I figured that since he had been there as my pick-me-up I could be there for him. I had dinner and cuddling in mind; he had in mind a night in bed exploring each other.
Something had been gnawing at me all day. It was as if a storm was brewing, and I’m not talking about those Arizona dust storms either. Alex and I had made love for the third time, and I was near falling asleep when the doorbell rung.
I almost didn’t answer the door, but eventually I pulled myself out of bed. I slid my robe over my shoulders and went to answer the door. To my surprise I found one very drunk ex-husband.
“What are you doing here Brendon?” He casually staggered into my house. I hadn’t exactly invited him in, but when you open your door to a drunken man you get more than you bargain for every time.
“I should’ve stayed with you,” he said and my eyes widened.
“You’re drunk and I think you should let me call you a cab to take you home.” I was hoping he hadn’t operated a vehicle in his condition. I checked the drive, and then the street.
“I walked.” He answered the question I hadn’t asked. The new country club a few blocks away was the only place he could have gone. It was the closest place with alcohol. I know they say people who are inebriated have increased stamina for stupid things, but I doubted he would have walked more than a few miles to get to my house.
“I’m still in love with you and I’m not marrying her,” he pulled me into his arms. I tried to pull away but he held on tight.
“Look,” I had tried prying myself away again. “You’re drunk and not thinking straight. Go home and sleep it off.”
“I’d rather sleep with you.”
“Well you’re not going to because you made your choice a long time ago and now you have to live with it. I don’t know if you two had a fight, and I don’t care. I’m calling you a cab and you’re going home.” I managed to pull away. I staggered back a few steps before I caught my balance.
He got loud. I got louder. When I finally looked past Brendon and back toward the hallway I ended up staring at the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. Though I would have rather he had not been staring so earnestly. Brendon turned, saw the half naked man in the doorway and decided it best that he leave.
“Didn’t know you were busy,” he said. He didn’t want a cab. I wouldn’t let him leave until I called one.
Once he was safely tucked inside I gave the driver instructions to take him home, paid him and hoped for the best. If he didn’t make it I’d feel no guilt. I had to deal with Alex and whatever thoughts were going through his mind. By that point I just wanted to go to sleep, but Alex looked as if he had something to say. I had to remind myself to calm down and not take my newfound anger out on an innocent man.
I took one look at Alex and I started crying. Reality hit me at that very moment. I was risking losing my job and Alex. If Brendon didn’t get married Shelly would hate me forever for ruining the perfect Tiffany Weddings’ record. Worse things would certainly happen. Alex was looking at me as if he wanted to pull on his shirt and bolt.
“Shh…” he pulled me close. I leaned into him.
“I’m sorry. It’s just you hate me, I’m going to lose my job, and you hate me.”
“You already said that part,” he laughed. My head slung up so fast that I almost hit him in the chin. “I can’t speak for your job, but I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t?”
“Not unless you’re still in love with him. I can tell from everything that just happened that you’re not.” He smiled. His words were so sweet, so gentle that I remained. “Right now I hate myself for thinking more about getting you out of that robe than letting you mourn the loss of a job that you haven’t lost yet, and might not lose.” He laughed a little.
Alex truly was the best guy to ever come into my life. I’m not just talking about in the bedroom either. He listened when I talked, held me when I cried and tried to keep me grounded whenever I started to stress about things I had no control over.
You’ll Walk if I Have to Drag You…
There was this little hint of calm in the air that morning. Shelly hadn’t fired me. Donna hadn’t even walked past my office, which was actually a little scary. Megan was still bouncing off the walls as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Either I was still asleep and dreaming or trouble was just around the corner.
I wasn’t asleep and dreaming, so I guess one could safely say it was the later. At about three o’clock Brendon walked into my office. I took a deep breath and prayed. Yes, prayed that I wasn’t going to have to kill him.
“You’ll walk even if I have to drag you.”
“I’m not thinking of calling off the wedding. I’m not sure where that came from the other night, and I just wanted to apologize for making the situation awkward.”
I relaxed. “It’s good that you’re planning to show up on your wedding day and say I do.” I emphasized the last part because I wanted to make sure he knew that showing up and committing weren’t one in the same. “It’s not good that you don’t know where the other night came from.” Brendon did have his redeeming qualities; being drunk wasn’t one of them. “You never get drunk. What’s going on?”
“I just got scared for a minute. It’s like foreverrrr,” he dragged it out as if that were a bad thing.
“I see. Forever is longer than you’re willing to give,” my tone must have seemed harsh, but he needed to hear it. “Brendon you have to realize at some point that there’s somebody out there other than you. Allison is a nice woman,” well that might have been stretching it, “and she deserves somebody that will respect her enough to show up on the wedding day and all of the rest.” I guess my bridal consulting training had kicked in because I went into therapist mode easily.
