Kim looked skeptical. “Would you do that?”
Elly shook her head. “No. I would probably have gone back with him,” she said, pointing at herself. “Weak, remember? Well, at least I would have, until Isaac came along.” Elly smiled. “He was the one who came knocking on my door. I stopped waiting for Aaron the first time I kissed Isaac. It figures that once I’m finally getting back to good, Aaron finds me.” Her hands flopped up in exasperation. “Okay, seriously?! I got hired to do their wedding?!”
She sank back against the couch exhausted. “This would only happen to me.”
Kim rubbed her eyes. “That much is true. You are a magnet for weird situations. What are you going to do? You’re going to decline the wedding, right?”
Elly closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pillow. “Probably. It makes the most sense. I can’t think about that yet. I’m going to need a good 24 hours to just understand how this came to be.”
Kim leaned forward. “You cannot do this wedding Elly. You can’t. You don’t even allow yourself to think his NAME. How are you going to react to seeing him get married?”
“I know it. I just feel so bad for Sunny.”
“Do you think Sunny knows?”
“No. She can’t. Would you tell your mother that you met your fiancé by having an affair with your married art tutor? No, I’m sure Sunny thinks they met at a museum or something.” Elly kept her eyes closed. “I’m exhausted. I think I need to go to bed. I can’t believe I have a WEDDING tomorrow. At least it’s at the Pavilion. It should be pretty simple.”
Kim nudged Cadbury off her lap, to which he gave an annoyed moan. “Yes, yes, I know, you were comfortable. Don’t you also have to go see Isaac’s band play?”
Elly let out a huge groan, followed by an involuntary wine burp. “Oh, no! His stupid band! Everest Oppressed? Seriously, what does that even mean?” Elly attempted to stand and fell back into the couch.
“Er, let me help you inside, Elly.”
Elly looked at Kim, pushing herself up laboriously from the couch. “Kim – what would I do without you?”
“Die, probably,” retorted Kim. She waddled over and kissed Elly on the forehead. “Let’s go to bed. You’ve had a horrible day. Is it okay if I stay the night in the guest room?”
Elly sighed, but was secretly comforted that there would be someone with her in the apartment tonight. Together they descended the stairs into Elly’s apartment and turned out her lights.
In her bedroom, Elly pulled off her pants and slipped into bed, Cadbury flopping against her side in the darkness. There were a couple of minutes of silence as Elly prayed, alternately angry and pleading, all for mercy, for grace. Out of the silence, mingling with her own clipped whispers, she heard soft murmurs through the wall, drowsy and loving, as Kim talked to Sean on her phone. That is what Aaron took from me, she thought. Someone to whisper with. Her covers lay cool on her body, but Elly suddenly felt like she was suffocating. She threw the duvet off her, turning over on her stomach and facing the wall. She let a single tear run down her face.
“I thought I was done crying for you.” she breathed, the last thought before she slipped into empty drifting.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Elly’s alarm went off at 9, and then again at 10. She hit the snooze button, burying herself deeper in the covers with each passing hour. Finally, at 11 am, she awoke with a start to a loud banging on the door. She moaned and threw herself out of bed. Her head was pounding, her eyes dry and tired. Cautiously, she looked out the peephole. Snarky Teenager stood in front of the door, hand on her slim hip. Elly pulled open the door.
“Good morning” she muttered.
Snarky Teenager looked down at her. “Why aren’t you wearing pants?”
Elly blinked to attention and stepped behind the door. “What do you want?” she groaned.
Snarky Teenager blinked dumbfounded. “We have a wedding today – remember? The mother of the bride called and wants the delivery moved up two hours so that the bride can have her flowers for the pictures. We probably need to start packing up in about a half-hour. Anthony and I have been designing all morning.” She paused to catch her breath. “We know you had a rough night, but we need your direction on loading the van.”
Elly nodded, thankful for the sleep she had been allowed. “I’ll be down in ten minutes.”