Page 89 of Sweet Chaos
“I’ll bet,” I muttered, not bothering to point out that today was Saturday.
“Good news. Your father was able to pull a few strings at the club. So the date is set for the last Saturday in October. It’s a lovely time of year to get married.”
“They’re getting married at Bellavista? But I thought Sienna wanted to get married in—”
“It’s perfect,” my mother said. “Your father has already paid the deposit. So we need to get moving. Two weeks from today we have a busy day planned. We’ll start with brunch on the verandah at the club at eleven so we can sample the menu and choose a cake. Followed by dress shopping. I’d prefer to do it the other way around, but we’ll have to limit our intake so we’re not bloated…”
I paced the terrace. I couldn’t do this. How could I be my sister’s maid of honor? I couldn’t. The very idea was giving me heart palpitations. The wedding wasn’t supposed to be until next spring but now it was only a little over four months away. Which made my need to tell Sienna more imminent. “Mom, I have to work that Saturday, I can’t—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is your sister’s wedding. Besides, it’s not like you have a real job. Ask for the day off.”
“Mom, I—”
“Have you seen my watch?” Dylan called from inside. I turned as he appeared on the terrace in a white linen button-down cuffed to his elbows—white—and shorts. He looked delicious, good enough to eat. I held my finger to my lips, pleading with my eyes for him to keep his mouth shut. His brows rose in question and I mouthed.My mom. I thought that would have him running for the hills, but he plopped down on the daybed as if he didn’t want to miss a word of this conversation.
“Who’s that?” my mom asked. “Who are you with?”
I turned my back to Dylan so I wouldn’t have to see his face when I betrayed him. “It’s, um… it’s nobody.” I squeezed my eyes shut. Dylan was not ‘nobody.’ “I need to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I cut the call and winced as I turned around to face Dylan.
“Am I your dirty little secret, Starlet?”
“No. Yes. But I don’t want you to be. I need to tell Sienna. I can’t keep doing this.”
“You want me to tell her?”
“What? No. You’d do that?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Why not?” His eyes narrowed on me. “We’re in this together, right?”
“Right. And I swear on my life that I’m going to tell her. But it has to come from me. I’m seeing her in two weeks so I’ll tell her then.” The thought of it made me feel sick to my stomach. I took a few deep breaths, trying to keep the nausea at bay. Oh my god, I was going to be sick.
“You okay?”
I mustered a smile and nodded. He wasn’t fooled.
“Hey. It’s going to be okay,” he assured me, sounding more confident than I felt.
I nodded again, wanting to believe him but I knew in my heart it wasn’t true. It wouldn’t be okay. But it was his birthday and tonight we were celebrating and I didn’t want to think of how Sienna would react to the news that I was in love with her ex-boyfriend. “I need to get ready for dinner.”
“You look ready.”
“I need to do my makeup.”
“You don’t need that shit.”
“I want to make an effort. We’re going out in public.”
“Let me do it.”
I laughed at the ridiculousness of that, but he was dead serious. “Do you know how? Have you ever done it before?”
“If you don’t like it, you can wash your face.”
“Okay,” I said, perplexed but intrigued as I walked my makeup bag over to him and handed him his Omega Speedmaster that I’d found in my bag. He patted the coffee table in front of him and I sat on it, my legs between his spread ones while he studied my face like he was a cosmetician at a makeup counter.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded, a smug look on his face like he had this all figured out.
I did as he said and heard him rooting around in my makeup bag. This whole thing was so ridiculous, I couldn’t stop laughing. “What are you doing?”
