“Why not?” she asked, a tad belligerently.
I turned to Xander. “How many of those have you made for her?”
She hadn’t been here that long, but her voice sounded thicker than normal. Not quite to the point of slurring but close.
He held his hands out in front of him. “Just the one.”
Vee waved a hand. “It’s not his fault. I may have pregamed a little.”
“Define ‘a little,’” Sophia said.
“I’ve pretty much been drinking all day.”
“Oh. Wow,” Sophia said.
“You seemed completely sober when we drove over here,” Brody said.
“Yeah, I’m good until I sit down for an extended amount of time. Then it’s like it all rises to my brain.”
“I feel like that’s not the way alcohol works,” Aamee said cautiously.
“And she’d know,” Sophia added.
“You were fine when you walked in after sitting in the car,” I said.
“I was concentrating really hard on appearing normal,” Vee answered.
“So, what? You’ve been standing all day?” Taylor asked.
“Yup. I spent the day wandering around the city. It’s so pretty here, except for all the ugly people. You guys have a lot of ugly people in this city. Thank God all of you are hot.”
Taylor tilted her head, clearly letting the words sink in before speaking again. “And you were drinking while you did this wandering?”
“Not while I was doing it, silly. That’s illegal. No, I sort of did my own version of a bar crawl.”
“That’s…so unsafe,” Taylor said, sounding flabbergasted.
Vee raised her hand toward Taylor. “See what I mean? Pussies.”
“And why are we pussies, exactly?” Brody asked.
She groaned. “Because you care about everything so much. You’re like a Drake song. All in your feelings. You’re in a mess…deal with it. You wanna know what I did once?”
“Yes, but I bet you’ll regret telling us tomorrow,” Xander said.
Vee pointed at him. “That is probably correct. But I’m not a pussy, so I’ll tell you anyway.” She squirmed in her seat, as if she needed to be more firmly rooted to it in order to effectively relay her story. Carter had to grab it to keep it from toppling over. “I once had sex with my philosophy professor. I know, I know, it’s so trite, but I did it, and it’s a tale as old as time.”
It crossed my mind that a professor fucking one of his students was probably not the “tale” Disney had in mind when they’d written the song of the same name for Beauty and the Beast.
She stopped to pick up her drink, but Xander intercepted it. “I’ll get you some water.”
“Water is for pussies too. But I feel a little queasy, so I’ll allow it. Anyway, where was I? Oh. My professor. So it was totally casual. He was young and hot, and I was…am young and hot, so we did young and hot stuff together. But then he got clingy, and I had to cut him loose. But he wouldn’t go. Followed me everywhere. Such a vibe killer.”
I’d put my arm around Sophia’s shoulder, and I felt her stiffen. When I looked over to see what was wrong, I saw her staring at Taylor, who looked pale and coiled.
What’s that about?
“So I had to send a message that I was not to be fucked with,” Vee said.
“What did you do?” Aamee asked, clearly enthralled by the drunken ramblings of this woman who was one bad encounter away from having a Lifetime movie made about her.
“I sent him a dead rat in a box and said he was next if he didn’t leave me alone. I never heard from him again. Sometimes, ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.”
“Badass,” Aamee murmured.
“Hey, sorry, but I’m not feeling very well all of a sudden,” Taylor said, standing suddenly. “I think I’m going to head home.”
“I’ll come with you,” Sophia said as she began scooping up her things.
“No, no,” Taylor replied, trying—and failing—to sound calm. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She seemed to be pleading with Sophia in some way.
Sophia sighed heavily. “Text me when you get in.”
“I will. Promise.”
Suddenly, Ransom was on his feet. “Let me walk you to your car.”
“No!” Taylor said loudly enough to almost be considered a shout. Ransom recoiled from the sound, and Taylor massaged her forehead. “Sorry. I just… That’s not necessary.”
“Okay,” Ransom said slowly. “Well, can I at least watch you from the railing to make sure you get to your car okay?”
Taylor took a breath and nodded. “Yes, that’s… I’d appreciate that.”
Ransom waited until Taylor started toward the steps before following her. She waited at the top for him, whispered something to him, and then left.
“Oh my God, was she sad about the rat?” Vee asked. “Because I didn’t kill it. I found it already dead in an alley.”
Xander propped his chin on his hand. “You are far more terrifying than I gave you credit for.”
“Yeah?” Vee asked, sounding pleased.
“I’m sorry, but can we circle back for a minute?” Brody asked. “How does any part of that story relate to what’s going on with my parents and me?”
Vee slid forward on her chair, causing Carter to reach out and steady it again. She reached across Aamee and gripped Brody’s arm.
“Because sometimes you get yourself into fucked-up situations, and then you gotta do some real gangster shit to get out of it. I had the United States Postal Service transport a rat. You’re having a giant wedding on your parents’ lawn that’s a complete farce. Neither of those things is okay, but we did them for good reasons. We both deserve to have happy futures, Brody. So fuck it. Let’s show up tomorrow and give your parents a rat.”
“I feel like she lost it at the end,” Sophia whispered to me.
