The Gambler (36 page)

“Libby! Open up,” Megan shouted. She and Blair had been pounding on the front door for several minutes, but Libby couldn’t bring herself to answer. Instead, she kept rubbing the head of her anxious dog. Tortoise—sensing her emotional crisis—had barely left her side in the week she’d been home.

“Libby, I know you’re in there. Please let me in.”

Megan was supposed to be in Seattle, so what was she even doing here? But she’d completely ignored her friends’ phone calls, so she wasn’t totally surprised.

There was more pounding, harder and more insistent this time. “Open the damn door, Libby St. Clair!” Blair shouted. “You live in the damn ghetto and I’m pretty sure I’m about to get shanked.”

“Blair!” Megan protested.

Libby climbed to her feet and moved to the door, Tortoise at her side the entire time. After releasing the deadbolt, she swung the door open, revealing Megan in jeans and a plum peacoat and Blair in her business attire—attaché case and all. This didn’t look like a friendly visit.

Blair’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly shut it and waved her hand in front of her face. “Good God. When was the last time you showered?”

Libby leaned against the doorframe. She couldn’t remember, but she didn’t really care. The yoga pants and T-shirt she was wearing had been intimate companions for several days now. “Go away, Blair.”

“Sorry, Libs.” Blair pushed past her and walked into the house. “This is an intervention.”

Tortoise hunched down next to Libby and released a low growl.

Blair stopped in her tracks. “Your new dog’s really friendly. Is it part pit bull?”

Libby’s shoulders stiffened. “
He
is a Lab mix. And you just pushed your way into my house. He’s protective.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you have some sort of protection in this neighborhood.”

“What do you want?” Libby asked, already exhausted from this exchange.

Megan followed Blair inside, eyeing the dog. “Libs. We just want to talk to you.”

Ignoring them, Libby bent over and rubbed Tortoise’s head. “It’s okay, boy.” Then she stood upright and headed back to the sofa, where she plopped down next to her nest of pillows. “Let’s get this over with. Say whatever it is you have to say, then get the hell out. I’m sure you feel vindicated.”

Tortoise sat on the floor in front of her, keeping his gaze on Libby’s friends.

Megan shut the door and eyed the messy room. She opened the lid of the pizza box on the coffee table and cringed, then carried it into the kitchen. “That’s not why we’re here.”

“Obviously.”

Blair grabbed a kitchen chair and dragged it into the living room in front of Libby. “Sarcasm won’t help.”

“Nothing will help.” She hadn’t meant to sound so defeated, but it was true.

Megan sat in the overstuffed chair between Libby and Blair. “We’re worried about you. This isn’t like you.”

“You expect me to be all sunshine and rainbows? Sorry to disappoint you there too.”

“Libby,” Megan said apologetically.

“Enough,” Blair barked, pulling a legal pad and a pen from her case. “I’m here to get the facts. Are you legally married to Noah?”

“You saw the photo,” she sneered. “What do you think?”

Blair put the notebook on her lap. “From what little information Josh was able to get from Noah, you left him less than twenty-four hours after your wedding. Did you mail the marriage license to the courthouse?”

Libby stared at her in shock.

“
Was
there a marriage license?”

“Well, of course.”

Blair gave a half-shrug. “Not necessarily. If you were drunk, you might not have thought about it, although the chapels out there usually ask.”

Libby groaned and leaned her head back against the sofa. “I told you. We weren’t drunk. We were perfectly sober when we got married.”

“So what happened to the license? Did you take it?”

She sighed, thinking back to the best night of her life. How had it crashed and burned so quickly? “No, we didn’t take it. In fact, I forgot my dress there.”

“Your wedding dress?” Megan asked.

Tears filled her eyes. “No, the black dress Gram packed in my bag.”

“What black dress?” Megan asked, but then she shook her head and smiled. “She wanted me to pack that sexy cocktail dress she found in your closet. She must have snuck it in when I was grabbing your makeup bag.”

That and several other things she’d never needed. Tears spilled down her cheeks before she realized it. “I left my wedding dress in the hotel room in Vegas.”

“Oh, Libby,” Megan’s voice broke. “I’m so sorry I was such a bitch. I’ve been a terrible friend.”

