THE JUNIOR BRIDESMAID (14 page)

“Delilah,” he
whispered as he pushed me to arms length and looked into my eyes. He shook his
head. But it wasn’t in denial. I could tell that much. He was asking for
forgiveness. “I thought you two were friends when I told her,” he hurried to
explain. “She asked how we met. How long we’ve been friends. Why you left
Virginia. It just didn’t occur to me that you never shared that with her. I
thought you two were…close,” he breathed.

Was that actually
how his sharing my embarrassment went down? Or was Hugh still so angry about
what I’d done at his wedding so many years ago that he wanted to return the
favor and ransack my life? He knew how devastated I was after the wedding. How
could he have shared that event so carelessly? As I tried to discern if Hugh’s
version of the story was true, the image of him and Stacey sitting across from
each other at lunch assailed me. And all I could recall was the brilliant smile
plastered on Hugh’s face and Stacey’s head thrown back bursting out in laughter
at whatever he’d shared. What else could have possibly given Stacey so much
satisfaction?

I had been set up.

He must have done
it on purpose.

As the hard
blanket of betrayal crushed me, I decided a good dose of honesty would do our
farce of a relationship a well of good. “I didn’t ask to join Norstride, Hugh.
Or to move to Virginia, for that matter. Stacey set me up. I just can’t believe
that you came all this way to help her do it.” I didn’t say anymore. I
couldn’t. I was angry. Angry that Hugh sat at a table across from Stacey,
enjoyed a meal with her at one of my favorite restaurants and then teamed up
with her to destroy my life. As it turned out, my initial suspicions of Hugh’s
true ulterior motives were correct. All along he had been out for revenge.

Unable to stare at
him another moment, I stepped away, grabbed my little purse off of the table
and headed toward the front door.

“Delilah, don’t,”
Hugh called after me. “Please!” He called louder as the distance between us
grew.

I passed Steven
along the way to the exit. It was impossible to miss the proud-poppa smile he
was wearing.

“It won’t be easy
without you, Dee. But I will find it in my heart to be happy for you even if I
am going to miss you when you’re gone. Stacey said that you’ve been looking to
move back to Virginia for a long time now. I’m glad they accepted your request
and you got what you wanted. Congratulations.”

I couldn’t look at
Steven. I barely heard his praise or endorsement as I walked by him
expressionless. All I could focus on was one thing.

I got totally
played.

But not just by
Stacey. By Hugh, as well.

Chapter 10

I heard the
intercom buzz to life. It had been doing that a lot. I glanced at the clock.

Huh.

I hadn’t even
realized that it had been hollering intermittently for over an hour. But since
I had no intention of answering it, whoever was looking for me was in for a
long night.

Hours earlier I
had dazedly dragged myself through my front door. I was welcomed home by a
voicemail message from the guy who I sublet the apartment from. Apparently he
was in Amsterdam. He had received my email that I was moving to Virginia.
“Congratulations, Girlfriend. Heard you’re Virginia bound. Way to go,” he
slurred enthusiastically. He sounded genuinely happy for me, which I found
irritating. To be perfectly honest, he sounded stoned and happy for me. He
certainly didn’t sound the least bit concerned about my news of vacating his
apartment on such short notice. But then again why would he? His message stated
that he already had someone who was taking over the lease and if he came to
look at the apartment it was okay for me to let him in. Some guy named William
Krakow.

Fabulous.

Will was in on the
action, too. Was there anyone in my life that wasn’t on a mission to fuck me
over? I just couldn’t believe it.

I looked around my
apartment wondering how long I had before I was out on the street. He hadn’t
mentioned when Will would be moving in. And of course not being privy to the
email that Stacey sent, I had no idea what she had told him. Needless to say, I
totally underestimated how evil Stacey could be. She had decimated my entire life
with the help of the man that I had spent the better part of my life pining
over.

It wouldn’t be
long before I was out of my rent stabilized apartment, out of the job that I
had spent six years dedicating every waking hour to, and out of the city that
had become my home.

