Page 113 of Summer Weddings
To add insult to injury, Mitch stepped back and did precisely as she asked.
By the time Bethany had walked home—having refused Mitch’s offer of a ride—she was sobbing openly. Tears had frozen to her face. The worst part was that sheknewhow ridiculous she was being. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter.
She was weeping uncontrollably—because she couldn’t have a pizza delivered. Mitch seemed to think all she needed was a weekend in Fairbanks. Except that he didn’t suggest the two of them fly in together.
“Fairbanks,” she said under her breath. “How’sthatgoing to help?”
Restless and discontented, Bethany found she couldn’t bear to sit around the house and do nothing. She was lonely and heartbroken. This type of misery preyed on itself; what she needed was some kind of distraction. And some sympathy…
On impulse, she phoned Mariah Douglas, who was living in Catherine Fletcher’s house now. She hoped she could talk Mariah into inviting her over. Mariah sounded pleased to hear from her and even said she had a bottle of wine in the fridge.
Before long, the two of them sat in the living room, clutching large glasses of zinfandel and bemoaning their sorry fate. It seemed that Mariah shared Bethany’s melancholy mood. Not long afterward, Sally McDonald and Angie Hughes, Mariah’s housemates,showed up and willingly raided their own stashes of wine and potato chips.
Bethany acknowledged that it felt good to talk with female friends, to divulge her woes to others who appreciated their seriousness. Soon it wasn’t the lack of a decent pizza they were complaining about, but a bigger problem: the men in their lives.
“He wants me gone, you know,” Mariah said, staring into her wineglass with a woebegone look. “He takes every opportunity to urge me to leave Hard Luck. I don’t think August will come soon enough for him. I’ve…tried to be a good secretary, but he always flusters me.”
Bethany knew Mariah was referring to Christian O’Halloran and wondered what prompted the secretary to stay when her employer had made his views so plain.
Then Bethany understood. Mariah was staying for the same reasons she was.
Bethany swirled the wine in her goblet. Her head swam, and she realized she was already half-drunk. A single glass of wine and she was tipsy. That said a lot about her social life.
“Let’s go to Fairbanks!” she said excitedly. Although she’d rejected Mitch’s suggestion out of hand, it held some appeal now. Escape by any means available was tempting, especially after a sufficient amount of wine.
“You want to leave for Fairbanks now?” Mariah asked incredulously.
“Why not?” Sally McDonald asked. Of them all, Sally was the one with the least to complain about—at least when it came to men. She and John Henderson had become engaged over the Christmas holidays.
“I don’t fly. Do you?” Mariah asked. They looked at each other, then broke into giggles.
“I don’t fly, either,” Bethany admitted. “But we aren’t going to let a little thing like the lack of a pilot stop us,are we? Not when we live in a town chock-full of them.”
“You’re absolutely right.” Mariah’s eyes lit up and she wagged her index finger. “Duke’ll do it. He’s scheduled for the mail run first thing in the morning and we’ll tag along. Now, which of you girls is coming? No,arecoming. No…”
There weren’t any other volunteers. “Then it’s just Beth and me. No, Beth andI…”
It was at this point that Bethany realized her friend was as tipsy as she was. “How will we get back?”
“I don’t know,” Mariah said, enunciating very carefully. “But where there’s a way there’s a will.”
Bethany shut her eyes. That didn’t sound exactly right, but it was close enough to satisfy her. Especially when she was half-drunk and her heart dangled precariously from her sleeve.
“He doesn’t love me, you know,” she said, making her own confession.
“Mitch?”
It was time to own up to the truth, however painful.
“He cares for you, though.” This came from Sally.
Bethany fingered the gold coin that hung from the delicate chain around her neck. The gift Mitch had given her for Christmas. Touching it now, she experienced a deep sense of loss.
“Mitch does care,” she agreed in a broken voice, “but not enough.”
Mariah looked at her with sympathy and asked with forced cheer, “Who wants to go to Ben’s? A few laughs, a dance or two…”
* * *