“That’s not what we’re discussing at the moment,” Blair said in her no-nonsense voice, but she sniffed and kept her eyes down on her legal pad. “What was the name of the chapel?”

“Little Heaven. Why?”

Blair scratched notes on her legal pad. “I’ll have Melissa give them a call to see what happened to it.”

“Why?”

Blair looked up and gave her an exasperated look. “We need to file the annulment papers as soon as possible, although I suspect we won’t have grounds if you continue to insist you were sober. It could end in divorce instead, but given your career, it shouldn’t adversely affect you.”

“Annulment?” she asked in surprise.

“Libby. You’re here. He’s there. It’s obvious this is over. Let’s put an end to it as quickly as possible.”

“But . . .” How had she not considered the legal ramifications? Of course they needed to file for a divorce, but the thought had her on the edge of a panic attack.

“Do you have a physical address for Noah?”

“Why?” Her voice sounded as panicked as she felt.

Blair shrugged again, writing on her notepad. “It’s okay. I can use the address of their office in Seattle. It’s probably better to serve him there.”

“Serve him what?”

She looked up and rolled her eyes. “Divorce papers, of course.”

“But . . .” More tears fell.

Blair looked up and pinned her gaze on Libby, although Libby could barely see her through her tears. “Do you love him?”

“Blair,” Megan admonished as she sat next to Libby and pulled her into a hug. Megan stroked her hair. “Libs, do you love him?”

She nodded, breaking down into sobs.

“Then why are you here instead of Seattle?”

“Because . . . I’m so . . . stupid,” she forced out.

“What did you do?”

She took a breath to settle down. “I accused him of cheating on me.”

“What?” Blair demanded. “Is there something I don’t know?”

“Blair. Enough. We’ve caused enough damage,” Megan said softly, keeping her eyes on Libby. “Libs, what happened?”

“I started freaking out after you called me. It didn’t make sense for him to be in a business meeting if he’d really quit his job. There was a message on the phone in our room . . . from a woman. She called Noah by name and asked him to meet her in a hotel room. I freaked out and went to the room.”

“And?” Megan asked.

“A woman opened the door with a champagne glass in her hand. I thought I had gotten it wrong since she was fully clothed and so perky, but then she said something to Noah—calling him by name again—and I marched in and found him sitting on the bed drinking champagne.”

“Naked?” Blair asked.

She shook her head. “No. He had all his clothes on.”

“So what was his excuse?” Blair asked.

“He said it was a business meeting. He said he’d closed some deal for Josh. I accused him of lying, especially when he admitted that he’d slept with her before.”

Megan took her hand. “He was telling the truth about the business meeting. He was working on that deal for a couple of months and the whole thing fell apart on the Friday he was supposed to fly in for your wedding. Josh wasn’t very nice to him about it, so Noah quit.”

Libby’s chin quivered. She was such a fool.

“But that doesn’t explain why he didn’t tell you about quitting his job,” Blair pointed out.

“He said it was because of everything I was going through.”

A soft smile lit up Megan’s face. “He was thinking about you instead of himself. He was being selfless, Libs.”

“I know that now.” A sob broke off the last word.

“I was wrong.” Megan glanced over at Blair. “
We
were wrong. We couldn’t look past Noah’s history to see what was right in front of our faces.” She paused and squeezed Libby’s hand. “He loves you, Libby. I had no idea how much until I saw him yesterday. He’s a mess.”

“He is?” she asked, feeling guilty at the relief she felt over his pain.

“He knows he screwed up by not telling you about his job, and I’d bet my life that he didn’t cheat on you. He loves you too much to think about another woman.”

“I love him too.”

“Then what’s keeping you apart?”

Before her plane took off from Vegas, she’d realized how wrong she’d been. A small part of her hung on to the belief that Noah had cheated on her, but now Megan was bashing that belief to smithereens. It made her heart ache for him even more . . . all the pain she’d caused him. “I—I hurt him. I was horrible. He’ll never forgive me.”

“Do you know how he answered when Josh and I asked him why he wouldn’t just come talk to you?” She paused. “He says he doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t want to hurt you any more than he already has.”

