InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance)

by DeSalvo, Kim

  “You are most welcome. If I do say so myself, you will be a very beautiful bride.”

  “I’ll certainly have the most beautiful dress, anyway.”

  “I will call you when they are ready for a final fitting,” Gus promised as the girls bundled back into their winter coats. “I have a show in New York next week, but am clear to work on them after that. I’ll need three weeks, tops, and then we can get started on the men.”

  Chapter 33

  The girls were positively glowing as they tied their scarves around their necks to ward off the cold and headed into the frigid February evening. They huddled together, waiting for their limo to collect them to take them for a celebration dinner, when Lexi stepped away and stared hard into the distance, cocking her head. Automatically, Tia and Jessa turned to see what she was looking at.

  “That looks like Ryan’s Mustang,” she said, squinting into the dark. “Wouldn’t he be furious to know someone has the same paint job as him?” She turned to Jessa. “He actually went to one of those custom places that have their own reality show—he said it was going to be his 15 minutes of fame when he got to pick the car up in front of all the cameras. I think they aired, like, what,” she asked, turning back to Tia, “about 30 seconds of him? If that?”

  Lexi smiled, remembering, until the car reached the valet station and Ryan stepped out, dressed in a long coat over a tuxedo. She tilted her head again, trying to make sense of it. “What the hell is he doing here?” she said. “He’s supposed to be in New York!” She took two steps toward him, but then froze as Ryan opened the passenger door and a very tall, very blonde woman dripping in fur stepped out of the car and into his arms. Ryan smiled and said something, and the woman tossed her head back and laughed, and then took his face in her hands, planting a very sensual and familiar kiss on his lips. Lexi watched, slack jawed, as Ryan popped the back hatch of the car and pulled out two overnight bags, handing them to the doorman. One of them was the bag she’d helped him pack yesterday.

  “What the fuck is that?” she spat, a look of pain, confusion, and fury taking turns controlling her features. “Who the fuck is that?” Her hands clenched into fists, and she took a few steps toward the couple before the other girls wrapped their arms around her, holding her back.

  Tia and Jessa stared in disbelief, and it was a couple moments before either of them found a voice. “Oh my God, Lexi, I’m so sorry,” Jessa said softly.

  “I just can’t even believe this,” Tia murmured.

  “New York my ass!” Lexi bellowed. “This is why he’s been so busy lately? He’s got a fucking girlfriend? We’ll just see about that!” She tried to shake the girls loose so she could confront him, but they held her fast.

  “Wait, Lex,” Tia said. “Just take a deep breath for a second, OK? Do you really want to make a scene like that here? Maybe there’s an explanation…” but she didn’t believe it. She’d seen their embrace—they were obviously on very familiar terms.

  “You saw him fucking kiss her!” she hissed. “That’s all the explanation I need!” But she did take a deep breath of the frozen air and exhaled a long stream of steam that billowed out behind her. She closed her eyes and took a few concentrated breaths before pulling out her phone and punching in his number. “We’ll see what kind of game he’s playing,” she said.

  They watched as Ryan pulled out his phone, and motioned to the woman that he’d need to take the call. She continued into the building to get out of the cold, and Ryan came on the line.

  “Hey, baby,” he said. “I miss you.”

  “How’s The Big Apple?” she asked, her voice dripping honey. Only the girls on Lexi’s end could sense the venom beneath the sweetness.

  “Lonely,” he answered, “but we’re getting a lot done. I think I can have the draft finished up by next week if I’m lucky, and then I’ll need to work on polishing it and starting on the presentation. Still a lot to do, but at least I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

  Lexi immediately thought about how she’d like to make him see some lights at the end of a tunnel…preferably the lights of an eighteen-wheeler carrying a load of topped-off port-a-potties. “How’s the weather there? I heard there was a storm. Did your plane land OK?”

