I stayed over at my parents’ house the night before the wedding. All the girls stayed with me, and though there were many jokes, most of them were merely in the form of unusual lingerie. When I woke up, I immediately went to make sure no one had written on my face that night. No one had, which was good, because I had had it with ink pranks.
After breakfast, Quinn took charge of getting me ready. She was the youngest and knew more about current trends in hair and makeup than I did. We didn’t even talk about how she was going to do my hair beforehand.
She made me sit on a chair and narrowed her eyes. “Romantic or edgy?”
“What does that really mean, Quinn?”
Sage came up behind her. “If you choose romantic, it will be a symmetrical hairstyle. Probably right down the back. If you choose edgy, it’ll be a side thing.”
“Oh, the side thing. My dress isn’t symmetrical, so go look at it, and decide which side to make bigger.”
After inspecting it, she decided to do a curled bun behind my right ear.
The day was pleasant as we had lunch as a family, and I got hauled away for a manicure afterward.
My mother got out her camera and took me to the backyard to get a headstart on the pictures, taking cutesy pictures with each of my sisters and my sister-in-law. Sage took the camera away from her when the photographer arrived and took more with me and my parents.
“We should have had Fletch come over,” she complained. “That old tradition about the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding is so old-fashioned. He should be here with us, getting a headstart on being part of the family.”
My breath caught.
I think it was at that moment that I knew he wasn’t going to make it to the ceremony.
***
I pushed the thought away at first, but once we were all packed into the car on the way to the church, I got out my cell phone and tried calling him. No answer. Frustrated and cross, I dialed Simon’s number.
“Hi, Simon, is Fletch around?”
“You mean, he’s not with you?” Simon said on the other end of the line.
“No.”
“He was here at his parents’ house until last night. He wasn’t in bed when we got up this morning and we thought he’d snuck off to spend the night with you.”
“He didn’t do that. I haven’t seen him. He hasn’t called me either.” I felt a chill crawl up my spine under my satin dress and suddenly the chill went hot. “Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”
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Simon sounded worried on the other end. “He might have gone home.”
“Simon,” I said sternly. “I need you and anyone else who’s free to find him. Go to his apartment. Call Chase if you know him, or go to the Eloquent Spider. Go to the music shop, the theater, and anywhere prominent where he’s played. I’ll go to the church and see if he’s there, but I feel sick like something terrible has happened. Him not answering his phone on our wedding day is a prank he wouldn’t pull.”
“It’s okay, Shannon. I’m sure he’s doing an errand that makes perfect sense, like buying you a ring. It’s so weird that you two didn’t get an engagement ring or wedding rings. He probably realized it’s nuts not to have one and went ring shopping.”
“He would have picked up his phone if he were doing something like that.”
“Maybe not. Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I hope so,” I said, gazing out the window. “We’re at the church. I’ll check it out and call you back if he’s here.”
“Great,” Simon said as he hung up.
***
That was the story of how I got jilted on my wedding day. It was a masterful prank. I gave up waiting in the back of the church and stood at the doors where the guests were coming in. I was there because I wanted to see Fletch as soon as he came in. Everyone was in such high spirits when they arrived, only to see me and have their faces fall. The groom seeing the bride before the wedding was one thing, but the guests seeing her before the wedding was something else entirely. All of them knew something was wrong as soon as they saw me.
It was an event intended to humiliate me.
Eventually, Simon came through the doors panting and out of breath with the other boys. “We couldn’t find him. I guess he’s not here either.”
I shook my head.
At the very least, I had neither started crying nor allowed my face to show the rage that was seething behind my mask of perfect calm. Half an hour had passed since the wedding should have begun.
I turned to Tallis, who was at my elbow. “Wanna do something you’ve never done before?” I said to her.
“Yup,” she replied.
“Go in there and tell them that the groom has gone missing, but everyone is welcome to the food in the hall of the church. Reassure everyone that we’re still expecting him to show and when he gets here, we’ll still have a wedding.”
“Wait. If we’ve got to that point, do you really have no idea where he is?”
“My guess as to what has happened is pretty terrifying.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I don’t think there’s the tiniest chance that Fletch jilted me on our wedding day on purpose. I think he was kidnapped.”
Tallis dropped a shoulder. “That sounds crazy.”
“Does it?” I hissed. “Some pretty crazy things have been going on lately. You know what I need?”
“What?”
“I need a gun, a set of handcuffs, and a car.”
She laughed. “You’ve lost your mind. What kind of stuff have you been up to that you’re even talking like that?”
“Look, I didn’t want to scare anyone with the crazy scenarios that have been playing out lately, and now isn’t the time to talk about them. Get in there and make that announcement,” I said, giving her a push.
She held back. “If you had that stuff, do you think you could get him?”
“I don’t know if all that is necessary. I think the point of all this is to ruin my wedding, make a fool of me, and, if possible, make it so that I can’t marry Fletch.”
“If it’s any consolation, you don’t look humiliated, even though getting jilted on your wedding day is pretty much the pinnacle of humiliation.”
“I’m more sad than anything. All those people feel sorry for me.”
“Anything you’ve ever wanted to do in front of a crowd?” Tallis suddenly asked, turning the question I’d asked her around on me.
I laughed.
“It might give him some more time to get here.”