Bridesmaid Lotto (22 page)

The photo was of Jake and I holding hands. In what must have been an instant, Jake had barely grazed Jennifer’s back, just to motion for her to go through a doorway first. The picture ended up looking like he was holding on to both of us. It wasn’t really that scandalous a photo, but paired with the sensational headline, it became a total friggin’ nightmare.

“Well, I guess getting fired isn’t as big of news to the rest of the world as it is to me,” I said.

Calla looked at me with pity. I clung to the only thing I could.

“I wonder if I should go to Europe right after the wedding,” I said. “If ever I needed some time away, this is probably it.”

“That’s not a bad idea. You’ll come home completely refreshed and I’m sure you’ll know exactly what you’ll want to do by the time you get back.”

I was beginning to like the idea of running away, even if it was just for a few weeks.

“And I probably won’t be able to get the vacation time once I start a new job.”

Calla nodded. “This might actually be the perfect time to go.”

I contemplated phoning my mother back right away, but I wasn’t sure just how far her compassion was going to spread. It’s not like she would just hand over the money before I had completely fulfilled my wedding obligation anyway.

“The wedding will be over before you know it, and you can take some real downtime for yourself. Who knows, this may even be a blessing in disguise.”

“Oh Calla, you are such a silver lining kind of girl,” I said.

“And what’s wrong with that?” she asked.

“Nothing. You’re right. I am just going to have to make the best of a cripplingly bad situation.”

We clinked our spoons together as if making a toast.

“To Josie the Bridesmaid, and to Josie the world traveler,” Calla said.

“I’ll eat to that!”

# # #

In the morning I checked my email, mostly hoping that Jake would have some sort of explanation for me about the Mitzi story on ‘Entertainment News.’ But there was no email from Jake. There was however a new message from Emma.

Dear Bridesmaids,

Can you believe there is only one week left before the wedding! I am pleased to hear from Millicent Munroe that each of you have been to your dress fittings and the dresses should be ready by tomorrow! Hurray!

Please pick up your completed gowns by 5pm Thursday as per the instructions from the Bridal Store.

As my bridal gift to you, you will each be getting massages, mud baths, and your hair, nails, and make up done on Saturday. Each of you will begin your day at 6:30am. I apologize for the early hour, but that was the only possible time to ensure everyone is ready for the two pm ceremony.

I’d also like to extend a special thank you from the bottom of my heart to each of you for being such good sports during this special time. I am honored to have each of you stand up for me.

Your Bride,

Emma VanHorn

Cool, I thought. Spa day again. It was surprising how quickly a person could get used to a pampered life. I’d had so many salon visits and shopping trips in the past couple of months that I’d almost become used to spending money as if it would always be readily available to me. I could have definitely lived with a few more weeks of the high life before I had to come plummeting back down to reality.

The rest of the week flew by, which was surprising, since I didn’t have to take time out of my days to go to work. Mattie took me to pick up my dress and told me all about the people at the office. My scandal was still pretty much the only thing anyone was talking about. Apparently everyone was fighting over whether or not my firing was fair or not. Mattie of course, was leading the charge of not fairs.

The dress fit perfectly, thank God, I didn’t think I could have dealt with trying on one more item of clothing.

I’d hoped that Emma would arrange for the dresses to be sent to the building where the ceremony was being held. It made me nervous carrying it around the city. Obviously I wasn’t the least accident-prone person in the world. Usually when something was valuable and couldn’t be readily replaced, it had a way of ending up destroyed while in my care. Luckily Mattie took charge and held it all the way to my apartment, and even placed it carefully into my closet. Now I’d only have to worry about transporting it to the wedding hall.

# # #

Friday morning, I woke up excited about the dress rehearsal that night. Finally I’d see Jake again. I still hadn’t heard from him after seeing him dancing with Mitzi Golden on ‘Entertainment News.’

Why hasn’t he called? I wondered. He said he would call. He should have been back in town for a day or two by now. Could he really have started something up with Mitzi Golden?

I shook my head and tried to convince myself not to think about it. There was nothing I could do, and worrying would only make things worse. I had a dress rehearsal to get ready for, and I didn’t even have an outfit yet. I could not believe Mattie let me leave it this long, but he’d been so busy with extra work at the office due to my little departure, he just couldn’t squeeze it in. I had no choice but to attempt to get to the secret dress shop on my own. I remembered the block it was on and gave the information to the driver.

“You sure you want to go there?” he asked.

I assured him that it would be okay and he drove to the dingy neighborhood. As we got closer and closer, my stomach began to churn. I’d forgotten how scary this place was.

As we pulled up to the building, the driver said I needed to pay him in case he needed to make a quick get away. There was a man standing near the entrance to the building that I did not like the look of. I ran into the building, my heart beating out of my chest, and rushed to the special door and knocked three times quietly. The door opened slowly. The same small man was working.

“Hello,” I said, and smiled.

He smiled back and let me in.

I hoped that I would have the same luck as we had the last time. This time around, the appropriate dress was semi-formal, but now, more than ever, I wanted to look good for Jake.

I picked out three dresses in my size to try on. I could have probably found dozens, but I couldn’t stand the thought of trying them all on. I hoped at least one of the three would fit.

The first two were so-so, but the last one, a gorgeous Vera Wang chiffon knee length strapless, fit beautifully and the deep red color complimented my skin tone to a tea.