  “Yeah,” he said, caught off guard. “We must have beat it in. We’re just coming back from getting some dinner right now, and it’s not snowing too much. Hard to tell around the skyscrapers, though.”

  “Well, stay warm, and I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Actually,” he said, “just to give you a heads-up, I may need to stay one more night. It just depends on how things go here. We’re taking a little nutrition break right now, but we’re probably going to be pulling an all-nighter so we can try to get it all finished up, so I’ll be turning off my phone here in a little bit. I’m glad you caught me when you did.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad I caught you when I did, too,” she said, anger now evident in her tone despite the tears streaming down her cheeks. “An all-nighter. Well, good luck with that.”

  “Thanks, I’ll try hard to wrap it all up tonight. Love you,” he said, and she cut the connection without a reply. They watched as he tapped his phone, and then skipped up the steps and into the arms of the mystery woman who waited for him just inside the entryway.

  Lexi stood with her phone in her hand, staring blankly at the space Ryan had just occupied. “I can’t even believe this,” she whispered, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “I just forgave him for being a complete asshole, and volunteered to postpone the wedding so he could work on his ‘big fucking project.’” She exhaled loudly through her teeth. “I guess I know all about the project now, don’t I? God, how could I be so stupid?”

  Tia rubbed small circles on Lexi’s back, her mind trying to find the right words to say but coming up a complete blank. How quickly things can change, she thought to herself. It had been a perfect night—they’d all been having a wonderful time; smiling and laughing and looking forward to a scrumptiously overpriced dinner at one of her new favorite restaurants in the city, and suddenly her best friend discovers her fiancé’s infidelity. Just like that, another life changed forever by lies and deception. They continued to stare at the banquet entrance, watching small groups of people drift up the steps and through the glass doors. Ryan and the woman were well inside, but none of them could stop looking and wondering how something like that could have happened. They didn’t even notice the limo pull up until the driver jumped out and approached them.

  “Oh Lex,” Tia whispered. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry, and so pissed off, and so hurt for you that I can’t even breathe. You just tell me what you want to do, and we’ll do it. You want to go home? I can draw you a bath and make you some tea…”

  Lexi took one hard look at her friends and stiffened her spine. “Hell no, I don’t want to go home,” she hissed. “I want to get some fucking revenge, and then I want to go celebrate with my girls. I’m not about to let this ruin your night, Tia—it’s been so perfect.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said, wishing she could put more conviction behind the words. It was most certainly not Lexi’s fault, but the festive spirit they’d walked out with had definitely floated away on their sad sighs. “We don’t have to go out. There’s not a lot to celebrate at this point.”

  “The hell there isn’t!” Lexi said. “I’m celebrating finding out what a snake that bastard is before I married him, and obviously having a famous designer make you the perfect wedding dress is cause for a party,” she added. “Just sit tight for a minute. Tell the limo driver to wait.”

  As she walked toward the parking lot, Lexi admitted to herself that she’d known that there was something going with Ryan for a while now. She wasn’t exactly sure when the change had happened, but there had been something off about him. It wasn’t something she could put her finger on, but if she fessed up to the truth, she hadn’t really been trying all that hard to figure it
out. Their relationship hadn’t been the same in a while, and although she’d told him she was fine with postponing the wedding, she was still seriously pissed about the whole fiasco. She should have guessed it was something big, but frankly, she’d been kind of wrapped up in her own affairs lately, and had ignored the signs. They were certainly screaming in her face right now, however. Ryan was obviously sleeping with someone else, and the whole “big project” was nothing more than a lie and a manipulation. And she would not be played.

  She walked toward the side of the valet parking lot with a sense of casual purpose, her head high and her back ramrod straight. Tia and Jessa watched as she slipped efficiently over the concrete barrier, entering the lot and strolling toward Ryan’s parked car.

