CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY
The man smiled at me, pointing at himself with both of his hands. “It’s me. Vinnie Hemmings.”
I had been a bridesmaid for Vinnie’s wife, Theresa. I’d never even considered this possibility. We deliberately chose brides and weddings where there didn’t seem to be any connections to our previous work. I stood up, still gaping in shock.
“Camden! How are you, man?” He shook hands with Camden. “Have a little trouble with the cake?”
“Something like that,” Camden said as he got to his feet.
“How do you two know each other?” I asked—both because I was desperately curious and because I was trying to turn the conversation away from myself. Hoping I could somehow salvage this.
“Dan and I were in the same frat, and we all went to Ohio State,” Vinnie said. “Theresa and I flew in this morning. I couldn’t get the time off of work, but I definitely wanted to be here for Dan’s big day! Our flight was delayed so we missed the wedding, but we got here for the reception. And this was certainly something, wasn’t it? Nothing like my wedding! Right, Rachel?”
Camden gave me a questioning look. He was too smart to be put off for long. I ran through a hundred different scenarios in my head, but none of them were going to change what was about to happen. I just had to sit here, being flooded with dread and regret, and I couldn’t stop it.
“Theresa! Look who’s here!” Vinnie called out.
Theresa came over and as soon as she saw me, her face went slack. She was the bride who had put me in the yellow-feather-and-hot-pink getup. We’d never had any kind of crossover like this before. I had no plan B here.
This was so bad. Theresa had been awful from beginning to end. Apparently Vinnie had given her a budget that she’d gone wildly over. She’d asked me to refund my fees and I had a no-refund policy. Especially since we’d done every wild thing she’d asked us to. She just didn’t want her new husband to find out that she’d spent so much money. I hadn’t worried too much about it at the time, but now I was deeply regretting everything as I thought of a million different ways this could go.
Still oblivious, Vinnie said to me, “What are the odds of running into you? You must be friends with the bride.”
“Rachel is the maid of honor,” Camden said.
“That’s a coincidence!” Vinnie again turned to Theresa, trying to get her to come over. “She was a bridesmaid at our wedding.”
“Really?” Camden said, but there was something off in his voice. “Small world. How did you two meet?”
Theresa was still silent, probably every bit as freaked out as I was feeling. Vinnie didn’t seem to notice, though. “They’ve been in a yoga class together for years.”
Camden turned toward me, his expression serious. Accusing. “Vinnie lives in Vermont.”
“Yeah.” Vinnie finally seemed to be sensing that something might be off. “So does Rachel.”
“Funny thing,” Camden said, his eyes boring into me. “Vinnie and Theresa got married last year. I remember because Dan and I argued about going. We were busy and neither one of us could afford to miss work, so we compromised by sending a nice gift.” Then he turned back toward Vinnie. “And Rachel told me she’s been living in New York for the last four years. So unless that instructor in Vermont is worth interstate travel, I don’t know how that’s possible. Not to mention Rachel’s deep-seated loathing for yoga.”
Vinnie started asking questions, understandably confused. Theresa stepped in and tugged at his arm, dragging him off while he sputtered the whole way. He demanded to know what was going on. I saw the reluctant expression on her face, how she cast her eyes down, and then I heard my name. And the name of my company.
I wanted to glance up at Camden, to see how much he’d just overheard and if he’d worked things out yet. I couldn’t meet his eyes. My whole life was falling down around me. Like every lie I’d told him had been part of an elaborate house of cards that was fluttering down so quickly there was no way that I could catch them and try to rebuild.
It was just gone.
My heart stopped and then restarted, but low and heavy so that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “I can explain. I couldn’t before, but Sadie gave me permission and I can tell you what’s going on.”
“You lied to me.” Camden’s voice was so low that I nearly missed what he was saying. “You’re not Sadie’s friend. I took you at your word because of that friendship.”