I hope it’s okay to wear red this time, I thought. Eh, what’s she gonna do? Kick me out of the wedding the day before?

I quickly paid for the dress, from the former travel fund of course. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that my cab was still waiting for me when I came out.

“Oh, thank God you’re still here,” I said.

“No problem Miss,” he said and winked at me.

I arrived home safely, though it took a lot more time than I had anticipated. I’d only have two hours to get ready. Two hours might seem like a lot of time, but when you have to shower and get your hair and makeup done, two hours goes by really fast.

I got started immediately. About an hour later, Mattie arrived to help me.

He nodded as he held up the dress. “Good choice, honey. Good choice. You’ve come a long way in the fashion department.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I owe it all to you.”

“Yes you do,” he said smiling. “Maybe I should become a style teacher.”

“You’d probably make a killing with your natural-born talent,” I said.

“Oh believe me, it was not natural-born. You’re not born with style, being this good takes years of study. Now what are we going to do with this rat’s nest today?” he said and tousled my hair.

“Good Lord Mattie, if you’re going to become a style teacher, you might want to work on your people skills.”

He waved his hand at my comment. “Yeah, yeah.”

By the time Mattie was finished and I squeezed into my gown I felt like a princess again.

“Dressing up like this is so much fun,” I said.

“And you look spectacular as usual,” Mattie said. “Hey, where’s Calla?”

“I don’t know. I was wondering that too. Usually she’s home by six, and that was like an hour ago.”

Mattie shrugged. “She must have gone out with some friends or something.”

“It’s weird though, she usually phones to let me know if she’s going to be late.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, she’s a big girl,” Mattie said.

“I guess so. I thought she might be here to wish me luck though.”

“Oh well, I will wish you luck. And make sure you find out what’s up with Jake. I’m dying to know why he hasn’t call you.”

“Ugh. I’m not. I just know he’s hooked up with that horrible Mitzi chick and has forgotten all about me.”

Mattie rolled his eyes. “Come on. Who in their right mind would choose some washed up old prune like her when they have you, Little Miss Hotness?”

I giggled a little. “Thanks, I think.” I wasn’t sure if being called Little Miss Hotness was that great of a compliment, but I was willing to take whatever I could get. I had to try to find a lighter attitude if I was going to be confident with Jake tonight.

I took a deep breath and walked out the door. Mattie followed. My usual driver was waiting for me in the lobby. Mattie grabbed my arm hard.

“Oh my God! Who is that?”

“That’s Gary, my driver.”

“He’s hot,” he said, singing.

“Did you hear what I just said?” I laughed at myself. “What an idiot. I just said my driver. As if I have a driver.”

But Mattie was not paying attention to me at all. He was much more interested what Gary was doing. Interestingly, Gary seemed a little smitten with Mattie too.

“Introduce us,” Mattie whispered, that is if you can whisper a demand.

I pulled Mattie with me over to Gary and introduced the two of them. But neither one of them was paying any attention to me at all. They were already shaking hands and they both kept their eyes locked on one another. Both of them looked like love struck schoolgirls. After a few more awkward seconds, I cleared my throat hoping that the noise would snap them out of their trances.

I didn’t.

“Um, hello? I believe we have to get going,” I said rather loudly.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Right,” Gary said and cleared his throat. “It was nice to meet you.” He was still shaking Mattie’s hand. He finally let go and we all walked out to the car. Gary opened my door for me.

“I’ll see you around,” he said to Mattie standing on the sidewalk, staring.

“So um, your friend seems nice,” Gary said once we had driven away.

“He is,” I said smiling. “Perhaps the two of you could exchange numbers or something.”

He cleared his throat. “Um, yes. Perhaps,” he said.

I snickered. It was kind of cute how he was all nervous about it. “I’ll try to make sure that Mattie is there, you know, to wish me luck tomorrow before the wedding.”

“Sure, that would be nice Miss McMaster,” Gary said.

The two obviously had an immediate connection. How could they not at least meet one more time?

We arrived at the rehearsal dinner, which was a little lower key than the other wedding events had been. Well, other than the Bachelorette party, that is. It was held at a restaurant rather than a big banquet hall, and the atmosphere was definitely much quieter. The restaurant was dim, candles being the only source of light. It was very intimate, cozy and comfortable. It felt a little strange to be so dressed up, but I certainly did not stand out, considering Emma was in a full-length evening gown and the rest of the Bridesmaids were at least as formal as me.

There was no escort this time around to guide me to where I should go, so I just walked in, thinking I could blend in. Wrong. But every eye in the house stopped and stared. The other Bridesmaids were cordial but I could see the evil in Rebecca’s eyes. Some of the men however seemed especially interested in me, judging from some of the up and down glances I was getting. Jake even got an elbow to the gut from his brother.

“Hi everyone,” I said with a smile, hoping to break the moment of awkwardness that I was feeling.

There was a smattering of hellos and most of the people turned away and went about their business.

“What took you so long?” Jennifer said. “I am dying here by myself.”

“Sorry,” I said. “It seems Mattie and my driver have a little… something in common.” I raised my eyebrows a couple of times.

“Oooh, really,” she said raising one of hers.

A waiter with a tray full of wine passed by and I took a glass of red. I had been hoping to sneak a moment with Jake before dinner, but we were seated a few minutes later. Much to my disappointment, I was seated on the complete opposite end of the table from him, and since we were still being seated as partners, it meant Jennifer was way over there too.