  Lexi reached into her purse and pulled out her keys, heading in the direction of the prized Mustang convertible. She walked past it casually, dragging her keys along the side of the car, the sickening sound of metal against metal piercing the night air. She turned as she passed the headlights and walked across the front of the car, making a deep scratch across the hood and then down the other side. Not a single shard of guilt clouded her mind as she scarred every body panel; in fact, she felt somewhat liberated as she headed back toward the main entrance. Calmly skirting the barrier again, she headed back toward the limo and the waiting girls.

  “What did you do?” Tia asked, already having guessed.

  “I just made a few custom modifications to his paint job,” she said nonchalantly, scraping metallic gold flakes off her keys with her fingernail. “Nothing a few thousand dollars and a lot of lost sleep won’t fix.”

  “Holy shit, he’s going to be so pissed!” Jessa exclaimed, unable to control her fit of laughter.

  “You have no idea,” Lexi said calmly. “Now let’s go party, ladies! I may be down a fiancé, but my best friend’s still got the sexiest man on earth, so that’s saying something!”

  “Aren’t you Tia Hastings?” the hostess asked.

  “I am, nice to meet you,” Tia replied, shaking her hand.

  “Wow. It’s awesome to meet you. I just love your story—congrats on your engagement. You’re a lucky girl.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Tia smiled.

  The waitress was at the table before they even sat down. “Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet you!” she said to Tia. “You’re ring is so gorgeous. Congratulations. Your future husband rocks.”

  “Thanks,” Tia smiled, “and yes he does.”

  “I’ll have a vodka martini—extra dirty,” Lexi interjected.

  “It’s been a bit of a rough night for my friend,” Tia said by way of apology. “Thanks for understanding.” She took a quick glimpse at the wine list and ordered a glass of merlot. Jessa ordered a chardonnay and the waitress hustled off to fill their orders.

  Lexi raised her glass for a toast. “To my best friend, and her InHappily ever after.” Tia’s and Jessa’s eyes met across the table and they shared a knowing look. They tapped the rims of their glasses together and took a cautious sip. Lexi downed half of her drink in one swallow.

  “Lex, we don’t have to do this. Why don’t we just pick up some junk food on the way and go straight to the room? I know how much you must be hurting—it isn’t necessary to…”

  “You know, I gave almost five years of my life to that bastard,” she hissed. “He played me for a fool, but we’ll see who’s going to really pay in the end. And that’s all we need to say about that.” She finished her drink, and motioned to the waitress for another, then turned to Tia. “Obviously, this isn’t the celebration we all had in mind, but you just found your wedding dress, T, and that’s a big deal. It’s more than worthy of a little party, and I’m not going to ruin that for you.”

  “Maybe we’ll just get a couple of starters, and then head out.” She thought it would be a good idea to get some food in her to soak up the alcohol—Lexi’s second drink was delivered, and she took a good hard pull.

  “Are you kidding me? We’re having dinner on your fiancé’s dime. I have every intention of enjoying it.”

  Tia and Jessa frowned at each other. Neither of them knew quite what to do; this was completely uncharted territory. They asked questions with their eyes—is it better to keep her out so she can at least have something else on her mind? Should we get her the hell out of here and let her get the emotions out?

  As much as the girls tried to keep the atmosphere light, the mood was heavy and somber. Lexi tried really hard to keep up a strong façade, but the other girls could see right through her, and neither could really have a good time knowing how much she was suffering. Lexi felt guilty for ruining Tia’s day, Tia felt horrible for her best friend, and both Jessa and Tia were very glad that they had a room in the city together—at least Lexi wouldn’t have to face the night alone knowing that Ryan was with another woman.

  Lexi made it halfway through the main course before she broke apart—the three martinis she’d efficiently slammed likely helped her along the way to a breakdown, but the girls were nonetheless impressed with how well she’d held it together. Her fork was halfway to her mouth when she suddenly looked from Tia to Jessa, and the tears started flowing. She dropped the fork and her shoulders hitched as the emotion took over. “How could he do this to me? To us?” she croaked, trying to control the sobs that took over her body. Tia called for the bill and they cut the evening off, taking Lexi back to the hotel room and letting her cry as they sat by feeling helpless. Tia and Jessa took turns soothing her until she fell into a fitful rest; sitting silently by well into the night just in case she needed them.

