Chapter 13
Luke
"Are you okay?" Mikaela asks me from the passenger seat as soon as I start driving behind the tow truck.
No, my head screams at me. "Yeah, I'll be fine,” I lie to her, but my hands are getting sweaty, and my heartbeat is going so fast it's all I hear echoing in my ears. My stomach feels like there is a hurricane in the middle of it just spinning shit around. I pull up to the back of the venue, and I can see that the parking lot is full of cars. I make my way away from the cars as I head toward the kitchen area.
"I called ahead,” Mikaela says once I park the truck. The back door opens where the kitchen is, and Mallory comes out. She's wearing her black pants with a white shirt and a black jacket. Mikaela jumps out of the truck, giving me a second to get my head together, but to be honest, nothing can prepare me for this. Nothing. Just the thought of being here has me all shaky.
I take a deep breath before jumping out of the truck and going over to the van. "Good news," Mallory says, coming down the stairs toward the van. "We are running a bit behind schedule,” I hear her saying to Mikaela. My head’s spinning at this news. Now that it's running behind schedule, does that mean I’ll have a better chance of seeing her?
"Thank you, Jesus,” Mikaela breathes out, looking at me as she opens the back of the van. "Do you want to go in and start preparing stuff while I unload and bring things in?"
"No." I shake my head. "I'm only helping set up. You should get into the groove,” I reply, avoiding everyone's eyes.
Mallory takes the tray that Mikaela hands her before the two of them rush inside. I unload the van with my head down the whole time. I walk into the kitchen, hoping I don't see her sisters, just in case they know that I fucked their sister over.
"I don't know what’s going on,” I hear Mallory say while I bring in the second tray and put it on the counter. "Usually, they are on time to the second." She looks over at the kitchen door. "I just hope she's okay," she says under her breath, and just the thought of her not being okay makes my stomach even more upset. I need to get the hell out of here now.
"Well, whatever it is," Mikaela says, putting a tray down on the wooden counter, "I'm thankful." She looks up at me. "It would get me up to speed if you start doing the grilling." I don't know if she is asking me or telling me. I know that she's just freaking out because she's behind. I also know she’ll get it done regardless of whether I'm here or not. But I know that if I leave now, I'm an asshole. I also know that if I stay longer and risk the chance of seeing Clarabella in a wedding dress, it might just push me over the edge.
"Sure," I reply, my head telling me this is a bad idea. I walk over to the sink to wash my hands before I start anything. I walk to the side where I know an apron is hanging, slipping it over my head before heading over to the grill. I block it all out, or at least I try to. I start the grill and then walk over to the veggies to grab them. But every single time the door opens and someone else comes in, my head whips around. Pretty soon, I'm going to give myself whiplash.
"Don't mess things up,” Mikaela warns as she rushes around, trying to get everything set up. I hear pots and pans start smashing together as she puts her things on the stove. The kitchen starts to fill up with more and more people. I look over and see the waitstaff waiting in the corner for things to start. I can hear whispers coming from every direction, but I don't pay them any attention. If I stay in my little corner, no one will take notice of me. I also stay in the corner, hoping that this goes fast. I finish grilling the veggies just in time to see Mallory, who comes back into the kitchen with a worried look on her face. "We are really behind." She looks around now, but I can tell from her face she's about to freak out. Running behind at a wedding can happen, but when it does, it's a snowball effect.
"Is everything okay?" Mikaela looks at Mallory as she wipes her hands on her apron.
"We have no idea," Mallory says. "They aren't telling us anything. Her sisters just came in and said that there was a dress emergency." She looks around. "Is there anything ready I can take out there?"
"Give me five minutes," Mikaela responds, going to get trays set up. "I'm good to go." Mikaela looks over at me. "I can catch up now that things are a bit behind." She looks over at Mallory, who is now talking to the waitstaff as they get ready to go and offer drinks to the guests.
"You sure?" I ask, even though my head tells me to run. She nods her head at me as she prepares a couple of trays. "Okay," I say, walking back to the side and taking off my apron. I walk to wash my hands. "I'll see you sometime next week."
Mikaela smirks at me. "Have fun."
I laugh. "I'm planning on having a ball," I throw back but then just turn around knowing that as soon as I park my truck, I'm having a drink in the truck. I look around, seeing people scrambling, and just turn to walk out. "Call me if you need anything," I say, even though I know I won't have service, and I can hear her laugh out loud as I walk out of the kitchen. "Almost there."