“You’re right Anise. I realize that. I’m ready this time. I screwed up before, but this time it’s going to be different.”
Donna walked into my office after barely knocking and not waiting for a response. She smiled at Brendon, dropped a folder on my desk and smiled at Brendon again.
“We’re ordering in if you want anything,” she said without taking her eyes from him.
He gave her the look—it was the look he had given me the first time we met. As she walked out of my office, twisting her hips, his eyes followed. That’s when I knew this time would not be different. This time would be exactly like the last. The only difference would be that a different woman would be cast in each role. That man wouldn’t know how to be faithful if he had a training manual.
“Now that we have that solved, why are you here?” I know it’s my job to meet with my clients, but I preferred putting this client on the calendar.
“Allison told me of all the help you gave her on the dress and I wanted to say thank you.”
I had given her help? Well, okay. “You’re welcome.”
“Anyway, I know this couldn’t have been easy for you and I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“What do you want?” I knew there was something. This was Brendon. We had been married for ten years and I knew exactly how he talked to me when he wanted something.
“Nothing I—”
“Can it and talk buddy.”
“So who’s the guy?”
I looked around the office pretending to look for some guy as if I didn’t know what Brendon was talking about. “I don’t see a guy. Would you like me to call your psychiatrist and ask him to strengthen your meds?”
“The guy at your house last night—the naked one.”
“There was a naked guy at my house?” I faked a shocked expression, the best I could given the circumstances.
“Almost naked,” he said a little more irritated then before.
“That would be my business, which is none of your business.” I hadn’t blinked, but neither had he.
“Is he…”
“Good in bed?” I knew this was what he was silently asking me.
“Yeah,” once again he sounded slightly a
nnoyed.
“Better,” my lips curved into the most salacious smile.
“Is he better than me?” His question was loaded, and I wasn’t sure how to answer it. Luckily, Megan popped her head in to tell me my four o’clock was early and that let me get rid of Brendon without answering his question.
“Can we continue this later?”
“No. You need to take one last look at the RSVP list, and let me know the exact count for the caterers.” Allison had insisted on holding on to the list. Actually, she had done it for her mother—which was kind of sweet. Her mom wanted to be involved on some level. The RSVP list was the easiest thing for her to do.
“We’re really close now and I’d like to tie up some of the ends. Please call Megan with the final count.”
Wakeup Call
My phone sprung to life at around two o’clock in the morning. I know for sure it was about that time because after I fell out of the bed and managed to grab my phone off the night-stand, I looked at the clock wondering what lunatic would call at such an insane hour.
“Are you okay?”
I hadn’t remembered answering the phone. Then I remembered that Alex had been lying next to me in bed—that is before I fell out of it. “Yeah.” I wasn’t sure if I was answering Alex’s question or rudely greeting the person on the other end.
“Anise,” I heard the quivering in Tay’s voice and I knew something had to be wrong. She would have never called me at two in the morning unless there was something wrong. I mentally slapped myself into the waking world and started to try to string together a coherent sentence out of her words.
“Oh my God! Honey what hospital?”
“I think he…I think he had a heart attack. What if he dies?”
“Sweetie calm down, and tell me again which hospital.”
“Power Road,” she said, and I immediately knew where I needed to go.
“I’ll be there in about a half hour.” I practically sprinted around the room. I tugged a pair of sweats from the closet and pulled them on. I threw a tank top over my head. I hadn’t noticed Alex was up and dressing too.
“Oh honey you don’t have to leave.”
“I’m going with you.”
I didn’t have time to argue. I grabbed my purse and my keys and jumped in my car with Alex right behind me. He offered to drive, but before he could finish his sentence I was already peeling out of the garage.
I parked the car, and ran inside. I immediately spotted Taylor, and she spotted me. Her eyes were getting puffy, her hair was a mess and she was still in her night robe.
“Is there any news?” I pulled her into my arms.
“No, not yet.” She pulled back, and tried to keep from sobbing hysterically. She wiped away a tear and looked behind me.
“Tay this is Alex,” he nodded and she nodded back. She gave me a look that told me she wanted to talk about it, but we would have to do it later. I agreed. Silently we sat waiting for the doctors, nurses or anybody to give us some news. She curled up in my arms like a child while Alex sat across from us.
The doctor smiled, and he said that it was just indigestion. A collective sigh came from the two of us, and Taylor sunk down onto the couch. The weight of the evening’s events was just too much for her.
“We’ll be bringing him down shortly…” he kept talking, but I gathered it was at that point that Tay stopped listening.
“Damn him,” she said. “That’s it for the Mexican food. He scared the hell out of me!”
“I should say so,” the doctor said before smiling at us. He agreed that Dan should refrain from eating spices for some time. He reassured us that it wouldn’t be long before Dan could leave; we just had to wait on all the paperwork to be completed.
“Thank you for coming,” she whispered.
