Page 2 of Christmas Promises

“More than that. They’re in love.” I started to cry. All that makeup would go to waste. The dress too. Ten pounds lost for this? “They were going to tell me. Call off the engagement.”

Mom placed her hands on Laney’s bare arms. “In love? Doubtful. Neither’s capable of understanding the concept of loyalty or love. That lying cheat looked me straight in the eye last night after dinner and said how happy he was to be joining our family. How could anyone be so duplicitous? Do you know how much we’ve spent on this wedding?”

Laney nodded, more miserable than she thought possible. “What do I do?”

“Give me a minute to think.” Mom stomped to the window, looking out at the terrace where white lights were wrapped around bushes and trees. A holiday wedding had seemed like such a good idea. Laney loved Thanksgiving to New Year’s more than any other time of the year. But now the lights mocked her.

Laney sank onto the sofa, a buzzing in her ears, feeling as if she might pass out. Her thoughts jumped around from one question to the next. How could Josh do this? Why hadn’t he just told her the truth? Most of the guests had already arrived. All the gifts would have to be returned. Her father was going to lose his mind. Josh had better run away fast.

Mom turned slowly to face her daughter, the expression on her face terrifying even though Laney wasn’t the one in the wrong. “Why do you have his phone?”

“I picked his up by accident,” Laney said. “I guess.”

“How did you know the code to get into his phone?” Mother asked, handing Laney a box of tissues.

“It’s my birthday.” Laney hiccupped.

“And you’ve never looked in there before?”

Laney shook her head. “Of course not. It’s a violation of privacy. I only opened it to send him a text to my phone, hoping he would see it and know that I had his phone. I thought we should exchange phones before the ceremony. I don’t know why I thought that would be important. Maybe I didn’t want him to be worried. You know how he gets whenever anything’s lost.” She understood she was babbling, but she couldn’t seem to stop.

“I don’t actually,” Mom said drily.

“Well, he doesn’t like it. If he ever misplaces anything, he tears up the whole house to find it.”

“You picked his phone up from pure intuition, baby. Never underestimate the power.” She glanced up at the ceiling for a second or two. “Unless that idiot took yours on purpose. A coward’s way out.”

Laney closed her eyes, remembering a detail from that morning. They’d both stayed over at her parents’ after the rehearsal dinner the night before, in separate rooms, of course. He’d left before she’d gotten up that morning. Her phone, or the one she thought was her phone, was in the charger in her mother’s kitchen, where she’d left it overnight. Laney didn’t like to sleep with it next to her. Josh had often mocked her for it. But she didn’t care. She didn’t want to be addicted to it or social media. Instead, she liked to read actual books in bed. Give herself a break from the world by falling into another. Laney was the only one of her friends who didn’t habitually post on Instagram. She’d always preferred reading to the seduction of sharing every detail of her life.

“Mommy, he left it on purpose.” She hadn’t called her motherMommyin a long time, but it slipped out. She wished she were still small. She would climb into her mother’s lap and never let go. “He wanted me to see it.”

“Spineless little boy. That’s what he is.” Mother’s eyes snapped. “I need to talk to your father. He’ll know what to do.”

Laney stared at her. In all her thirty years, she’d never heard her mother defer to anyone else’s judgment. Even her father’s, whom she clearly adored and admired. They had a relationship built on mutual respect, but her mother had her opinions on things and wasn’t usually influenced by anyone else. “I can’t marry him.”

“Well, honey, obviously. I mean, this is going to be the talk of the Hamptons for months. You know how it is. I’ll meet friends for lunch at the club and they’ll all stop talking the moment I come to the table, but I’ll know anyway. But they can all go straight to you-know-where. No daughter of mine is marrying a cheater.”

“I’m sorry.” She swiped tears from under eyes. All that perfectly applied eyeliner washed away.

How could he do this to her?

How could Dahlia do this to her?

“This is not your fault, do you hear me?” Mother took her own phone from the small handbag she’d been carrying. “I’m going to text Daddy. I’ll ask him to come up here.”

While she texted, Laney pulled more tissues from the box and doubled down on the crying. After her mother sent the text, she sat next to Laney on the couch.

“You didn’t see any signs?” Mother asked.

“No. I mean, Dahlia was being kind of weird, but she always is. I thought it was just that she was jealous I was getting married before her.”

“She’s always wanted everything you have. I should have seen this coming. Do you remember how she stole your prom date?”

“Yeah.” It was true. Dahlia couldn’t stand it if Laney got more attention than her for whatever reason. Did she really love Josh, or did she just not want Laney to have him? “I didn’t even think they liked each other.”

“I mean, sweetie, Dahlia is almost impossible for anyone to like,” Mom said. “You were the exception.”

Not really. Laney didn’t really like her so much as she felt stuck with her. Kind of like that cousin that everyone felt obligated to invite to holiday dinners. They’d been friends for such a long time. And truthfully, Laney had often felt sorry for her. Dahlia was this combination of entitled princess and know-it-all, which resulted in a personality that almost no one wanted to sit next to pretty much anywhere. Over the years, Laney had invited her to various events with some of her new friends, hoping they would like her, but they never did. Regardless, Dahlia was like family.

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