But as I saw Brody put his hand over hers and smile, I thought that maybe people were always lost at the end of things.
That’s how we knew it was time to start something new.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
S O P H I A
“Oh, Veronica, that dress looks absolutely fabulous on you,” my mom said, fixing a few of Vee’s curls so they fell exactly as my mother wanted them.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t been too overbearing during the wedding planning, though I guess that could be attributed to the fact that most of the actual planning had been done by her.
Vee had okayed the floral centerpieces and the candles my mom had displayed throughout the backyard. Of course, it was nothing short of elegant. If Kate Mason was putting together any sort of event, even in her own backyard, it would be one that could be showcased in a magazine. Not that anyone really read those anymore.
Vee smiled sweetly at my mother’s compliment and looked down at herself. When she brought her gaze back up, I could see a mix of emotions in them. I could only imagine what she was thinking. Though she knew this would help Brody and Drew and she’d begun all this as a way of helping herself since she’d needed a place to stay locally, it must have felt completely different when she was standing in front of her pretend mother-in-law in a dress she’d insisted on purchasing for her. She must have felt—
“I feel like I’m going to be sick,” Vee said, and I saw her tan skin turn a shade of white that was damn close to the dress she was wearing.
I had a feeling that at least some of Vee’s sickness had to do with the fact that she’d drunk her weight in vodka last night, but I guessed the current situation wasn’t helping matters.
My mom rubbed her arms lovingly and told her it would be okay. “It’s probably just cold feet. I know you’re technically married and this is really just a celebration, but you’ll still be in front of a lot of people, most of whom you haven’t met yet.”
Was my mom trying to make her feel worse?
“Okay, maybe let’s just give her a minute,” I said.
I took hold of my mom’s arm, trying to
gently pull her toward the door of the spare bedroom where we’d helped Vee get ready. When my aunts didn’t move, I gave them a hard nod that I hoped conveyed my fear that Vee might vomit all over her dress if we didn’t leave soon.
They seemed to sense my seriousness, because they quickly scurried out too. Once we were all out and the door was shut, I said, “Why don’t you go downstairs and make sure everything’s coming together smoothly? I’ll stay here in case Veronica needs anything. I’m the closest person to a friend she has here.”
“I’m sure whatever’s going on with the wedding setup is fine,” my mom answered. “My concern is with my daughter-in-law.”
Turning toward the window at the end of the hall, I craned my neck and stood a little higher.
“I think I just saw one of the photographers step on your hydrangeas when she was setting up the tripod.”
“What?” A look of horror swept over my mother’s face before she turned toward the stairs and descended them so quickly, I had the strange thought that sliding down the railing would have actually been the safer option.
My aunts followed, though with not nearly as much urgency.
When the three of them were gone, I knocked quietly on the door and opened it slowly. “You okay?”
Vee was lying down on the small love seat with her feet up on the armrest like she wasn’t in a wedding dress with her hair and makeup done.
“I will be,” she said. “This is just all so…unexpected. I mean, I knew all these people would be here, but…”
She gestured to the window above her, where I could see people gathering in the backyard, taking their seats in the white wooden folding chairs my parents had rented. In between the two sections of chairs was an aisle with a pale-pink carpet for Vee to walk down. It occurred to me that she had no one to walk her down it, which seemed both odd and also not odd since the wedding was all a sham anyway.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’ll be fine. I drank like waaayy too much yesterday.”
“We noticed,” I said with a laugh.
“I think I might still be a little drunk, actually.” Veronica sat up, and it seemed like some of the color had returned to her face.
“Well, then, maybe you should have another drink. Hair of the dog and all?”
She picked up the glass of water from the side table and took a sip. “Nah, I can’t risk having a repeat of yesterday, especially in front of your entire family.”
“They’re your family too,” I joked.
“Not funny.”
After a moment, she stood and made her way to the full-length mirror my mom had brought in from her own closet. Vee took some lip gloss and applied it to her dark-pink lips. Then she stood to the side and smoothed her dress in the front and back. Luckily, it didn’t seem like lying on the couch had wrinkled it anywhere.
“How bad was I last night? Seriously.” She could see me in the mirror, but she turned toward me to await my answer.
“Um, I mean, you did call us all pussies.”
“Shit,” she said softly, her shoulders falling slightly. “I don’t even remember that.” She brought her hands up to rub her face but seemed to realize that wouldn’t be a good idea with all the makeup she wasn’t used to. “What else?”
I hesitated for a moment before deciding it was better just to say, “It’s really okay. We’ve all had our nights.”
Her face grew more serious, and I wondered if these nights were more frequent for Veronica than they were for the rest of us, but it was none of my business. My own face must’ve told her there was more, and she didn’t seem like she was going to let it go until I told her.
“And you told us about some guy you sent a rat to or something.” I said it as if the memory wasn’t clear in my own mind either.
“Shit,” she said again. “It wasn’t as bad as I probably made it seem.”
I wondered if she was referring to getting the United States Postal Service to deliver an animal’s corpse or having her teacher basically stalk her, but I decided it was better not to ask.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You know what’ll make you forget about all that? A fake wedding to my idiot brother.”