“Anytime.”
We sat there for another hour before they brought Dan down for dismissal. By five o’clock we were all out the door and on our way back to our respective homes. Alex of course was on his way back to my place, and I still had to get showered, dressed and off to a wedding.
“I wish you could stay in.”
“Me too,” I yawned. “My bride is walking down the aisle, and I have to get things ready.” I yawned again.
“I was wondering why I love you so much and now I know,” he said. I froze. “You’re an amazing woman with a good heart, a little hyper sometimes, but amazing.” I was still stuck on the fact that somewhere in there he had said he loved me.
“I love you too.”
Softly, he pressed his lips to mine. The last thing I needed was to get sidetracked and end up back in bed. He pulled away just enough to let me know I had things to do.
“Right,” I smiled. “Wait a minute. Did you call me hyper?”
“I was wondering when you’d get around to that,” he laughed.
Okay, so I was a little hyper sometimes, but only when the situation called for it—honest.
June 4th and Counting
After Toni’s nuptials I would have two brides left to walk down the aisle within about a week of each other. Evelyn’s wedding was July second, and Allison’s wedding was July sixteenth. My recent addition, Stacey Lexington, wasn’t due to walk until August twentieth. I got the impression from the groom that there wasn’t much of a hurry.
Normally I would have been worried, stressed, falling to pieces about all of it, but I had enough worries to keep me busy. I figured I would let the Lexington event take a back seat, as much as I could anyway. I might not have been stressed, but Shelly was.
It was actually the first time I had seen her in her less than perfect mode. She seemed frazzled. I asked her if she were okay; she smiled at me and thanked me for asking. She then told me if I messed up the Lexington wedding that I need not show up for work the next day. The Lexington event was over two months away, but the high-profile status had Shelly stressed more than any of the other weddings.
Thankfully, I had some time to focus on the Lexington event. I would have preferred more, but since Stacey had just fired her consultant and come to Tiffany’s I didn’t have as much planning to do as I would have for a bride starting from scratch.
The hall was already booked, the dress was already picked, flowers were already purchased and the caterers were pretty much in place. My job was to bring it all together. I first had to organize the previous consultants file, but that wouldn’t take too long. I had to get music set, make sure invitations and RSVP’s were taken care of, some other minor things, but Stacey’s wedding had thus far been the least stressful of my brides.
When they say every bridal consultant has one of those weddings—the one where everything seems to go wrong right before the ceremony—they would be right. From a ripped dress to a delayed minister, Toni’s wedding had me running in overdrive. Fortunately, things came together, and the bride and groom had their day. I had another successful wedding under my belt. Life was good, well relatively anyway. I still had that little issue of one ex-husband that suddenly felt the need to spy on my relationship with Alex.
I thought I was going home to a relaxing evening. I envisioned Alex and me spending several hours making love, taking a hot shower and then falling asleep in each other’s arm. The reality was much more surreal.
I walked into the living room and there stood Brendon and Alex. There was definite tension in the air, and I wondered if I were walking into a fight or the end of one. After realizing nothing in the living room seemed to be broken, there was no blood and no police officer, I opted for walking into one.
“What is going on here?” I knew at first sight that my relaxing evening had just gotten complicated. After being on my feet all day I didn’t want complicated.
“Your ex was just telling me that you deserve better.” Alex’s shoulders were squared. I had known him long enough to know this wasn’t the sign of a happy and peaceful man. I stepped in between them. I wondered why Alex would let Brendon in the house. I also wondered why Brendon suddenly cared so much.<
br />
“Brendon, this is none of your business and I thought I made that clear to you yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that…” I said in an exaggerated manner.
“Well I think it is. You’re vulnerable, and you don’t need some yahoo coming in here breaking your heart.”
“No, that’s what I had you for.” He started to speak, but I kept going. “Alex isn’t you Brendon. He’s not breaking my heart, and even if he were it’s none of your concern. I’m not vulnerable because I’ve been over you for a long time. Now,” I came up for air just long enough to catch my breath. I didn’t need to add hyperventilating to the situation. “I think you remember where the door is. Don’t let it hit you where the good lord split you on your way out of it.”
He knew that I was serious, but unfortunately I don’t carry as much weight as a two hundred pound man. He just stood there looking at me as if I had lost my ability to think straight.
“It’s the sex isn’t it,” he stated more than he asked. “You know I gave you better.”
I was angry and confused. I was confused because my sex life wasn’t a part of a conversation Brendon and I should have been having.
Brendon looked as if he were going to knock me out of the way to get to Alex, and Alex stood there looking like he was ready to beat the crap out of Brendon.
“Alex.” I tried to remain calm. I knew what we needed was calm, not craziness. “Please wait for me in the bedroom.” I could handle Brendon much easier without Alex in the room.
The Bride Wore Black Page 5