“If that’s the only reason you trusted me and believed me when I said I wasn’t some corporate spy, which I’m not, then I don’t know ...” What argument could I make? Yes, I wasn’t a spy, but I had deceived him.
“None of this is about the spy thing. It’s about the fact that you lied to me every day since we’ve met. What else have you lied about? Is anything you told me real?”
“Of course it was. Almost everything I told you was the truth. Or some version of the truth,” I corrected myself. Like I wasn’t an event coordinator. Not technically, but it was close.
“Oh, we’re dealing with versions of the truth now?” He ran both of his hands through his hair and that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach just got worse and worse. “I feel so stupid.”
“This wasn’t about you. I mean, what I said and what I did had nothing to do with you. It’s between me and Sadie and was none of your business.” It was like every possible wrong word that could fall out of my mouth did. I wished I could take it all back as soon as I’d said it.
His expression went flat. “Right. It is none of my business. You’ve made it abundantly clear from the beginning that you don’t want me to be part of your life. You kept me at arm’s length, even when I could tell you liked me, too. And I wanted to be with you so badly that I was willing to overlook it. I just ignored my instincts that something was going on.”
Desperation began to build inside me. “Camden, wait. You haven’t let me explain yet. There’s a reason why I did what I did.” I reached for his forearm, but he pulled it out of my reach.
“I don’t need an explanation right now,” Camden said, averting his gaze from me. His expression shattered me. He looked like he felt used, when that was so far from what had actually happened. Before I could tell him as much, he said, “What I need is to go for a walk.”
Watching him walk away ... it was like I recalled every bad thing that had ever happened to me. Every time my heart had been broken, my trust betrayed, the rug pulled out from under my feet, every time it seemed like things were never going to be okay again—this moment was a thousand times worse than all of those combined.
I’d known it. I’d known this would happen. That he would find out the truth and leave. He’d just proved me completely right. Krista had said I couldn’t predict behavior, but I’d called this.
My chest physically hurt, as if someone had torn me open with their bare hands and pried out my heart. I had to cling to the back of my chair to stay upright. There was a stinging in my throat as anguish lanced through me, clawing at the pieces of me that were still functioning.
I realized that this incredible pain, one that threatened to drag me under and hold me there, wasn’t because of regret or guilt or anything else.
I didn’t just like Camden. I’d said I was starting to have feelings for him, but that wasn’t it.
I’d fallen in love with him.
But I didn’t cry. Even though my chest felt constricted and my eyes watered and my throat felt like someone was pressing against it, I held in those tears. Because it felt like I didn’t deserve to cry. I had done this to myself.
I couldn’t let myself drown in my pain. Time to focus on putting one foot in front of the other because I still had responsibilities. I got up and let Troy know that Dan and Sadie had left, so he was officially off duty. He looked relieved. I didn’t have to say anything to Hank, given that all of the camera crews were already gone. Whether that was because they’d figured out that the newlyweds had left or because they’d inadvertently broadcast the ex-girlfriend / drunken mother / cake-toppling fiasco, I didn’t know.
Then I noticed Vinnie had his phone out and that he repeatedly said my name, and the name of my company, Something Borrowed. He pointed his phone at me, his expression angry, and my heart was so devastated over what had just happened with Camden that it took me a minute to register what was going on.
He was telling the whole world about me. About my company. He turned his phone on Dan’s cake-covered grandmother, and it wouldn’t take much for somebody to connect everything that had just happened with me and my business.
This wasn’t something my IT department could erase.
I was ruined. Anonymity was what I promised to all of my clients. I guessed Theresa had been right in her assumption that he would be furious about the money she’d spent and her lying to him, because Vinnie might have just single-handedly destroyed everything I’d created.
It was too much. All of this was too much for me to deal with. I had other issues to focus on. Like the wedding in New Jersey. My personal life was toast, but if I dwelled on that, I might never recover. I had to concentrate everything on my business.