The buzzing of the
intercom resumed, cutting through the murky thoughts that were swamping my
brain. I turned to look at the speaker and told it to shut up as if it would
understand and immediately comply. And oddly it did.

“Had I known that
would work I would have tried it sooner,” I confessed to my intercom out loud.

I pushed myself
out of my comfy club chair clutching the handmade throw that Grandma Bertha
made me to my chest. As I made my way languidly to the kitchen to deposit the
martini glass that I had made quick work of emptying twice, a loud banging on
my front door had me jumping out of my skin. My jerky response forcefully
launched my last olive across the room.

Damn.

I always saved my
olives, which were the best part, for last.

“Delilah!” the
angry voice boomed. “Open this door right now.”

I froze solid,
practically mid step, trying to control my breathing so I could pretend that I
wasn’t home.

But my heart was
racing so wildly I feared that he could hear it pounding from the other side of
my front door. And that was with the effects of two very strong martinis.
Imagine if I wasn’t under the influence of the most commonly imbibed depressant
known as alcohol.

As I did my best
to remain stone silent, I heard the bell on the elevator ding indicating its
arrival on my floor. Hoping Hugh had given up and decided to call it a night, I
tiptoed toward my front door to look through the peephole.

I couldn’t prevent
the squeal that burst from my lungs as a key smoothly slid into the lock and
the door handle began to twist open. I retreated as quickly as I could to put
as much distance as possible between me and the front door. I found myself half
sitting (one butt cheek only) on my trusty, all-purpose ice cream table. All
the effects of my pocket book threatening to lodge up my ass.

The door swung
open so quickly it bounced back after rebounding off of the rubber stopper that
was strategically placed to prevent any wall damage.

“There. Happy
now?” Davis said impatiently holding a hand out in my direction. “She’s alive
and well.” Then he looked back at me reassessing my appearance. “Well maybe
‘well’ is too strong a word. But she is certainly alive and that was the only
reason I let you in here. So, now you can turn yourself around and leave with a
clear conscience.”

Somewhat able to
grasp why Davis might be committing a felony like breaking and entering, I
turned to Hugh to clarify what he thought he was going to accomplish standing
in my apartment. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“We’ve been
calling you for over an hour.” It was clear that he was angry. His tone sounded
impatient and his movements appeared jerky and abrasive. But what he had to be
angry about was a total and complete mystery.

“So?” I countered.

“So?” he countered
in a way that mocked my question.

“Yeah. So,” I
reiterated.

It would seem that
Hugh was losing his patience because his next response was a veritable roar.
“So, why didn’t you answer the call!?!”

“None of your damn
business!” I responded with comparable hostility through squinty eyes.

Sensing the
conversation was not moving toward a resolution, Davis took it upon himself to
diffuse the situation. “Alright,” he began as he moved toward Hugh with the
intention of escorting him out of my apartment.

Recognizing the
gesture, Hugh held up his hand to ward off Davis’ advancement. “Davis,” he
warned, “I am going to say this one time and one time only. Try to remove me
from this apartment and I am going to shove that ridiculous hat so far up your
ass that it just might come out of your mouth.”

I looked at Davis.
Davis’ hat was definitely ridiculous. But it was part of his uniform. No one in
their right mind would deliberately choose that hat to accessorize their
wardrobe. Unhappy with Hugh’s mockery of my faithful doorman’s uniform, I
jumped down
his
throat in defense.
“Don’t you talk to Davis that way! You have no right to be here, you back
stabbing son-of-a-bitch.” I peeled myself off of my little round table and took
a dominant step forward deriving strength from Grandma Bert’s afghan. “Go back
to the gala,” I instigated. “Maybe Stacey is still there. The two of you can
figure out some other way to bury me. You already got me transferred.”

I saw Davis’ head
snap in my direction. “You were transferred?” he interjected.

