Nuptials for Sale (6 page)

She turned to face the press and smiled.  She was beaming as she walked towards the cameras and microphones.  She was in her element and wasn’t the least bit aware of how uncomfortable I was.

“Mrs. Holden, what do you think of your daughter’s situation?” a reporter called out to my mom as she walked towards them.

She smiled wider and gushed, “Melody’s father and I could not be happier for her.  The only regret we have is that we didn’t know anything about it until we saw it on the news!”

My mom was going to milk her fifteen minutes for all it was worth.  There was no way she was going to give up the opportunity to be seen
and
give me a guilt trip. 

“Do you mean that you had no idea they were even engaged until you saw them on Wake up America yesterday?” a different reporter shouted out from the crowd.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” my mom laughed bogusly, “I saw the video on the local news before they were on Wake up America!”

“Josh, are you and Melody excited about the wedding next week?” a reporter shouted out.

“Of course they are!” My mom jumped in to answer for him, “What young couple in love wouldn’t be excited about their wedding?  We are all just so excited and grateful to SuperMart, Wake up America, and all the others who have given so much to Josh and Mel.”  She grabbed both of our arms and squeezed us to her.

“Josh, since your wedding will be free, where are you two planning to honeymoon?” a female reporter asked with a cute smile directed at him. 

He blushed and smiled back.  Part of me wondered if I was supposed to act jealous over her obvious flirtation, but I was too overwhelmed by the big picture to do anything but be dragged along by the crowd.

“We haven’t even had time to think about,” Josh answered.

The shouting continued as we kept walking through the airport.  My mom was still between us, rambling on about something involving my relatives.  Thankfully, we only had the bags we’d carried on, so there was no need to stop at Baggage Claim.  Both my wedding dress and Josh’s tuxedo were set to be delivered to the apartment by the end of the week.

We piled into my mom’s car, since we’d taken a cab to the airport the day before.   My mom waved to the cameras as we drove out of the parking lot.

“How did they know we were coming back today?” I asked when they were finally out of sight.

“I told them.  They’ve been all over us since yesterday morning.  I’ve done several interviews already,” my mom remarked casually.

“Who exactly is
us
?” Josh asked from the backseat.

“Everyone’s had their turn!  Mel’s dad, me, some of your friends from high school, we’ve all done interviews!”

I swirled around and looked at Josh, whose face was white as a ghost.

“I have to tell you, some of your friends have said the most adorable things about you.  Don’t worry dear. I had your father tape it all on the VCR so you can watch it when we get home.”  My mom was still rambling but I turned back to stare at the road ahead of us.

7.

My mom had not been exaggerating when she said everyone had been talking to the press.  In one clip, our high school gym teacher was interviewed.

“It was good to see Mr. Griffin again.  He’s not looking too bad.” Josh had commented the first time we’d watched the gym teacher’s interview.

“This is ridiculous.  I don’t understand how this is happening.  How is everyone believing this?”

“Maybe we’re very convincing, Trip.” Josh answered.  He seemed to be hiding something from me, and I thought I had seen him blush a few times as we’d watched our friends’ interviews. 

I rolled my eyes at him, “I doubt that.”  I pulled my feet up to the couch and under me.  “My mom has always thought you had a thing for me, but how in the world did you get all those other people to say all that stuff?” 

Josh shrugged nonchalantly and a faint blush appeared again, “I talked to a few people yesterday before I came back to the hotel.”

“Well, they are either making us look really believable or making it very difficult for us to wiggle out of this whole thing.  Have you thought of a plan yet?” I took a sip of my hot tea. 

“We’ve only been back for a few hours Mel, when was I supposed to think of this master plan?” Josh snapped at me and got up from the couch. 

I opened my mouth to snap back at him, but he went into his bedroom and slammed the door shut.  I waited an hour for him to come back out, but he never did.  I knocked on his door but he didn’t answer. 

Dejected, I went to bed.

When I got up the next morning, I expected to see Josh in his boxers at the kitchen table, but the table was empty.  A dirty cereal bowl was sitting in the sink where he had dumped it before leaving.

I still had the day off, but I didn’t want to leave the house.  I cleaned for a few hours and then sat on the couch.  I waited until the afternoon before I plugged the phone back in and turned on my cell phone.

“You have fifteen new messages.”  The annoying robotic woman from my voicemail told me when I turned my phone on.

I listened to them one by one and deleted them in turn.  Most of the messages were from my mom asking me to call her with details about the wedding.  A few coworkers had called to congratulate me and tell me they’d seen me on television.  My friends had called to congratulate me and fuss at me for keeping my relationship with Josh a secret from them.  The last two calls were from the producer at Wake up America. 

“Hey Mel, this is Sam West from Wake up America.  I called to confirm some of the details for the wedding.  We’ve made a few promos for it, and so far we are getting amazing feedback.  Everyone is very excited about this!”

