Page 62 of Husband to Go

I’m standing at the door to Veronica’s apartment. After everything that happened, I was only concerned with myself, and the wreckage of my life. But I guess I should stop in on Veronica because she’s probably feeling just as terrible as I am. After all, her whole wedding got called off. She was literally left at the altar, and as a result, Veronica is probably a mess. I should have gone to see her days ago.

Veronica opens the door. She looks stunning as usual, and frankly, the opposite of a woman in distress. Her blonde hair waves about her shoulders, and her clothes are elegant and immaculate.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Kylie, where have you been? I’ve missed you.” Her smile is unnerving. I hope someone has been here to support her, the way Andrea has been for me.

“Um, I had to go away for a some research. For school, you know,” I say, fibbing lightly. “We didn’t expect an emergency at the research site, which is why I couldn’t come to your wedding. But I just heard about it being called off, and I wanted to come tell you how sorry I am.”

She tosses her hair over one shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” she says flippantly. She leads me into the kitchen, where she plucks some aging flowers out of their vase, before stuffing them into the drain. She then flips the switch to turn on the garbage disposal, and a horrific grinding sound comes out. Petals fly up into the air, but she lets it go on for a couple minutes before the grinding stops.

“Um, are you okay?” I ask cautiously.

“Why?” she says with a sunny smile. “I’m fine.”

“It’s just you were pretty aggressive with the garbage disposal,” I say carefully.

Veronica laughs merrily then.

“No, sweetheart. You’re reading into things. Besides, you have to be firm with those devices, otherwise, nothing gets ground up.”

I stare at her red-lipsticked smile.

“Um okay,” I say. I’m happy to talk about whatever is going on here more directly, but it looks like she’s dealing with her feelings in her own way. To each their own.

My mom flutters about the kitchen.

“You see, I just have to get rid of some things, but it shouldn’t be that hard. I mean, it’s not like any ofmymoney really went into this wedding. Tanner is the one who’s losing the deposits.”

“Great!” I say with a modicum of humor. If that makes her feel better then it’s fine. I know he can spare the cash. “Have you spoken to Tanner since he broke it off?”

She bats her hand dramatically.

“No,” she sighs. She takes a seat at the kitchen island, resting her chin in her hands. “I’ve tried calling, but he’s ignoring me. I think we’re really done. Honestly, I thought he was just getting some pre-wedding jitters, but I don’t know.”

I gulp.

“Maybe it’s for the best. At least you guys didn’t get married before he changed his mind because it’d be a lot harder to divorce afterwards.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Ugh. I guess so. Do you know he told me there was someone else? I told him it was fine, and as long as he didn’t embarrass me, I could deal with it. I just can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. I mean, hindsight is 20 / 20 but he’d been pulling away and seemed disinterested lately. I just never thought he would call off the entire wedding, especially the day of.”

Clearly, this wasn’t true love if Veronica was okay with Tanner having a side piece. Is this what love in America has come down to? The prospect makes me depressed.

Yet, I still feel guilty. Veronica has no idea of my part, and thatIwas actually the cause of her break-up. I have to tell her the truth because it’s been weighing on me, and because she deserves it. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s the right thing to do. At least, Ithinkit’s the right thing.

I take a deep breath.

“Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?” She’s inspecting her nails, clearly bored. It’s something Veronica does whenever the topic switches away from being about her. She’s quite self-absorbed, but that doesn’t make things easier.

“It’s about Tanner.”

She looks up, suddenly interested.