Ignoring Davis’
question, I continued on my tear. “I’m sure there’s more damage the two of you
can drum up.” But as my tirade began to ebb so did my footing. My body swayed
ever so slightly giving into the effects of the alcohol that was quickly
flooding my bloodstream. I saw both Davis and Hugh reflexively jerk forward
with a hand extended as if they could intercept my fall. So maybe my
disorientation was a little more obvious than it felt. But I was on a roll and
I had a lot more to say so I ignored my dizziness and carried on. “Ya know,
Hugh? I didn’t mean to hurt you when I revealed that Darcy was pregnant with
Ryan’s baby.”

Out of the corner
of my eye I saw Davis’ head snap over to Hugh but he didn’t interrupt. However
his jaw did go lax as the soap opera I was describing began to unfold.

“It was totally
unintentional,” I continued. “I just can’t believe that you were so vengeful
that you would tell Stacey about my fake breasts, get me kicked out of my
apartment and shuffled back to Virginia all at one time,” I finished in one
breath.

Davis’ head
snapped back to me. “Those are fake? They look so real,” he used his extended
arm swaying it side to side to gesture from one breast to the other.

“No.” I moaned
petulantly.

Davis took a step
forward as though he was going to cop a feel for authenticity.

“Don’t you fucking
touch her,” Hugh growled.

“I wasn’t going to
touch her breasts,” he barked at Hugh then turned back to me. “I was going to
give you a hug. I just can’t believe you’re leaving. Like…for good?” Davis
breathed. Once we cleared up the breast misunderstanding he was clearly upset
about my departure.

My head slowly
turned to him and I nodded dejectedly.

Davis turned to
Hugh with fire in his eyes. In all the years I had known him I had never seen
such hatred in his expression. “You did this? You got her kicked out of this
apartment? And transferred?” His voice rose. “You
are
a son-of-a-bitch,” he confirmed.

“I didn’t get her
thrown out of the apartment,” Hugh defended pointing a finger at my hardwood
floor. “When Charles announced that you had asked for a transfer I was totally
surprised,” he continued heatedly. “I’m not looking for revenge, Delilah.
There’s only one thing I have been looking for.” He pushed open his tuxedo
jacket and rested his hands low on his hips. After he shook his head what
looked like in disbelief, he took a deep breath. “Where is the note I left
downstairs with your doorman? I told you in that note that I was in town for a
meeting.”

“Yeah. The
merger,” I finished for him.

“No.” He shook his
head immediately. His hands went to his neck where he tugged at his tie until
it hung loosely against his shirt. “I was in town for an interview.”

My chin jerked
back and my eyes squinted at his news. I wasn’t sure if I understood what he
was saying. “I don’t understand.” I blinked slowly trying to clear the Dirty
Martini that was scrambling my brain. I struggled to recall the exact wording
of the ‘message’ he had left. Did his note say that he was in town for a
meeting or a merger? I’d read that damn note a thousand times yet I still
couldn’t remember. I shook my head once in confusion, which prompted Hugh to
continue.

“I was offered a
position at Masters, Goodwin and Levine,” his voice actually cracked just
before he paused. “I accepted the job this morning.” He looked down with defeat
etched in his face. “I was going to tell you tonight after the gala. I bought
champagne so we could celebrate.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I
am moving to New York.”

Masters, Goodwin
and Levine was one of the most highly recognized law firms in the city. Even I
knew who they were and I had no connection with that field whatsoever.

So, if what he
said was true, Hugh accepted a job in New York on the same day that Stacey had
me transferred back to Virginia. “Oh my God,” I murmured. As his words slowly
seeped in, I began to realize the true genius of the plan Stacey had
orchestrated. She didn’t ask Hugh to go to lunch so she could fuck him, which
is what I had immediately assumed. She asked Hugh to go to lunch so she could
fuck me. And like everything else she did, she did it thoroughly.

“So you told
Stacey about your interview? You told her that you accepted the job offer? You
told her that you were staying in New York?” I rifled trough my questions in an
effort to confirm what I already knew in my heart to be true.

“To be with you,”
he finished.

“To be with me,” I
repeated. “You told Stacey you were moving to New York to be with me?” I
questioned disbelievingly.

“Yes,” Hugh stated
emphatically. “I didn’t know at the time that she was setting you up or
us
up, for that matter. You have to
believe me,” he begged.