“You have a choice, Libby,” Blair said, her voice softer than before. “You can keep running away from love or you can live your life with a man you clearly love—a man who loves you just as much.” Her voice broke. “I almost missed that chance with Garrett, Libs. Don’t let Noah go. You’d regret it for the rest of your life.”

Megan squeezed her hand. “Libs, Noah is your soul mate. The man who showed up and saved you from the marriage you weren’t meant to have. You can’t give him up. He’s the man the fortune teller foretold. The one you’re destined to marry.”

She shook her head. “You don’t believe in the curse.”

Megan smiled. “Don’t you see? You’ve made us believers. We were just too obstinate to admit you were right. There
is
magic in the world.” Her eyes shimmered with tears. “What I have with Josh is magic, and what you’ve found with Noah is magic too. I mean, come on. Noah McMillan, confirmed bachelor, is holed away from the world because he can’t handle losing you. Who could have predicted that? You changed him, Libby. And he’s miserable without you.”

“She’s right,” Blair said softly. “What were the chances of me seeing Garrett before my wedding, let alone him being in the wedding party?” She leaned forward. “You spent weeks convincing us to admit the curse was real. It’s our turn now. Noah is the man you’re supposed to be with. Don’t throw that away.”

Libby started crying again. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say.”

Megan smiled through her own tears. “Go to him. I bet you don’t have to even say a word. Just show up and that will be explanation enough.”

“So?” Blair asked.

Libby nodded. “Yes. I’ll go.”

Megan beamed as Blair pulled an envelope out of her bag and handed it to her. “Then here’s a wedding present from me and Garrett.”

Libby opened it and gasped when she saw an airline ticket voucher. “This is for this afternoon.”

“Which is why you better get your sorry ass in the shower. I know the man loves you, but there is a limit to how much one person’s olfactory nerves can take.”

Libby launched herself at her friend, throwing her arms around her neck. “I love you, Blair.”

“I love you too.” Her voice broke. “Thanks for not kicking me out after being such a bitch. Especially given my bad-cop role in this part of the intervention. But Megan and I figured we needed to shock you into going to him.”

“How did you know it would work?”

“Because, if someone had suggested that I divorce Garrett after our first fight, I would have freaked out just like you did. I had to make sure you really loved him.”

Megan snorted. “Because the fact she looks like shit wasn’t proof enough.”

“And don’t forget the way she smells.”

Libby laughed. “Hey!”

“We’re so sorry, Libby,” Megan said. “You did everything in your power to help the two of us find the perfect partners and we let you down.”

“I still haven’t decided if I’m going to forgive you,” she said with a grin.

“Which is why I’m hoping your wedding gift from me and Josh will bribe us back into your good graces.” Megan gave a sheepish grimace. “We bought Tortoise a ticket to fly with you in the baggage compartment. He’s too big to ride with you.” She held up her hands when she saw Libby start to freak out. “It’s perfectly safe. I stopped at the pet store before we came and got the carrier they recommended for him to fly comfortably.”

Libby shook her head in shock. “Why would you do that?”

“Because Blair and Garrett got you a one-way ticket, and we know how much you love your dog.”

“You better get in the shower,” Blair said, sounding gruff. “Megan and I will start packing your clothes. I’ve paid for you to bring three bags and I figured you’d want to bring your camera equipment in your carry-on. You and Noah can come back and get the rest later.”

Tears flooded Libby’s eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

Blair swallowed, but a tear fell down her cheek. “Just promise you’ll come back to see us more often than Megan did before she married Josh.”

“We’ll probably be back for business.”

“Not necessarily,” Megan said, subdued. “Noah refuses to take his job back.”

“Oh.”

“Does that change anything?” Blair asked.

She shook her head. “No. I just need to get to him.”

Her friends pushed her toward the bathroom and she climbed into the shower. They kept barging into the bathroom to ask her which clothes to pack. Tortoise sensed something was up and began to pace nervously.

“Oh! Food for Tortoise!” Libby exclaimed once she was packed and ready to go.

“I know this may come as a shock,” Megan said. “But we have dog food in Seattle.”

Libby stuck out her tongue as she scooped some of Tortoise’s dry food into a Ziploc bag and slipped it into her purse.

“I think I’m ready.”