Krista came over to me, looking alarmed at my expression. Even if I wasn’t screaming and crying, obviously I looked like I wanted to. “What happened?” she asked.
I had to get out of there. The longer I stood there and let Vinnie show my face to the world, the worse this would be. “Long story. I think it’s time we left for the airport.”
She nodded, without asking for more information. Which was good, because I didn’t think I had it in me to explain anything further without completely breaking down.
Krista and I collected our bags, and she asked one of the valets to grab us a taxi. We went into the bathroom to change into regular clothes and I debated what to do with my bridesmaid gown. I usually kept all of my bridesmaid dresses; I just wasn’t sure I wanted to have the memories associated with this one.
I shoved it into my carry-on. I’d deal with it when I got home.
Camden’s face flashed in my mind and I tried to shove it away. I couldn’t think about him now. Especially when all of my instincts were screaming at me to find him, go after him so that he could understand why I’d done it and maybe we could work things out.
But hadn’t he already given me his answer? He didn’t want anything to do with me and I wasn’t going to chase after him like some kind of pathetic puppy, begging for scraps of his attention.
What if I was wrong about that, though? Wasn’t it worth finding out?
I headed out of the bathroom and joined Krista, who was waiting with the taxi. I hesitated.
Go after him, my mom’s voice said. I couldn’t. I had things to take care of. Plus, this was kind of her fault. She had such high expectations for me that I couldn’t tolerate when relationships weren’t perfect. I never left room for failure or to take risks or get my heart broken. And this was why. I’d taken that risk. I’d been willing to ask Sadie to break the NDA so that I could have a shot with Camden. And for what? To watch him walk away?
I couldn’t chase after him because I couldn’t bear him rejecting me a second time. I got into the taxi.
On the way to the airport I texted my attorney, knowing that he’d gone to bed hours earlier and that I might not hear from him when he woke up, given that it was still the weekend. I wasn’t sure what would happen next. I also tried texting and calling Sadie several times to tell her the way things had blown up at the reception, but still no answer.
I felt so helpless, sitting in the back seat of this taxi. So very many things had gone wrong in such a short amount of time—Camden, the reception, and now possibly my business. I didn’t know exactly what Vinnie had done. Or what he would do now. Would he tell Camden everything? Would any of this cause problems with Sadie? What if that video went viral? The one that had me standing helpless in the middle of all that chaos? Someone would see it. I’d been so dumb to assume that the NDAs and Taimani would keep me safe. I should have known this was a possibility.
For a second I couldn’t catch my breath as I thought of all those women who depended on me, on the company that we’d built together. I’d let them down. Everything could be ruined. I leaned forward, bowing my head.
“It’s okay,” Krista said, rubbing my back. “Whatever it is, we can figure it out.”
“Not this time,” I told her.
I turned my phone off. If everything was going to be destroyed, I’d take a few hours of not knowing just how bad the fallout would be.
I wasn’t able to sleep on the red-eye. I just kept running everything through my head over and over again. All of it was exceptionally bad, but probably the worst thing was realizing that whatever Camden had felt for me, it wasn’t anywhere close to what I felt for him. If it had been, there was no way he would have been able to walk away from me.
It helped that Krista was on a different flight. She had tried to get me to open up at the airport, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be that woman sitting in the middle of the terminal sobbing her guts out. She did make me promise that I would talk to her later.
She probably should have defined later, because I had no intention of talking about this at all. I squashed it all down and threw it into an inner chest, intent on locking it up and never opening it again.
I arrived in New Jersey, grabbed my luggage, and went into the bathroom to change. I put up my hair, refusing to think about Camden carefully taking it down, pin by pin.
Once I finished my hair, I realized that I’d never turned my phone back on. When I did, it just kept dinging and buzzing like I had a thousand missed texts and phone calls. There was too much to try to sort out. I pulled up Desiree’s last text to me with the address for the wedding venue, and headed out to grab a taxi.