I open the truck door and stop when the side door opens, and I see her. Everything stops. And I mean everything. My heart, my breathing, time stops when I take one look at her. I knew she would be beautiful, and I knew that she would take my breath away, but whatever I imagined doesn't come close to how she actually looks. Her head is down, and I see her hair falling into her face from one side, and when she looks at the other side, I see the sparkle. Her shoulders are bare and just beg to be kissed. She holds the right side of her dress as she walks forward. While the other hand wipes away what looks like a tear. Is she crying because of her dress emergency? Her eyes look up and land on mine. "Of course." She throws up her hand in the air and shakes her head. "Of course, out of every single person that I could run into." She picks up her dress again and starts to walk toward me, my eyes do a once-over, and I see that her dress fits her like a glove.
"Are you okay?" I ask as soon as she gets close enough to me, and I see the tears in her eyes. My hands itch to lean up and wipe a tear away from her eye, but instead, I put them in my back pockets where they'll be safer.
"I will be as soon as I can get out of here," she says, looking around, and I'm wondering if she's waiting for her husband to come and get her. "I need to get out of here." Her lower lip quivers. "Like now." All I can do is open the passenger door for her. Her eyes fill with tears, and I have no idea what to say. None.
Instead, I look at her and put one arm around her waist while I pick her up and put the other under her legs. "Oh my God," she huffs when I turn her around and place her in the truck. "What the hell?" she says once I let go of her.
"I figured it was easier than you trying to jump up into the truck," I explain, making sure all the dress is in the cab of the truck before slamming the door. I walk over to the driver's side, getting in and turning to look at her. "Are you sure about this?"
"I need to get the fuck out of here." She looks at me and then looks over at the door where she walked out of less than two minutes ago. Then turns to look back at me. "I need to get away from here. Far, far away from here."
"I know just the place." I put the truck in drive and start moving away from the venue. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?" I ask as we pull out of the parking lot. I look in the rearview mirror to see if maybe the groom is going to come flying out the door running after the truck. But the doors stay closed, and not even a shadow appears in the window.
"No," she says, looking out the window and trying to wipe away her tears. I lean over her, and she goes stiff as I open the glove box and hand her the tissue box. "Thanks," she mumbles, grabbing the box from me. She puts the box on her lap as she takes a tissue out and dabs the corner of her eyes. "Isn't this poetic?" she says and looks at me.
I don't say anything to her. I can't say anything to her because the lump in my throat is so big it feels like a boulder. Her blue eyes are even clearer when she cries, and all I want to do is hold her and tell her that it's okay. "That of all people in the world for me to bump into on the worst day of my life, it would be you." She laughs as she dabs her eyes again. "I mean, seriously, why?" She turns to look at me, and the way she is breathing, my eyes go to the middle of her chest that I didn't even notice was bare. "Why, out of everyone in the whole universe, or I don't know, four hundred million people, were you the only one there?" Her hands fly up. "How? Why?"
"Well, I wasn't waiting for you to come out that door if that is what you were asking." Those are the only words that come out of me.
"Okay," she says, sounding like she doesn't believe a word of it.
"I was headed out of town when Mikaela's van died on the side of the road,” I share. "And then I stayed to help her out so she wouldn't fall behind."
"You were leaving town?" She raises her eyebrows at me. "Isn't that a shocking development?"
"Do you want me to drop you off at your house?" I don't bother looking at her.
"Where were you going?" she asks me, and I just side-eye her.
"I was going to my cabin in the woods,” I reply, slowing down and waiting for her to tell me where she wants to go.
"How far is this cabin?" she asks.
"About two hours, give or take," I answer, and she just nods her head.
"That sounds good to me," she says, and now I'm the one who gasps.
"You want to come with me?" I look over at her as she avoids looking at me, her eyes on the road in front of her.
"I have two choices at this point." She wipes her eyes, turning to look at me. "I can stay here and deal with that situation, which is the last thing I want to do, by the way." She points behind her with her thumbs. "Or take off far away from here with you, which is the second to last thing I want to do, for a bit and wait for the dust to settle. So I have no other options. Going with you is the lesser of two evils." I don't say anything to her. Instead, I just put my foot on the gas and drive her and myself out of town, knowing full well that I'm in way over my head.