Chapter 3
THREE
veronica
After snatching my purse from the bride’s room, I bolted out the chapel’s front doors and down the steps. Plucking my veil from the back of my head, I tossed it in the air. It sailed up and caught the breeze, and I didn’t even stop to look where it landed.
Pausing for a moment on the sidewalk, I looked right and left, intoxicated by the idea that not only could I go either way, but I could decide the direction.
Gleefully, I closed my eyes and spun in a few circles, and when I opened them, I was facing in the direction of Main Street.
I took off walking with a spring in my step, saying hello with a nod and a smile to every curious onlooker I passed. I realized I probably looked insane, traipsing down the street in a big poofy wedding dress, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
Pulling my phone from my bag, I tried calling Morgan, but she didn’t pick up. I left a cryptic message . . . “Hey, call me when you can. I have news.”
When I reached Main Street, the smell of chocolate made my stomach growl. Neil had told me the town was famous for its fudge, but I’d been here for over twenty-four hours, and I hadn’t even tasted it yet—something I planned to remedy immediately. But first, some real food.
For the first time in months, I actually had an appetite.
On the corner of Church and Main was an adorable fifties-style diner called Moe’s, and the sign in the window said OPEN! COME IN FOR THE BEST BURGER IN TOWN! Ravenous for a thick, juicy cheeseburger, I opened the door and stepped inside.
I looked around, taking in the black-and-white checkered floor, the red vinyl booths, the signed movie star photos on the wall, and the jukebox in the corner. Above the din of clinking silverware and human voices, I heard the plaintive strains of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
And then, slowly but surely . . . every conversation stopped. Forks, French fries, and milkshakes paused halfway to open mouths. Necks craned and heads tilted as people strove to get a better view of me. Only Patsy kept calm and carried on.
Gathering my voluminous dress in my hands, I squeezed past tables and chairs, excusing myself when I needed more room.
All eyes followed me as I made my way to the old-fashioned counter, where there was one empty stool.
I perched on it and smiled at the young guy behind the counter.
He wore a white apron and paper cap, and his name tag said Steve.
“Hey, Steve,” I said, trying to arrange my dress so it didn’t take up too much room on either side of me.
“Hey.” Steve looked behind me, possibly for the groom. “Just one?”
“Just one. Can I get a burger and a milkshake, please?”
“Uh. Sure.” Steve and the other employee behind the counter, a young woman wearing a pink uniform and holding a coffee pot, exchanged a look. “What flavor milkshake?”
“Mmm, chocolate. And medium rare for the burger. Can I get fries too?”
“Yeah.” Steve didn’t move for another few seconds, then pulled a green pad from his pocket and wrote down my order. “It’ll just be a few minutes.”
“No rush. I don’t have anywhere to be, contrary to what it looks like.”
“So you’re not, like, getting married or something?” The waitress—Ari, her name tag said—looked over my hair and face and gown.
“No. I mean, I was supposed to, but it didn’t really go as planned.”
Ari took a step closer, either forgetting about the coffee she’d been about to pour or not caring. “Today?”
Never one to shy away from a conversation, even with strangers, I nodded. “Right this minute, in fact.”
“You don’t say.” The old guy in suspenders and a ball cap to my right, elbowed the old guy in suspenders and a ball cap to his right. “You hear that, Gus? She’s supposed to be getting married right now.”
“I heard it, Larry.” Gus leaned forward to peer at me from Larry’s other side.
“Were you jilted?” asked Larry.
“Oh, no.” I poked a thumb on my chest twice. “I did the jilting.”
“Really?” asked the woman to my left. She had silvery red ringlets escaping from a bun on the top of her head and wore long, dangly earrings. “Why?”
“Because he was cheating on me.”
My audience gasped.
“And I just found out about it right before the ceremony started.”
My audience gasped louder.
“How?” Ari’s eyes were wide.
“He accidentally sent me a text message he meant to send to the other woman, referencing certain . . .” I glanced at the two old guys on my right. I didn’t want to shock Gus and Larry’s elderly sensibilities. “Salacious activities they were engaged in last night.”
“Men,” harrumphed Ari. She gave Steve the side eye as he set a milkshake down in front of me.
“It’s not because he’s a man, it’s because he’s used to doing whatever he wants and getting away with it,” I explained. “He’s rich and handsome. Born with a silver spoon and all that.”
“Oh, honey. You can’t fall for those guys.” The lady with the dangly earrings patted the leg of a burly man with a bald head next to her. “You gotta stick with guys like my Bubba here. Good men, maybe a six or seven or even an eight out of ten, but definitely not a nine or above.”