We got on the road and I was glad that it was a morning wedding because if I’d had to wait until the evening with all my thoughts and doubts buzzing around me like a horde of angry bees, well, it wouldn’t have been good.
When I arrived, Desiree was out on the front steps of the church waiting for me. She rushed over to hug me, her relief evident.
“How are you doing?” I asked, grabbing my luggage from the taxi.
“How are you doing?” she said. “You’re the one who’s internet famous. The Bloody Bridesmaid.”
“What?” I asked. My heart slammed against my rib cage as she handed me her phone. It was a YouTube clip with Brandy flying into the cake and Dan’s grandma running around, all of us trying to stop the fight, me getting kicked in the face. I scrolled through the links and somebody had even autotuned Brandy and Maybelle’s fight.
I scanned some of the comments and there were haters who were using it as evidence that Sadie was a fake because she’d hired a bridesmaid and didn’t have real friends, and some of her true-blue fans were upset that Sadie’s life wasn’t as perfect as they’d imagined it to be. Someone had nicknamed me “the Bloody Bridesmaid” and that was how they referred to me.
Then I saw my name. Rachel Vinson, the Bloody Bridesmaid. Owner of Something Borrowed. Over and over again.
The video already had over half a million views, and I watched as the numbers continued to climb every few seconds.
This was so, so bad.
It was like everything inside me just emptied out, leaving me cold and numb. I had to apologize to Sadie the first chance I got and see what I could do to try to make things right. I recognized that realistically there wasn’t a whole lot, and despite my no-refund policy I could at least give back the fee she’d paid us as I’d failed so miserably in my duties.
But there was no time to deal with that right now, or how far it might have spread on social media. I gave Desiree back her phone. “We’ve got a wedding to fix. What’s going on?”
She pointed back at the church. “Listen.”
I could hear a woman screaming. “This is off-white when I very specifically said I wanted pure white bunting! Why is that so hard? You are literally ruining my wedding day!”
“It’s been like this for the last couple of weeks,” Desiree whispered to me. “Amber seemed so normal when we met her. But she’s turned into this frothing, rabid nightmare and I don’t even know what to do. No wonder none of her friends wanted to be a bridesmaid.”
“Her husband sounds like a lucky guy,” I murmured back, following her to the room where the bridal party was getting ready.
I was sorely lacking in my regular confidence but decided to do my best to fake it. My one hope was that muscle memory would take over and I’d find a way to soothe this bride.
We walked into the room where a very pretty redhead was still screaming about colors being wrong, but stopped short when she saw me. I waved to my employee Melissa, who was cowering in one of the corners and probably rethinking her decision in accepting employment with us.
“What are you doing here?” the bride asked.
Amber and I had never actually met; Desiree had set up this wedding. I was about to introduce myself when she held up one hand. “I don’t need you to say anything. I know exactly who you are. The Bloody Bridesmaid. You promised that nobody would know that I had to hire professional bridesmaids.”
I looked around at the wedding party, wanting to say that she was the one who had just revealed it. “Nobody did know.”
She made a buzzer sound. “Wrong! The entire world knows. There are a thousand different memes about you and the wedding you just botched and how you overcharged that other couple. I can’t believe you came here. Were you trying to humiliate me?”
“I’m sorry that—”
The bride stopped me. “I’m suing you for breach of contract. Take your bridesmaids and go. No one wants you here.”
I nodded to my employees, Desiree and Melissa grabbed their purses, and we made a hasty exit. There was no point in trying to argue with the very upset bride. Maybe if all the stuff with Sadie and her reception going viral hadn’t happened, I would have been able to find a way to talk Amber down. But I was doubting myself and my skills, and honestly, I didn’t see the point.
Especially when I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to my company and if I could fix things. My phone beeped again, with more texts. I glanced and saw that there were ten missed phone calls from my mother this morning alone. But I didn’t call her back. I had no idea what I would even say. To her or to anyone else.
I didn’t know how it was possible, but everything was so much worse than I’d initially imagined.