I wasn’t sure it was the better option for her to think about, but it was another option.
D R E W
Standing next to Brody as his entire family stared at us from their seats had me feeling all sorts of mixed emotions. Maybe one day all these people would be seated like this as I stood in Brody’s spot waiting for Sophia to walk down the aisle. They would all become my family too. I hoped, anyway.
Mr. and Mrs. Mason were seated in front, whispering quietly and looking up at Brody from time to time.
I glanced over at him. He looked uncomfortable, rigid in his tux. It didn’t help that it was over ninety degrees outside. Pretty much everyone was sweating, though Brody looked ready to pass out.
“I can’t do this,” he said to me quietly.
“You have to. You can’t back out now.” Scared that someone would read my lips, I tried my best not to move my mouth too much. “It’ll look worse for you. Just pretend to get married and then pretend to get divorced.”
“Oh, okay, that’s simple,” he said, clearly sarcastic.
“It is compared to what you’ve already done. You’re up here. Might as well go through with it.”
“So if I were about to go skydiving without a parachute, you’d just tell me to jump from the plane because I was up there? That’s reassuring.”
“Are you really comparing marriage to certain death?”
“Yes,” he said, like the question was a ridiculous one. “You know, I’m reconsidering making you my best man.”
The last of the guests found their seats and opened their programs. Shit was about to get real.
“Well, you didn’t have many other options since your mom wouldn’t let any of your high school buddies take part in the wedding.”
Which was probably a good call since they were currently standing in the back, making obscene gestures with their tongues in between handfuls of M&Ms.
“I could’ve asked Ransom,” Brody gritted out. “He’s already divorced. He knows how it is.”
“You’ve known him for like…three weeks. Don’t you think that would’ve seemed strange?”
“Stranger than making my best man the same guy my dad tried to bribe to leave our family alone after I hired him to impersonate me for an entire semester?”
Touché.
“And Ransom’s divorced?”
The guy was like twenty-four. Not that being divorced at that age was impossible, but it did make me wonder about the circumstances.
“Yeah,” he said, as if my ignorance of Ransom’s marital history surprised him.
Our hushed conversation was interrupted when Brody’s uncle Marc moved toward us. Brody had said Marc had gotten ordained for this. I had a passing thought about whether he’d be able to get his money back if he never got the chance to use his credentials.
“You ready?” he asked Brody.
Somehow Brody pulled himself together enough to stand up straighter, fix his bow tie, and say, “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.” Then he nodded confidently and watched Marc take his position next to us.
Marc welcomed all the friends and family and briefly discussed how lucky Veronica and Brody were to have found each other so early on in life. Most of what he said was what you’d hear at any wedding ceremony: words of wisdom regarding patience and love, how to share all of yourself with someone without losing any part of you.
Though much of it I’d heard before, it had never held the same weight as it did now when I looked at Sophia. It was a shame all of this would be wasted on the dummy standing beside me.
Marc said a few more words before crouching down and reaching under the linen of the small table in front of him to retrieve something. When he reappeared, he was holding a small wire cage.
I could only imagine Brody’s expre
ssion, but unfortunately, I was at the wrong angle to see it.
“Are those doves?” Brody asked.
“They are,” Marc said, his smile wide and completely innocent to the sham happening before his eyes. “Your mom wanted to surprise you.” Marc nodded to Mrs. Mason, who was smiling sweetly from her seat.
“Wow,” Brody said, clearly lacking any sort of enthusiasm or appreciation. “That was…unexpected. So we just like…open the cage after the ceremony and let them go?”
“Exactly,” Marc said. “A symbol of peace, happiness, purity… I can’t think of a better way to begin a marriage.”
The sound that came from Brody’s throat made me wonder if he was coughing up a hairball.
“You okay, hon?” Mrs. Mason asked.
“Yeah,” he said between coughs, making me wonder if he had undiagnosed asthma and was having some sort of attack. “All good.”
He managed to quiet down when the music began playing, signaling that the bridesmaids would be walking soon. As odd as it was that Vee had no friends and family here, she and Brody were shockingly able to explain it away.
What was even odder was seeing Brody’s girlfriend walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid at his wedding. Aamee had insisted on being a part of the ceremony, and Brody knew better than to protest. He’d considered inviting an additional groomsman but quickly realized he didn’t want to make a fake wedding a bigger deal than it already was.
Aamee took her place opposite us, and Sophia followed shortly after, looking absolutely beautiful in a bright-green dress that flowed and accentuated her figure as she walked.
I caught her eye as she made her way toward me, everything else fading into a soft blur, like an insignificant background in a portrait. When her gaze locked on mine, she didn’t look anywhere else.
The logical, pragmatic part of me said it was because she was nervous to make eye contact with anyone in her family for fear of them seeing something in her eyes that we were all trying to hide.
But the emotional side of me—the one that had been making an appearance much more frequently lately—told me something else entirely. That even though her attention could’ve been on anything else, anyone else, she didn’t want to look away.
Two Truths & a Lime (The Love Game Book 3) Page 24
