wants to delay our reunion because of this whole book debacle. I feel like the moment he sees me, my guilt will be all over my face, and he’ll know.
Returning from the bathroom, Caroline jumps right back to her story. “I broke up with him right after Thanksgiving last year.” Oh, so she was single at the Pemberley Holiday Party. No wonder she was dangling after Liam. “But then he surprised me on New Year’s Day and proposed. I was so happy and thought finally I would finally get my happy ending.” This also tracks and explains why she was so nice to me at the gala.
Caroline continues regaling me with all the ins and outs of planning a wedding with a family that clearly disapproved of her, only to have it end the week of the wedding.
“I wasted so much of my life on him,” she sobs.
“But you’re still young.”
“I don’t feel young, this year has aged me a decade.” I nod along until Caroline’s anger and tears peter out. “You’re a good listener,” she says.
“I have two sisters.”
“Do you? Where do they live?”
“Iowa. That’s where I’m from.”
“Oh... did you grow up on a farm? That would explain why you and Liam get along so well.”
“Nope, no farm. We didn’t even have chickens.”
“Oh... ” She sounds disappointed and very sloshed. “Too bad. I like chickens.” She lays back down on her pillow and falls asleep—finally. It’s almost midnight. I check to see if Liam answered my text. He did.
Liam
No worries. Poor Caroline
Wedding must be tough for her. Thanks for being sweet to her
I’m beat. Going to crash
See you tomorrow??
I scroll back up to the picture he sent me this morning. I really hope I didn’t ruin things for us by writing that stupid, stupid book.
There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.—Pride & Prejudice
22
I wake long before sunrise on Saturday. Charlie informed me last night that one of my best man duties was to drive him early this morning for photos. When I asked why I needed to drive, he said something vague about Jane not wanting to ride with him since we were driving to Yosemite Valley for “first look” photos. But that they would drive back together. Charlie had to explain the term “first look” to me. I’m admittedly not well-versed in wedding traditions. Bingham’s the first of my friends to get married. Apparently, these photos will be Charlie’s first chance to see Jane in her wedding dress, and they want a scenic background for the pictures.
As we pull into the valley, the sky has lightened to a frosted silver, revealing a world of granite gray, pine green, and snowy white. Yesterday’s storm covers the trees with several inches of powder. Fortunately, the road ahead of us has been plowed and is clear.
“Look at all the snow!” Charlie exclaims for about the fifth time. “Jane’s going to be out of her mind.”
“Who’s driving Jane?” I ask. And yes, I’m hoping it will be Lettie.
“Caroline,” he says.