“Thanks, Willene,” Bubba said, then paused. “I think.”
“Those nines and tens don’t have to work for anything,” Willene went on. “You want the kind of guy who works hard for everything he’s got. That way it means more when they treat you. And they know how to treat you.” She leaned over and kissed Bubba’s cheek.
“Believe me, I see my mistake now,” I said after a long suck on the straw of my shake. “My god, this is delicious. I haven’t enjoyed food in months.”
“Why not?” Bubba looked horrified.
“I was afraid my dress wouldn’t fit,” I said. “I kept having this nightmare that it was my wedding day, and I’d go to get dressed, but my gown wouldn’t fit. I just couldn’t get it on, no matter what I did.”
“It was a sign.” Willene rapped the counter with her knuckles. “The universe is always sending signs.”
“I should have seen this one sooner, I was just . . .” For a second, my mom’s face popped into my mind. “I was confused.”
“I dated a ten once,” said the irascible Larry, as if he were still mad about it. “And that’s how I felt all the time. Confused. All she had to do was smile at me, and I couldn’t even think. I was bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, as the song goes.”
I smiled at him sympathetically. “I hear you. I haven’t done much good thinking over the last year myself. And now the problem is, everything I have, he gave me. My apartment, my car, my credit cards, my job. Even my phone. I don’t have a thing to my name.”
“Maybe he’ll be generous,” said Ari. “Since he was the one who cheated and all.”
I took another long drink of my shake. “I doubt it, not since I dumped him at the altar with everyone watching.”
“You went all the way to the altar?” Steve cocked his head. “Even after you knew?”
“I didn’t want to, but Neil—that’s his name—wasn’t taking no for an answer. I told him ten times I wasn’t going to marry him, but he just kept telling me I was being silly and insisting that I do as I was told.”
“So how’d you finally convince him?” Gus asked.
“I kicked him in the face—but not until he insulted me in front of everyone.”
“You kicked him in the face?” Ari was impressed. “How’d you get your leg up that high?”
“I used to be a Rockette,” I said, sitting up a little taller.
“Wow, a Rockette.” Gus was impressed. “I’ve seen the Christmas Spectacular three times. It’s my favorite play. You girls are fantastic.”
I laughed. “Thank you.”
“So what will you do now?” asked Ari.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I guess I need to make a fresh start.”
“Here in Cherry Tree Harbor?” Gus seemed kind of excited about that, like maybe more Rockettes would follow.
“If I could find a job.” I glanced out the window. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”
“Where’s your family?” Willene asked.
“I don’t have any.”
“Could you get your old job back?” Gus wondered.
“I think so. But I missed auditions, so not this season.”
“So you need more of a temporary gig,” Ari said, one finger tapping her lips. “Hmm.”
“Is there a dance studio around?” I wondered. “Maybe I could teach lessons.”
“There used to be Miss Edna’s, just outside town,” said Gus, “but she closed up shop and moved to Florida. I once took salsa dancing there. I wasn’t much good at it, or so the wife said.”
“Hey, you know what?” Ari hurried over to a bulletin board by the entrance and pulled off a sheet of paper. Returning to the counter, she placed it in front of me. “My best friend Mabel was in here yesterday, and she put this up.”
“What is it?” Larry asked, frowning as he pulled a pair of readers from his shirt pocket.
Willene leaned closer to me so she could read it too. “It’s a flyer advertising a live-in nanny position.”
“It’s for Mabel’s older brother, Austin,” said Ari. “He’s a single dad with seven-year-old twins.”
“Boys or girls?”
“One of each.”
“Are they nice?” I was thinking of The Sound of Music, where those kids terrorized poor Maria. Hadn’t they put a frog in her bed?
“Yeah.” Ari shrugged. “Austin is a little intense, but the kids are cool. They come in here sometimes, and they actually behave.”
“What do you mean by intense?” I pictured stern, no-nonsense Captain von Trapp.
“He’s just kind of . . . serious,” she finished. “All work, no play.”
“He didn’t do all that much work in high school,” said Willene drily. “Trust me, I was his social studies teacher three years in a row.” Then she sighed. “But he sure grew up handsome. All those Buckley boys did.”
“Those kids had it tough,” Gus said. “Lost their mom so young and all.”
“He put in a real nice split rail fence for us last year when I was laid-up because of my back,” said Bubba. “Did good work. Nice wood.”
“She doesn’t care about his wood, Bubba.” His wife smacked his shoulder. “She wants a job.”