When I woke up Monday morning and saw I had neither a call nor a text from her, I felt a twinge of annoyance. What if I had been in a car accident and was lying in a hospital bed and that was why I had missed her shower? She really wasn’t going to call me back to find out what happened?
By the time I got on the Metro, that annoyance had morphed into dread. She was really mad if she didn’t even care if I was dying in a hospital bed. And I didn’t know what to do—should I tell her what Caroline did and risk her not believing me? Or just act like, Oh no! Ditzy Lily screwed something up again! Please don’t hate me?
Maybe I should just quit instead of facing her again. No, I wasn’t making real money off the blog, but there had to be some other writing job that would pay the bills. I didn’t like my job anyway, I rationalized to myself. So maybe if I just didn’t go back, I could find something that I actually enjoyed doing and it wouldn’t have to be about never seeing her again.
Just get there, I told myself. Take your cues from her.
Morning, Alex texted me just before I got to Starbucks. When he asked about the shower the previous night, I hadn’t gone into detail. Just said Caroline was a nightmare and left it at that. So he didn’t know I was a wreck today.
Hey.
Left you something at Starbucks. You seemed a little down last night.
How did he know that from a couple of texts? You’re the best.
I know.
I cut the line and waved to Taylor, who pointed toward the pickup counter. The weather had flip-flopped back to cold after the previous day’s sunshine and warmth, so it was a hot coffee, not iced. Seven more weeks and you’ll be done with weddings. You’ve got this! —A was scrawled on the sleeve.
Bolstered by the knowledge that one person was still there for me, I steeled myself to see Caryn and walked the remaining three blocks to the foundation.
She looked up, annoyed, when I came into her office. Not that her eyebrows actually rose anymore, but she looked at me expectantly nonetheless.
“Caryn, I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. You said that in your voicemail.”
“I—”
“You could have at least told me you weren’t coming. When you realized you screwed up.”
“I didn’t realize I screwed up until I got there at two thirty—”
“Caroline showed me the email and the text messages, Lily. You can cut the crap.”
“What text messages?”
“She texted asking where you were and you said you thought it was at three.”
I was stunned into silence. “And the messages were from me?” I asked quietly.
“Unless she’s got another Lily Weiss in her phone who was supposed to be at my shower.” She crossed her arms.
Caroline was better than I had given her credit for. She must have changed someone else’s contact in her phone to say my name and gotten them to send a fake text from me. And there was a zero percent chance that Caryn was going to believe that was what happened because what kind of crazy person does something like that?
You’ve got this, Alex had said. I nodded to myself.
“We must have crossed wires at some point,” I said.
“How’s that?”
“I emailed her when she was talking about shower stuff and asked what time it was, and she told me three.”
“She showed me the email—”
“There was another email. And I don’t know what happened, maybe autocorrect added the one and the two for the twelve and said three but . . .” I pulled up the email on my phone and showed it to her. “And if you scroll, you can see that that was in response to my question of what time the shower was.”
“So why didn’t you ask, if there were two different time emails?”
“I must have missed the one that said twelve. Caryn, I’m really sorry, but it was an honest mistake.” She looked unsure. “I got there at two thirty to help set up and they were already cleaning up. I was devastated. I bought a Lilly Pulitzer dress to wear to it and everything. So I’d fit in.”
This finally elicited the ghost of a smile. “You? In Lilly Pulitzer?” I gestured for her to give me my phone back, and I pulled up the selfie I had taken in front of the mirror before leaving for the shower.
“Is that vintage?”
“Look, the point is I really did try and I’m so sorry that I screwed it up. I have a present for you, too, but it’s too big to bring on the Metro.”
“It was really awkward trying to explain to everyone why one of my bridesmaids was MIA.”
“I know. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I don’t know how yet, but I will.”
“Will you wear the Lilly dress to work?”
“Will that make you feel better?”
She shrugged slightly. “Maybe a little. It’ll be funny either way.”
“Then I’ll do it.” I got up to leave. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Just don’t screw up the time for the actual wedding. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, but I should matter too.”
“Unless it’s wrong on the invitation, we’re good,” I promised and went back to my office.
I wrote a blog about Caroline before I did any work. The fake text messages were a whole new level of psychotic. But one thing she had said kept coming back to me. She said Caryn didn’t need me now because she had her. Was that what this whole thing was about? She just needed to be number one in Caryn’s life? Was she making her brother’s life miserable too? Or did she sense that Caryn had been trying to impress her for most of their lives and didn’t want to lose her little minion to a less fawning friend?
After I hit “Publish,” I leaned back in my chair. It was just after ten thirty and I hadn’t done anything remotely productive. Who had time to work with all of this pettiness? But before I dug into my work emails, I texted Alex. Thanks for the coffee. Drinks after work? You won’t BELIEVE the story I have for you.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Not that I had time to dwell on Caroline’s backstabbing. As much as she claimed she wasn’t thinking about me, I truly didn’t have time to waste on her after I got it out of my system by blogging. Jake and Madison’s wedding was the following weekend and I needed to get ready for Mexico.
I was briefly jealous of my parents, who were spending four days there before the wedding and three days after—they were getting an actual vacation. I, on the other hand, would fly down on Friday, go to the wedding on Saturday, and then go home on Sunday. According to Amy, I wouldn’t even have time to lie by the pool while a bronzed cabana boy brought me drinks.
“You should stay a few more days,” she said. “Tyler and I are making it a mini pre-honeymoon.”
“Didn’t you already get one of those when you went to check out the resort with Jake?”
She shrugged. “I mean, Mom and Dad are paying, so I wasn’t going to say no. Plus I can get a little color, so the yellow dress won’t be as bad.”
My mouth dropped open. They had said they would pay for my trip if I brought Grandma. Amy was getting a free vacation with her fiancé and didn’t have to do anything but show up and not get sunburned before her wedding?
Sputtering with the unfairness of it, I called my mother.
“You should have told us you wanted to stay longer,” she said. “I don’t think your grandma would mind, but I thought you would need to get back to work. Amy’s job isn’t exactly essential.”
“Well, I want to stay longer.”
“It’s too late now. The flights and hotel rooms have already been booked.”
I spent the day fuming at my mother and sister, then did my best to shrug it off. I was still getting a free trip to Mexico after all. And if nothing else, my grandmother would provide fabulous blog material.
“This is stupid,” Grandma grumbled as she opened her door for me. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I’m not your babysitter,” I said good-naturedly. “I’m just your travel buddy today.”
“I don’t need a travel buddy.”
“Well you’ve got one. And I’m your eldest grandchild, so how about we just enjoy the time together.”
“Don’t patronize me, Joan.”
“Lily.”
“I know your name, Joan.”
“It’s Lily, but okay. Do you have everything packed?”
“Of course I do. I’m not a child!”
“Do you have your passport?”
“What do I need a passport for?” This was going to be a long day.