Page 54 of Liberating Bells
My phone chimes with a text alert. It’s Mark’s mother letting me know she’s at the front doors, and I groan. As I’m walking to the entrance, Mark’s mother spots me and waves. When I get closer, I see her plastered smile slowly morph into a scornful sneer as she takes in my flight attendant outfit.
I bite my tongue and force a smile. Let’s just get today over with.
A few wretched hours later, I find myself pounding at my best friend’s door. Juliet opens it with a flourish, smiling at me.
“Ugh, I literallycannotwith Mark’s mother,” I shout as I storm past her into the house. My friend gives me a concerned look at my rampage.
I stalk into her living room, Jules trailing after me, her son Ashton sitting on her hip.
“Oh Lord, what did she do now?” As my Matron of Honor, Juliet has seen Mark’s mother’s full intensity a few times. There was almost a showdown at my engagement party between the two of them.
“She just feels the need to nit-pick every little thing I do. If I have an extra glass of champagne or one cookie too many, she always has to comment on it.” I throw my hands in the air. “And I swear if I had a dollar for every time she said, ‘Izabel, darling, are yousurethat’s what you want?’ I wouldn’t have to accept her money to pay for my own damn wedding!”
Juliet just stares at me with her blue-ish green eyes in amusement.
“What!” I snap at her.
“Nothing,” she says quickly, shaking her head. “That’s just the most you’ve sounded like yourself in...a while.”
I feel my anger dissipate into confusion, and I my eyebrows furrow. “What does that mean?”
Jules shrugs and sits down in one of her living room chairs, placing Ashton on her knee and bouncing him up and down. “I don’t know. You just sounded like the old Izabel just now. Instead of whatever Mark has turned you into over the last few years.”
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I don’t have the mental capacity to get into it with her today. Not after everything else I’ve had to deal with over the last twenty-four hours.
“I do have a question, though,” my friend says from across the room. “Why are you wearing a scarf?”
I shoot her a glare. “I can’t accessorize?”
She holds up her hand that isn’t wrapped around her son in surrender. “Just an interesting choice.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. Juliet would lose her mind if she found out what the scarf was hiding. She fussed enough after the gala incident. The last thing I need is her on my case about this too. I can handle Mark and his temper by myself. I’m done with people trying to save me all the time. I’m a grown woman about to get married.
“Where’s Liam?” I ask, changing the subject. The house seems quiet. Usually, if Liam’s around, he’ll be blasting music or playing his video games at full volume.
Jules is busy wiping something off Ashton’s cheek—probably remnants from lunch. She glances up at me when I ask my question. “Oh, he’s at Bennett this afternoon. He’s helping Ryan coach the soccer team. Since Ryan is out of town today, Liam’s running practice.”
I frown. There was a lot of information just unloaded in her statement. “Ryan’s coaching at Bennett?” I choose to ask first.
Jules nods. “Yeah, practices started this week.”
I had forgotten sports were due to begin this week. The first day of school is just a little over a month away. I have to be up at the school with the rest of the faculty starting next week formeetings and training a few hours each day. Perks of working for a highly prestigious private school is extra hours put in over the summer. The start of school is right around the corner, and I can’t wait.
Teaching is one of my favorite things. Most kids hate history, but I enjoy telling them stories and making history more than textbook lessons.
“And you said Ryan’s out of town today?” I ask her. Aside from being pissed at me, that would explain why he ignored all my calls.
“I think he’s on site for one of his projects,” Juliet says. She and Ryan aren’t as close as he and Liam. They never have been. I know she gets all of her information secondhand.
I tap my toe on her carpeted floor. Well, this is sufficient news. Now I’ll know where Ryan will be most afternoons. I can find a way to apologize to him and hopefully smooth things over. He can’t avoid me forever.
God, do I sound crazy?
I don’t think I do. I just need to clear the air. After that, if Ryan wants nothing to do with me again, I’ll respect it. But I can’t leave things the way they are now. There’s a lot I would be willing to concede to in my life. I can deal with Mark’s mom being the literal worst, and I can probably handle Mark’s unchecked mood swings.
What I’m not prepared to deal with is Ryan hating me. The two of us got past that phase in our relationship years ago, and I’m not willing to take a step backward. I don’t care if I never see him again—been there, done that—but I need to make sure he knows that I didn’t stand him up on purpose.Loathingis no longer a word I associate with him, and I want to keep it that way.
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