Chapter 3 #2
An embarrassed flush spread across Brett’s cheeks. “Oh, um—sorry—uh—does your mom know that? Because she’s been telling everyone—” He was cut off by Charlotte’s high-pitched “Daddy, Daddy!”
Avery had returned with Charlotte and Isla, a scowl on her face. “Jesus, Brett. What are you going on about?”
“Nothing. We were catching up,” Annie supplied, meeting Bett’s apologetic grimace.
“Well, if you had come around the house any of the times we invited you for brunch, you two would already be all caught up.”
Annie opened her mouth, a retort sharp and ready on her tongue, but her mother appeared, words already leaving her lips.
“Good. We’re all here. Everyone scoot down.
” She motioned with her hands as they followed suit, Annie at the very end, closest to the wall of towering, ornate stained glass windows she had spent so many Sundays memorizing as a child.
She sat there, hands folded in her lap, quietly fuming as the preacher—Pastor Hank—got up to begin the service.
Because what do you mean her own mother was perpetuating this story that she and Caroline were working things out?
Her annoyance simmered as the hymns droned on, and Annie’s mind drifted as she looked around the room across pew after pew filled with familiar faces.
Since being back in town, Annie had purposefully kept to herself, not really wanting to face the possibility of running into anyone she knew.
More importantly, anyone who knew her in the context of Caroline, which, unfortunately, was most of the town.
The downside of Caroline’s parents being well-known community staples.
But it had been two months of holing up at her parents’, powering through pints of Baked and Blasted ice cream—more than she was proud to admit—and watching her way through a stack of old feel-good rom-com DVDs still taking up space in the media room.
But enough was enough. Life had to move on, and Annie had made that decision the previous weekend when her dad had extended the invite for her to join him and his friends for a round of golf.
The hymns slowed to a stop as a group of middle schoolers approached the front of the church, bells in hand.
Annie worked hard to keep herself from wincing each time a note was missed, or a sharp was played instead of a flat.
Her gaze wandered again up the rows of pews opposite theirs, her stomach lurching when she spotted Caroline’s parents sitting in the second row across the sanctuary.
Fuuuuuck. Annie cursed herself for completely overlooking the now glaringly obvious fact that, of course, Caroline’s parents would be at church this morning. She was one hundred percent not ready to face Kent and Nora McHenry.
She waited for the round of polite clapping that followed the bell choir to lean forward, calling to her mom.
“Mom, car keys,” she whispered, trying her best to keep a low profile, but her mom didn’t move.
“Mom,” she said a little louder, finally catching her mother’s attention. “Can I have the car keys, please?”
“Why?” her mom shot back.
“Because. I need them,” Annie said, annoyed at the challenge of her request and the humiliation of having to explain that she just couldn’t be there right now.
“We’re in the middle of the service, can it wait?”
“Nope. Absolutely urgent,” she said instantly, holding out her hand as her mom passed the car keys to Avery, who handed them to Brett, who reached over Charlotte and plopped them in Annie’s outstretched hand.
“Thanks,” she murmured, standing up at the same time the lights in the room dimmed slightly, focusing in on Pastor Hank.
Crap. Well, so much for making a clean getaway. She had committed to leaving at this point; she might as well try to make it quiet and quick. But the toe of her boot had other plans, catching on a worn bit of carpet protruding from the edge of the pew.
She tripped, her knee colliding with the wooden frame in a loud thunk followed by a sharp intake of breath. “Fu—” She cut herself off, remembering where she was.
“Are you okay, Miss Dillinger?” Pastor Hank’s voice filled the room thanks to the microphone pinned to his shirt.
Annie froze in horror, heat prickling the tips of her ears as she straightened, turning around to face Pastor Hank, every pair of eyes in the room on her—including Caroline’s parents.
So much for slipping out unnoticed.
“I’m great, thanks, Pastor Hank,” she responded, expertly setting her mask of easy confidence in place of the embarrassment flooding her body.
“Sneaking out so soon? The good stuff’s just about to start.” Pastor Hank flashed a charming smile as polite laughter filled the room.
Annie chanced a look down the pew where her family sat, her mom looking mortified, Avery staring blankly ahead, and Brett holding back a laugh.
“I’m sad to miss it, but I have to…” She trailed off, pivoting once more—side-stepping the pesky carpeted trip hazard—before taking steps to leave the sanctuary, the rhythmic swishing of her jeans accompanying her hurried movements.
She slipped into the bathroom, seeking refuge in the stall at the very end, burying her face in her hands. “God, could that have been any more of a fucking shit-show?” she mumbled.
To her surprise, a voice answered her. “Probably. That really wasn’t that bad.”
Annie opened the stall, finding herself face to face with Danielle Wellington—yes, Wellington like the name of the town.
Danielle smiled at her with the most perfect teeth Annie had ever seen, which absolutely checked out considering that every member of the Wellington family was a dentist. “Really, I promise. It wasn’t bad.
” She shrugged, pulling out a tube of lip gloss from her clutch, leaning forward in the mirror to reapply.
“Good,” Annie breathed, a little uneasy around Danielle, given the fact that Danielle, Avery, and Caroline had all been best friends at some point but had had a falling out that still to this day no one talked about.
This was exactly why she hated being back in Wellington Point.
“I’m just going to go.” She motioned to the door as she moved behind Danielle, slipping out of the restroom.
Back at the car, she sat in silence as her mind turned over every excruciating minute of embarrassment lived today, magnified by the fact that not only had a good portion of the town taken part in her humiliation, but that portion included Caroline’s parents.
A rapid tapping yanked her from her thoughts as her mom drummed her nails on the window. “Unlock the car, please.”
Annie obliged. But not without first imagining what her mom would have to say about the scene she had made, leaving the church.
Her mom rounded the car, sliding into the driver’s seat without saying anything.
That silence continued as they exited the parking lot, but instead of taking the usual left to head home, her mother turned right.