Page 7 of Wild Ever After
SOMEDAY THIS IS GOING TO BE ME
JADE
On Wednesday afternoon,I finally suck it up and go into work. Melody called a dozen times yesterday, but she only left one message,Tomorrow 3pm.
I worked from home this morning, perfecting my article on finding the right wedding veil. My personal life might be hanging on by a thread, but my work is still A plus, and if it’s the last article I’m ever going to write, then I want it to be the best damn article on wedding veils ever written.
I also spent the morning calling Sam on repeat. He’d already planned to be out of town for a few days, on a pseudo bachelor trip with buddies, since I’m leaving for my bachelorette party tonight, but I didn’t expect him to go radio silent after the bomb he dropped on Monday. We need to talk. We have to talk.
“Come in,” Melody calls, as I linger in her open doorway.
Her office is large and luxurious. It’s creams and pinks, very on-brand for the whole bridal magazine editor-in-chief gig. She has a walking treadmill that she uses every day over lunch. Magazine covers of popular editions from the past twenty years are framed behind her desk. I’m always inspired when I walk into this office. I get thatsomeday this is going to be mefeeling.
I take a deep breath as I sit in a plush chair in front of her desk and place both trembling hands in my lap. “I’m sorry for the scene Monday during the fitting. That shouldn’t have happened there.”
“No, it shouldn’t have. It was unprofessional and tacky, and if any of the women at that store decided to talk and spill your big secret, your career would be over and mine would be tarnished.” Her tone isn’t threatening, but I still want to pee my pants.
Panic rises in my chest.
“But it did happen.” She sits forward in her chair. “So, let’s focus on cleaning up the mess instead of living in it.”
“You aren’t mad I lied to you?”
“I don’t have time to be mad. The magazine is throwing a wedding in three days, and we have no groom.”
“Sam will be there.”
She arches a perfectly sculpted brow. “Don’t make promises to me you can’t keep. Have you two made up?”
I consider lying, but what’s the point now? “Not yet. He’s at his bachelor party.”
“He still went. That’s a good sign.”
I don’t share her optimism. Sam wouldn’t even call it a bachelor party. It was just a couple days fishing with his buddies that happened to coincide with my bachelorette party.
“What else, Jade?”
“What do you mean?”
“How much of what you told me is true?” She reaches for a bottle of hand lotion, opens it, and rubs it in while she stares me down.
“Our engagement may have started less conventionally than I led on, but Sam and I love each other. That part is true. He wants to get married.” Or he wanted to before I screwed everything up.
“I don’t like being used. I care for it even less when it impacts my job. The Board of Directors is expecting a wedding. A very decadent and press-filled wedding.”
The reminder of the additional media covering the wedding temporarily knocks the air from my lungs. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m going to figure this out. I promise. Worst case scenario, I’ll write about being stood up at the altar.”
The thought of that makes my entire body scream with humiliation, but I would do it. Better to lose my pride than everything else.
“Absolutely not.” Melody swivels in her chair and glances up at the framed magazines on the wall. “We are aweddingmagazine. We sell love, engagements,marriage, and happily ever afters. Do you think hopeful brides and grooms across the world want to read about your failed engagement?” She shakes her head. “We are having a wedding Saturday. One that ends with two people saying, I do. If you can’t find a groom, I will.”
I chuckle nervously. “You would find me a groom?”
“Yes. Tim in accounting has a crush on you. I overheard him talking in the break room. I’m sure he’d be willing to step in for a promotion.”
“Tim, the guy who always has food stains on his tie and smells like garlic?”
She sighs, like I should be way more excited about Tim as a potential prospect. What in the world is happening?
