Bad Will Hunting
Page 26
Holly MacLeod again read this book in multiple drafts and kept me going with her unfailing belief in me. As always, I’m so lucky to have her on my side!
And, of course, my husband once again. During this book’s development you drove me from Toronto to Texas and back again (thanks for not leaving me there!) and put up with me driving you crazy. You’re the best!
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Chapter One
I recognized Mimi’s camera crews’ SUVs as the limo turned into the church driveway, and my heart pounded so hard I felt sure everyone could hear it. Something was wrong. They should have been far away.
“What the-- MC, did you ask for--”
“God, no.” MC stared out the window, her hand flying to her mouth, at the camera-toting men standing near the front of the church facing a crowd of wedding guests and groomsmen and Kent himself. “Camera crews? Of course I didn’t. And Kent wouldn’t have either. What’s happening?”
I tried to look as shocked and horrified as the other three did. I wasn’t shocked, of course, but ‘horrified’ was all too true. This wasn’t what I’d agreed to, at all, and I had only moments to figure out how to resolve it.
I didn’t come up with anything, though, in those moments, and the limo driver pulled to a stop in front of the church and rolled down all the windows at once, letting in the cold February air and the sound of everyone arguing.
“Put those up,” Liv barked at him, “and get out of here.”
He didn’t respond. He also didn’t drive away, and the camera crews rushed toward the limo.
I could not let this happen. I threw myself out of the car shouting frantically, hoping to somehow fix everything with just the right words. “No! Get out of here! I told you no! Not like this!”
Those were apparently not the right words, because Mimi followed her camera crew toward me waving what I knew was the printouts I’d given her detailing the church’s location.
Unable to believe this was all happening, I burst into tears, but through my sobs I heard Mimi say with satisfaction, “Shouldn’t have given me the details then.” Knowing the others must have heard that too, that Kent and MC and the man I’d thought might be my future knew what I’d done, made me cry even harder.
Mimi’s crew rushed past me, ignoring me, and I turned enough to see them shoving their lenses into the open limo windows. Kent snapped at Mimi to leave, but she laughed and said, “Fine, whatever. Not like there’s going to be a wedding today anyhow. Let’s bail out before the cops arrive.”
Standing with my hands over my mouth, struggling to breathe through my misery, I could now hear the rising sirens she’d no doubt already noticed.
The crew backed away from the limo, and I heard the driver say, “Outta the car, then. I go with them.”
Fresh despair struck me. I’d been the one to recommend the limo company, and Kent and MC weren’t stupid. The driver so publicly connecting himself with Mimi and her crew meant things were about to get even worse for me.
I watched, wanting to help but not knowing how, as Liv scrambled out of the car then eased MC in the big white dress I’d worked so hard to make perfect out onto the driveway while Holly burst out of the other side and rushed around to assist MC too.
“See you on your honeymoon, Kent,” Mimi said, in the most sickly-sweet voice imaginable, and my heart raced even more at Kent’s blazing fury. She wouldn’t, but Kent didn’t know that and I had no way to tell him.
Mimi and her crew piled back into their SUVs, and the limo driver took off after them around the church’s horseshoe-shaped driveway, scattering road salt behind him, and I did the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.
I made myself face MC.
She was staring at me, her eyes wide and agonized. I’d often seen her showing no emotion at all, but I could see everything she felt now and it tore me apart. “How could you,” she said, sounding near tears. “For money? Or your career? You sold us!”
Knowing I couldn’t make things right but longing to, I said, “I tried to stop it.” Memories of exactly how hard I’d tried, and what I’d done, flooded me, and my eyes welled with tears again. I brushed them away and kept going, hoping I could somehow convince her to forgive me. “I did. I thought at the beginning you wouldn’t care and when I realized you did I tried--”
“You should never have done it, no matter what you thought,” Kent snapped at me, and my last hopes of being forgiven died. I’d never seen my ex-husband so angry. “I can’t believe this. What the hell is wrong with you?”
I couldn’t answer that question, not without ruining everything I’d been working to gain for months. I looked from person to person, desperate for one friendly face, but they all looked as angry and disgusted as Kent. Aaron even turned his back on me as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me.
Lost, I started crying again, but the sound of another car approaching distracted everyone from me.
The police officer stepped from her car and Kent immediately said, “I’m sorry for bothering you. They’ve left now.”
“We got all three vehicles for speeding at the end of the road,” the officer said, her voice crisp and cool but with a hint of sympathy. Sympathy for Kent and MC. Because of what I’d done to them. Knowing they absolutely deserved that sympathy, I couldn’t hold back even more tears. “They’ll be busy for a while, so carry on with your wedding.”
Kent mumbled something that sounded like, “Will do,” and the officer left.
Nobody spoke for a long horrible minute, then MC threw words at me like the limo had thrown salt, hard and sharp and without pity. “No. You don’t get to cry. You’re the one who did all of this. Just because you want your career to take off. You ruined our wedding and you think you get sympathy? Not a chance. Get lost!”
Could I somehow tell them the whole story? Would they believe it? Would they forgive me?
I looked at Kent, trying to judge, but his icy face told me I couldn’t and they wouldn’t even before he said, “Go. Now. I never want to see you again.”
Though I knew it was pointless I ran my eyes over the gathered wedding party and guests one more time in search of a friendly face. Ron’s eyes met mine, and locked hard, but they weren’t friendly. Not even close. He hated me just as much as his brother now did, and no wonder. I’d ruined his brother’s wedding. I’d ruined everything.
Seeing that hatred in Ron’s eyes was more than I could bear. I spun away, the tears rising yet again, and rushed down the driveway.
I couldn’t let myself look back.
Once I was out of sight of the adorable country church Kent had chosen to marry his second and what I knew would b
e final wife, I huddled in my coat at the side of the road and cried until I had nothing left.
Then I pulled out my cell phone and called for a taxi to pick me up.
After standing in the snow for twenty minutes, doing my best to keep my mind entirely blank so I wouldn’t have to relive how horribly I’d just ruined every relationship that mattered to me, I finally saw the cab arriving.
“Yeah, you’ve been waiting a while,” the guy said, not sounding apologetic. “We’re busy today. Why didn’t you wait inside?”
“Couldn’t,” I said, wiggling my frozen feet in their stupid pink high heels.
I willed him not to ask me why, but he didn’t. No doubt he didn’t care.
Nobody cared, not after what I’d done.
And the most hellish thing was, I’d truly been trying to help.
Also by Heather Wardell
Toronto Collection
Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo (free download!)
Go Small or Go Home
Planning to Live
Stir Until Thoroughly Confused
A Life That Fits
Live Out Loud
Blank Slate Kate
Finding My Happy Pace
All at Sea
Good to Myself
Pink is a Four-Letter Word
Everybody’s Got a Story
Fifty Million Reasons
Plan Overboard
Toronto Collection Volume One (contains “Go Small or Go Home”, “Planning to Live”, “Stir Until Thoroughly Confused”, and “A Life That Fits” in one omnibus edition!)
Toronto Collection Volume Two (contains “Live Out Loud”, “Blank Slate Kate”, “Finding My Happy Pace”, and “All at Sea” in one omnibus edition!)
Toronto Collection Volume Three (contains “Good to Myself”, “Pink is a Four-Letter Word”, “Everybody’s Got a Story”, and “Fifty Million Reasons” in one omnibus edition!)
“Seven Exes” Series
Seven Exes Are Eight Too Many