Page 126 of The Fiancée Farce
“I need to see her.” Make sure she was okay.
God, who was she kidding? Of course Tansy wasn’t okay.
“Maybe you should give her a little space?” Mom suggested gently, hand sweeping down Gemma’s bare back. Gemma was still clutching her wedding dress to her front.
It wasn’t what Mom had said, and probably wasn’t what she meant, but all Gemma could hear washaven’t you done enough damage?
Gemma’s lip wobbled. “Take me home?”
“Of course,” Mom agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
It took Gemma forever to work up the courage to even pull up Tansy’s contact, courage that swiftly ran out as soon as Tansy’s face smiled back at her from the screen.
Teddy had called. Max, Rochelle, and Yvonne had all texted, asking if she was okay. She’d sent Teddy to voicemail and opened up their group chat, typing out a quickI’m fine, talk later, nearly pressingsend.
It had hit her then.
Lucy was still on the recipient list.
Gemma had deleted the text and then deleted Lucy’s contact, but not before blocking her number with only the smallest pang of remorse.
After all, the best defense was a good offense.
The Van Dalens were quiet. Suspiciously quiet. Or maybe not.What reason would they have to contact her? They’d won. Not only had Gemma been publicly humiliated—something she could recover from with time—but her relationship had been discredited, her lies exposed, the evidence Tucker had stacked against her staggering and indisputable, impossible to salvage.
The annual general meeting was in five days. Tucker, Victor, Sterling—they’d won. And Gemma had lost.
Lost the company, lost one of her best friends, lost everything.
Almosteverything.
Finally,finallyshe scrounged up the courage to call Tansy, only to be greeted with her voicemail. She’d tried to type out a text, but what was she supposed to say?
Sorry I underestimated my asshole of a cousin? Sorry I didn’t see this absolute clusterfuck coming? Sorry our wedding was ruined? Sorry I dragged you into this mess? Sorry I trusted the wrong person and you were humiliated in front of a room full of strangers? Sorry—
What a worthless word.Sorry.It didn’t change anything. It didn’t magically make it all better. It didn’t undo what had happened, didn’t erase the hell she had put Tansy through.
Two months ago, the night of Tucker’s wedding, she had made Tansy a promise.
Marry me and no one has to know none of this was real. No one has to know about your lie.
She’d made other promises, too.
Promises that she wouldn’t let Tucker or anyone else in her family hurt Tansy ever again.
Promises to take care of what was hers.
All promises Gemma had broken.
Tansy had held up her end of the bargain admirably. She’d donned the dress; made it down the aisle to the altar. All for what? All for their carefully constructed plans to come crashingdown around them because Gemma had gotten cocky and placed her trust in the wrong person.
It wasn’t just Gemma who had to face the fallout and live with the consequences, but Tansy, too. Because of Gemma, Tansy had been exposed, subjected to public scrutiny, publicridicule.
Tansy deserved so much more thansorry, a word that didn’t do Gemma’s remorse justice. Tansy deserved so much more than Gemma could give her.
She deserved so much more than Gemma. So muchbetterthan Gemma.
