Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
JADA
Time really starts to fly at some point in the middle of the summer. The bar renovation goes from constant construction headaches to design ones, which I greatly prefer. Ash and I fall into a rhythm together, going to work, hanging out, and hooking up whenever we get the chance.
Before I know it, we’re just outside of Nashville at an event space for Danika’s wedding.
Danika’s taste is questionable, but this feels different than that.
It feels thrown together. The decor looks like they grabbed whatever loosely matched from a party store and threw together some centerpieces in the cocktail hour space we were herded into.
A few of them don’t match, and some of her friends are rushing around, trying to fix things.
The flowers are spare, too, like they were trying to cut corners. But instead of adding less expensive filler flowers, they just threw a few bundles of individual flowers into vases. The balance of each arrangement feels off.
The communication between the staff handling the pre-wedding drinks is a mess, too. One of her friends keeps running between the kitchen area and the bar, huffing and complaining that the drinks are too weak.
I don’t know what vibe Danika was going for, but I’m assuming she didn’t want it to be chaotic.
I don’t get it. I got the hotel, so she didn’t have to rush the wedding to fulfill the requirements for the inheritance. She could have taken all the time she wanted to put together the event of her dreams. Why is it like this?
“JJ!” Maryse rushes me, as she always does, and almost tackles me with a hug. I give her a long squeeze. When she finally releases me, she looks at Ash with narrowed eyes. “Ash.”
Ash grins. “Hi, Maryse. Good to see you again.”
“Hm. Likewise.” She extends her hand and Ash shakes it, his smile widening.
Little Malcolm follows soon after, giving me and Ash the same treatment as his sister did. They’re both dressed in subtly coordinated outfits, with Maryse in a cute, green dress with a sequined bodice and swishy skirt, and Malcolm wearing a green tie.
Kendra and Big Malcolm find their kids and say hello to us, too. Maryse and Malcolm go off to look at the fountain in the entryway.
“This is…” Kendra looks around, swirling her glass of wine.
“Chaotic?” I say.
“Yeah.” Kendra frowns. “Planning a wedding isn’t easy, much less doing it in just a few months.”
“I guess,” I say with a shrug. A woman in what looks like a bridesmaid dress huffs as she rushes across the room, something blue in her hand.
We catch up with each other, then with Jeremiah, who arrives a little later.
I didn’t expect the wedding to start anywhere near on time, but once it creeps toward an hour and a half late, people get restless.
Kendra even leaves the venue to grab the twins a snack because she runs out of the ones she always keeps in her massive purse.
“I’m going to find the restroom, I guess?” I say. Anything but stand around with an empty wine glass in my hand. It’s a cash bar and I’m not trying to get drunk before this thing starts.
“We’ll be right here,” Ash says, his hand skimming down my back.
The only upside to this whole thing is that Ash can hang out with my family. He doesn’t seem nervous or unsure. He just fits, like we’re real.
I wander around, trying to find the bathroom. This place is built like a labyrinth for no damn reason. It’s an event space—wouldn’t they want people to find stuff?
I make a turn and wind up in dead-end hallway. One door is marked dressing room and the other is a closet when I open it.
“Pick up the fucking phone and tell me where you are! You’re embarrassing us both!” Danika hisses loudly enough for me to hear her through the door. Then, something smacks against the wall and she bursts into a sob.
I freeze. Is she talking about Scott? Did he ghost her on their wedding day?
I wait for one of her many friends to swoop in and say something, but I don’t hear them. I press my ear against the door and all I hear is her crying. Alone. On her wedding day.
I don’t like Danika all that much, but crying alone on your wedding day is something I’d only wish on someone who actively hurt me.
But she barely likes me, even less so now that I “took” the hotel. I can’t go in there.
Unfortunately, I brush against the door when I try to retreat.
“Hello?” she calls out.
I sigh and crack the door. “Uh, it’s me. Jada.”
“What are you doing here?” she asks, sniffling.
She doesn’t tell me to fuck off, so I come in. It’s a dressing room, and she’s sitting at the vanity in her wedding dress. Her hair is done, but her makeup is completely wrecked. There aren’t enough ice packs or concealer in the world to hide her puffy eyes, even if someone did fix her makeup.
“I just heard crying. Is Scott not here yet?” I ask. I shut the door behind me.
“Fuck.” Danika sniffs and dabs at her eyes as if her makeup isn’t already wrecked. “No, he’s not. He’s not answering his phone, none of his friends are answering their phones. He’s not even picking up for his parents.”
I lean against the door, biting my bottom lip. I barely know the guy, but I’m not shocked. They were together for ages and he didn’t propose despite her making it very clear that’s what she wanted. Even I knew that and we aren’t close.
“Maybe he…slept in?” Slept into a coma?
“God, no. He went out last night. To the strip club. Which I didn’t like, but he said it was the very last time.” She blows her nose with an inelegant honk. “But usually he comes home. Usually he at least texts. He’s gone.”
I sit down at the seat in the corner. I’m used to handling my friends’ vent sessions, but they’re all in happy relationships. I don’t know what to do with this situation.
“I just wanted to get it done so he wouldn’t back out,” Danika says, her words slurring ever so slightly.
The bottle of pinkish wine next to her is mostly empty.
“This whole thing is half-assed and slapped together because I wanted it done fast. I just wanted him to give some kind of a fuck about it, you know? About our relationship in general. And he can’t even fucking show up.
He can’t even text me to tell me he got cold feet. ”
I don’t know what to say to that, if I could even speak. My heart breaks for her.
No one should have to beg for their partner to care about them. If they don’t give a shit about you, they aren’t worth being with.