An awful feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach. 

I deleted Sam’s first message and moved on to the last.

“Hey Mel, it’s Sam again.  I tried calling Josh, but his phone is off too, so I’m leaving this message with both of you.  I’ve arranged for the two of you to be interviewed with your local CBS affiliate, I believe that’s WVBC.  They’ll be calling you guys to give you more details, like the place and exact time.  We’re hoping to get some good clips to build more promos for the big event.  Okay, well, I’ll be coming into town next Monday to do the final set up of everything, so I guess I’ll see you then.”

I deleted the message, tossed the phone down onto the couch, and headed to my room to hide under my covers. 

I woke up after ten p.m. and crawled out of the bed.  All the lights were still on, and so was the television.  Everything was exactly as I’d left it, which was surprising since Josh was usually home by six.

“Josh!” I called out to him as I walked down the hall.  I knocked on his door, but didn’t hear a response.  I opened the door hesitantly, and poked my head inside.  The room was a total disaster, but it was clear that he hadn’t been home since the morning.

It wasn’t like Josh to go out without coming home first, or at least calling me to see if I wanted to go with him.  I closed his door and sat down on the couch.  My cell phone was still sitting there, so I reached for it and dialed Josh’s number.  It rang two times and then went to voicemail.  Usually, when his phone was off, it would ring four times before going to voicemail. 

I tried to stay up and wait for him, but by midnight, I was too tired to wait any longer.  I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and curled up on the couch. 

I woke up again just before four in the morning.  The television was off and the only light on was the one in the hallway.  Josh must have come home. 

This time when I knocked on his door I got a response.

“Josh?” I called his name because I couldn’t decipher what he had said.

“Who else would it be?” he said groggily.

I blushed as I spoke, “Are you alone?  Can I come in?”

“Yes, and if you must.”

I opened the door slowly.  His light was off, but I could just barely make out his figure lying in the bed with the light from the hallway. 

“What is it?”

I stopped inside the doorway, “Did you get the message about the interview?”

He rolled over to face me, “Yes, it’s this Friday at one.  They called me this evening to set it up.  I tried to set it up during your lunch break so you won’t have to miss any work.”

“Oh okay, thanks.” 

“Is that it?  I’m kind of tired.”

His tone surprised and hurt me a little. 

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”  I turned back to the door.

“Don’t forget to shut the hall light off before you go to bed,” he said and then I heard him roll over in the bed.

I didn’t respond.  I shut the door to his room and stood in the hallway.  I flicked the light switch and turned the light off, just like he’d asked, but instead of heading to my room, I just sat down in the hallway.

Josh had never snapped at me like that before.  There had been a few times that he’d raised his voice at me, but he’d always apologized as soon as he realized it.  The way he’d spoken to me tonight was shocking.

I pulled my knees up and put my head in my hands.  This whole thing had mixed everything up. 

Josh’s door opened up and I looked up to see him standing above me.  He was only wearing his boxers and I watched him in the dim light of the nightlight in the bathroom.  He stretched, yawned, and walked into the bathroom, all without noticing me in the hall. 

Thankfully, from where I was seated, I couldn’t see anything but I could hear everything.  I put my hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh.  Josh flushed and then the hall went dark as he headed back to his room.  I kept my hand over my mouth, but a small giggle escaped and when it did, Josh jumped and shrieked like a girl.

“Sorry! So sorry!” I said apologetically through my giggles.

“What the hell are you doing in the hall?” he shouted at me as he clutched his chest and fell back against the wall.

My giggles subsided and I answered, “I don’t know.  I just never made it to my room after I left yours.”

Josh slid down the wall and sat across from me in the hall.  He still looked a little frazzled from finding me in the hall.

“Did you wash your hands?” I asked suspiciously.

Josh grinned, “I didn’t use my hands.”

“Gross, Josh!  I just cleaned that bathroom.  I hope you have good aim.”

He laughed, “I’m just kidding.”

I eyed him suspiciously and he just grinned at me.

“I’ve been thinking about our situation,” he said quietly after a few seconds of silence.

“So have I,” I whispered back.

He stared down at his hands in his lap.  “Look Trip, I’m really sorry about snapping at you last night and again tonight.  I was just overwhelmed with everything and I took it out on you.  I’m sorry.”  

I tapped him playfully with my foot, “It’s all good.  I put too much pressure on you to figure this whole thing out.  It’s just as much my fault as it is yours.” 

He looked up and I gave him a smile.  Josh sighed and smiled back.

“Okay, so I’ve been thinking about it and I think that we can use Friday’s interview to set everything right.  We’ll just tell the truth and deal with whatever comes next.  We haven’t actually taken any of the free stuff,” he looked down at my hand, “except that ring, of course.”