Page 2 of Jilted Jock
I checked my watch even though he just told me it was five ‘til.
“She’s gotta be here somewhere. She’s not showing up late to her own wedding.” If I knew Cindy, she’d been here since early this morning making sure everything was just perfect. I took out my phone and saw I’d missed a text from her. “She just texted, I’ll see where she’s at.”
Taking a step away, I pulled up her message.
Cindy: I’m not coming. Please don’t hate me. It’s for the best. Mom and Dad will take care of everything.
My knees buckled and I steadied myself on a metal pole holding up the tent. Was this a joke? I glanced to Foster for confirmation. Surely if this was some big charade to pull one over on me and get me riled up, he was in on it. He stared back at me with a blank expression.
“Tell Pastor Smith to skip the reading.”
“But—”
“No stupid reading,” I said more sternly as I tapped on Cindy’s name and put the phone to my ear.
He shrugged and took off.
“Everything alright?” Chance asked.
I didn’t dare look at him as the phone rang. No answer. I called back.
“You’ve reached Cindy—” Her chipper voicemail kicked in again. I hung up and then pressed the damn call button harder, as though sheer force and persistence would make her answer.
Chance watched me while I paced back and forth. My palms tingled and the weight of the diamond bracelet still in my hand grew heavy.
The line connected to silence and I froze waiting for her to say something. One, two long seconds passed.
“Cindy?”
“Yeah, sorry, I’m here.” Her voice sounded small and far away.
“Oh, thank God.” My lungs filled with air. “Where are you? And what do you mean you’re not coming?”
Chance made a little choking sound, but I ignored him.
“I can’t do this, Finn.”
“Do what, exactly?”
“Get married.”
I smiled, a little manic perhaps like this was still some big practical joke. “Little late for cold feet.”
“I’m so sorry. My parents should be arriving any minute and they’ll take care of everything. I’ve already contacted the PR office and your agent to give them a heads up.”
Christ, she was serious. The thought of telling all these people that there wouldn’t be a wedding, that I’d been left at the freaking altar like a cautionary tale, had a prickling warmth spreading over my entire body.
This wedding was two months and two party planners working full time in the making. When I’d proposed, Cindy said she wanted to get married as soon as possible. It took a small miracle to pull off this kind of extravagance in that amount of time. Two hundred guests were taking their seats as we spoke. The photographer from People was around somewhere right now snapping pictures. Pictures that would now be evidence of the most humiliating day of my life.
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Finnie. I wanted to tell you in person, but Mikey thought it’d make a bigger scene.”
“Mikey? As in Martins? My teammate?”
“Yes, Finn. Don’t be dense. We’ve been spending time together since he was traded to the team and we… we have a connection. I’m sorry. I should have talked to you last night, but then the team threw that surprise party for us and well, it didn’t seem quite right.”
“Didn’t seem quite right?” I barked out a laugh. “What about…” I trailed off unsure what exactly I wanted to ask. What about the commitment we’d made? What about our apartment? Our joint charities? And when exactly had things changed? I thought we were good. No, better than good. I thought we were untouchable. She was sewn into my life so tight.
Spots dotted my vision. The reality of what was happening washed over me.