Why is she with him anyway? He’s never, ever seemed all that into her. He’s attractive in a bland kind of way, but Danika’s pretty. She could pull a guy who at least has more personality than a coat rack. Or at least a guy who’s boring, but cares about her enough to show up.
“How did you do it?” Danika asks after taking a heavy drink from her water bottle.
“Do what?”
“Snag a man. Out of fucking nowhere. A husband, no less.” She huffs and slumps in her seat.
“Full disclosure, Scott convinced me to hire a fucking private investigator to look into you guys and see if it was real. If they got evidence that you were faking it, then we were going to submit it to the lawyer to contest the will.”
So we were right. At least she seems somewhat embarrassed by it. I’m so damn relieved that Ash is more observant than me. I wouldn’t have noticed someone following us.
“But nope. Of course. They just got a bunch of footage of you two being cute and doing normal-ass couple stuff.” She glares at me, like she’s finally realized that we aren’t actually friends.
“Do you know how he looks at you? Like you’re fucking perfect.
Scott has never once looked at me like that and I’ve tried getting candid pics like every other day of our whole relationship.
Half of the file the PI sent us is pictures of you guys making googly heart eyes at each other and snuggling. ”
And that was months ago at this point, probably at the drive-in. I’d been so focused on the past that I didn’t realize that Ash and I had a spark back then. It’s only grown into something that I want to hold onto.
But how? He’s clearly afraid of taking us out of this weird limbo state of basically dating casually while being married. I was, too, until recently.
Danika sobs in front of me. I’ll deal with my issues later.
“Danika,” I say, as gently as I can, even though I want to smack her as much as I want to get her to stop crying. “I know this hurts now, but what if him not showing up is a blessing in disguise?”
She looks at me like I’m an absolute moron. “Um. What?”
“I know it sounds cliché as hell, but you’ve just told me that he barely gives a shit about your relationship. If he’s like this before the wedding, what about a year from now? Or ten years from now?”
Danika swallows.
“But being left at the altar is so embarrassing,” she says, her voice small. “All our families are here, and all of my friends. Some of his friends are here, but the others are probably in on it.”
I bite my lip and play with my earrings. “I know. But no one knows that you’re back here. They don’t even know if you’ve arrived yet. You could just leave and tell one of your bridesmaids to say it was mutual.”
For the first time since I’ve seen her today, brightness comes into Danika’s eyes.
“That’s less embarrassing, for sure,” she says. “And I could go out there, find him, and chew him out.”
Uh-oh. I mean, Scott deserves that, but I don’t want to be around when she finds him.
“He’s here!” One of her friends bursts into the room, making us both jump. “He’s drinking a cup of coffee to sober up, thank god. He said he and his boys were just blowing off some steam and lost track of time.”
Danika sags with relief, then sits up as if she didn’t have a minor mental breakdown moments ago. “I knew it. Let’s go. We only have the place until midnight.”
“Wait, you’re sure?” I blurt. I have whiplash from the change of heart. “You don’t have to do it if you’re unsure.”
The old Danika is back and rolls her eyes. “He’s here. He was just blowing off a little steam. Why wouldn’t I be sure?”
I make eye contact with her friend, who’s still in the doorway, then look back at Danika. I can’t say that she probably shouldn’t get married to a guy who had to get drunk to even fathom showing up for the alleged love of his life.
Danika glares at me with a very clear message—shut up—and I stay quiet even though I want to tell her to do the right thing for her heart.
She’s made her decision and there’s not much I can do about it. I doubt I could convince her otherwise, anyway.
Maybe Scott will change and give her the love she’s craving someday. That’s all I can hope for deep down, because she’s about to walk out that door and marry a guy who barely loves her.
“Let’s go, then,” I say.
“You go out first so no one sees us together,” she says. “Wait, actually, get me coffee. I need to sober up a little bit. Someone get Scott so we can talk.”
No please or anything. All the home training my dad and aunt got didn’t trickle down to her, apparently.
“No, I’m not a bridesmaid. I’m a guest. Good luck, Danika.” I step out first, mostly so I can get away from her.
Is she going to tear into Scott, or will she just save that for later so he doesn’t actually run? I don’t know. I can’t do anything about it now, anyway.
“Everything good?” Ash asks when I get back to the reception space, sliding an arm around my waist. “You were gone for a bit.”
“I’ll tell you later,” I say, spotting my niece and nephew a few feet away. They’re nosy as hell and have no sense of what to keep quiet.
“Everyone! Please be seated in the ceremony hall!” one of the bridesmaids yells over the sound of the crowd. “They’re ready!”
“Finally!” Maryse says. Kendra shushes her and guides her and her brother inside.
We find our seats, and the ceremony starts a few minutes later. I can see the puffiness around Danika’s eyes, but she fixed her makeup. She walks down the aisle on her father’s arm, a smile pasted on her face.
Usually I cry at weddings, but today I just feel a pit deep in my stomach. Scott at least smiles. A drunken smile, but a smile. That’s enough for her.
They do their vows, which are short and to the point, and the officiant declares them husband and wife.
If everything had shaken out the way that Danika wanted it to—contesting the will, getting the hotel, and marrying her fiancé—I would be furious and a little jealous. I’d assume that despite appearances, their relationship was good enough to progress to a happy marriage.
But things worked out in my favor. Her marriage is just a reminder that what I have with Ash is the kind of marriage I’d want. One based on true love and respect.
We need to talk about what we are again, and what we want to be. But I don’t want to ruin it when we haven’t hit a year of marriage yet. How would we proceed if it fell apart ahead of schedule?