  Lexi wasn’t about to be bested, or played for a fool. She woke up with a wicked hangover—her head throbbed uncontrollably and her stomach rolled like a tropical storm—but she sucked it up and begged off Tia’s attempts to come home with her. Downing a couple aspirin on her way out the door, she shot off to the grocery store to pick up as many boxes as they’d give her, then returned to her apartment and cranked up her stereo as loud as she dared. With angry chick music thumping from her speakers, she purged her apartment of all Ryan’s belongings—every sweatshirt, his toothbrush; which she gave a little dunk in the toilet for good measure; his favorite CDs, his goddamn Obsession cologne—and dumped them unceremoniously into boxes. Every picture containing Ryan’s image was yanked from its frame and tossed into a box that she’d burn later. She ignored three phone calls from Ryan, but wasn’t surprised at all when she got a text saying that he was going to spend one more night in New York to ‘keep the momentum going.’ “Fuck you and your momentum,” she said to the phone. Tia called twice and Jessa once—she assured them she was doing fine and refused their offers to come over and babysit her.

  On Monday she rearranged her schedule so that she’d be out of work by noon, collected a rental car, and went to Ryan’s apartment to do the same thorough cleansing. She tore every picture of the two of them in half, leaving his image with the ragged edges of where her photo used to be in various frames on walls and end tables. She took all her dishes, silverware, mugs, clothes, and everything else she’d stored at his place and took it all back to her apartment. Then she parked outside his office building and waited for him to leave work.

  As she expected he left at his regular time, and she followed him in the rental to a gym not far from his office. He jumped out of the scarred Mustang and walked over to another car, tapping on the driver’s side window. The same woman from the other night hopped out and greeted him enthusiastically, throwing her arms around him and pulling him in for a passionate kiss. Lexi cringed watching the exchange, but waited for them to enter the building before using her set of keys to open the door of the Mustang. She popped the hatch and unceremoniously dumped all of his belongings into it, pulling the shade over the contents. Then she took her sets of keys to his apartment and the car, hung her engagement ring on the carabineer, and put the keys in the ignition, locking the door with the fob before slamming it shut.

  In the daylight she could
see the damage she’d done—the gleaming silver scratches, already tinged with rust in a few spots, glared angrily against the custom paint job. Ryan had left several messages on her machine to tell her about the unbelievable vandalism, toting the airport parking lot as a place full of thugs and criminals. She’d ignored every one.

  Then she dropped off the rental car, picked up her Beamer, and headed for the country club. Once he realized what she’d done he’d likely swing by her apartment first, then look for her at the club when he found her not at home. She’d turned off her phone so he’d have to go searching for her physically if he wanted to make contact. Considering that he thought that she was completely in the dark about the affair, she figured he’d catch up to her eventually, wanting answers.

  She felt him standing behind her as she sat at the bar. There was so much negative energy radiating from him that it was like a wall behind her; something hot and solid. She was willing to bet that he knew she was aware of his presence, but Lexi had no intention of breaking the barrier first. She took a small sip of her mineral water and placed the glass down on the bar top, refusing to acknowledge him. After a short wait she heard the jingle of keys behind her and she smiled to herself, imagining the expression that must have crossed his face when he first saw it dangling from his ignition. She slowly swiveled her stool to face him, careful to keep her face completely impassive.

  “Lexi,” he said, his hands palms up, the keychain dangling from his middle finger. She could see the engagement ring still swinging from the metal ring. “What the fuck?” he grimaced.

  She shrugged, raising her eyebrows at him. “I think who the fuck is a much more appropriate question,” she answered coolly. “Don’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he croaked, but his eyes shifted just enough to give him away. The jig was up, and he knew it.