Page 7 of Jilted

Chapter Seven

B rett ducked before the glass vase made contact with his head. It shattered against the wall behind him. “Jesus Christ, Vanessa!”

“You spent the night with that woman?” Vanessa screamed. “How could you do this to me? To us?”

“Please, calm down.”

“I will not calm down when my fiancé spent his last night as a single man with another woman.” Vanessa paced around the living room.

Brett watched her closely to make sure she wasn’t going to throw anything else at him. “It’s not like that and you know it. I wasn’t with another woman. I was with Amy.”

“Amy’s a woman, isn’t she?” Vanessa snapped. She stopped pacing and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face was wet with tears; her cheeks were puffy and red.

“Well, yeah, but she’s just Amy. She’s my best friend, nothing more. You know that.” He slowly approached Vanessa, hoping she’d calmed down enough to let him touch her. All the progress he thought he’d made on the Amy front was gone, just like that.

“And I told you how I felt about your friendship with her. I don’t like it, Brett. I’m going to be your wife. I should be your best friend.”

“I know,” he whispered and pulled her into his arms.

She put her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.

He stroked her hair. “I’m sorry, Vanessa. I shouldn’t have spent my bachelor party with Amy. That was inconsiderate.”

Even as he said those words, he regretted them.

Amy was his best friend, the one person in the world who had always been there for him.

He shouldn’t have to apologize for that.

It wasn’t fair. But he loved Vanessa, and he had asked her to be his wife.

Her feelings had to come first now – no matter how much it hurt him to do so.

“All we did was eat a couple of tacos and talk. In fact, Amy and I have decided not to work together anymore.” That wasn’t the complete truth, but he didn’t think telling Vanessa that it was all Amy’s idea, and he didn’t agree would only make Vanessa angrier.

“She’s opening a new studio and teaching there.

I’ll continue to teach at the old studio. ”

“Really?” Vanessa pulled away and looked at him.

“Yeah.” He faked a smile.

It really pissed him off that Vanessa was happy about the fact that he’d given up his best friend for her. That was a huge sacrifice. Was it one he was willing to fully make for her? He was starting to question his choices as far as Vanessa was concerned.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you.”

He responded with another smile.

“I’m telling you, man, this is a mistake,” Craig said.

Brett glanced at his brother with an annoyed look. “Mom said the same thing to me earlier.”

The wedding was scheduled to start in less than twenty minutes, and he was going to take his place at the altar to wait for his bride. Once he took his spot, he looked out at the seated guests.

Craig put his hand on Brett’s shoulder. “We all know the woman you should be marrying is sitting out there,” Craig nodded, “fourth pew back.”

Brett’s gaze landed on Amy, who was talking to his mom. Amy looked gorgeous as usual. She said something to his mom and then laughed. The sight of her smiling face made him smile. Until he realized that he wouldn’t get to see her like that very often anymore.

“Amy and I just friends,” Brett said as if on autopilot.

Craig laughed. “Stop wearing your ass as a hat and open your eyes. Amy King has never just been your friend.”

“That’s real nice, Craig.” Brett sighed and shook his head.

Marrying Vanessa wasn’t a mistake. And Amy was just his friend. He was doing the right thing by marrying Vanessa. Wasn’t he?

“I’m your brother. I don’t want to see you make a mistake.”

“Exactly. You’re my brother, which means you should support my decision. I love Vanessa. I’m going to marry her.”

Craig shrugged. “If you say so.”

Brett turned and glared at him. “And you’re choosing to have this conversation with me now? Ten minutes before Vanessa will be walking down that aisle. Nice timing.” He went to run his hand through his hair, but stopped, not wanting to mess it up.

Vanessa hated it when his hair was all messy. She said it made him look sloppy, like he didn’t care. Amy never seemed to mind though. In fact, she would laugh at him every time he messed up his hair. He sighed and turned back around to look out over the pews. His gaze once again wandered to Amy.

“It’s not like you’ve been around much. Been kind of hard to talk to you,” Craig muttered.

He was right. Brett had been very occupied with Vanessa and pulling this wedding together in such a short amount of time. “I know. Sorry.”

They were silent for a few moments before Craig leaned close to Brett’s ear and whispered, “It’s not too late, Brett. You can still call this off.”

Brett jerked his head around to stare at Craig. “Call it off? Are you crazy?”

“I’m just saying…”

Brett’s heart thundered in his chest, and the tips of his ears burned hot.

Breathing became difficult. Could he do that?

Could he really call off the wedding? He loved Vanessa, but he didn’t love her enough to give up Amy – and that’s exactly what he agreed to do by marrying her.

Oh, God. This was a mistake. There was no way he could marry her.

He had to stop this, now, before she started to walk down the aisle. Unfortunately for him, the wedding march began, and he knew he was out of time.

His throat constricted as the guests rose to their feet, their faces turned toward the entrance, eagerly awaiting Vanessa’s approach.

He tugged at his bowtie. It suddenly felt much too tight.

Plastering a fake smile on his face, he pretended to wait for his bride.

In reality, he was thinking of a way out of this.

He didn’t want to embarrass her, but there was no way in hell he could marry her, either.

Maybe he could fake a sickness, stop the ceremony long enough to tell Vanessa that the wedding was off.

Or maybe he could pretend to pass out, act like he was too weak to continue with the ceremony.

No. Those were all stupid ideas. He just had to be a man and face her – tell her the wedding was off and that they were over.

Brett took another deep breath and let his gaze fall on Amy.

The simple sight of her calmed him, gave him the strength to do what had to be done.

One thing was for certain, once he told Vanessa, he was going to…

The music stopped, but Vanessa was nowhere to be found.

Brett looked around the church, and then he heard the guests murmuring, whispering, looking around.

His heart felt like it stopped beating as he realized what happened.

The urge to pump his fists in the air and scream with joy was all-consuming.

Instead, he frowned and quickly walked down the aisle, out of the church and away from the prying eyes of his guests.

He rushed downstairs and into the basement, to the room he’d used not more than an hour ago to dress. There was a folded piece of paper taped to the outside of the door. He snatched it and unfolded it.

Brett~

I’m sorry to do this to you. You’re a great guy that deserves to be happy. Unfortunately, I’m not the woman that can do that for you. It’s clear to me that Amy is the most important woman in your life, and I refuse to marry a man who can’t put me first.

~Vanessa

Crumpling the paper, and closing the door, he leaned his head against it and breathed a sigh of relief.

Relief! Vanessa had jilted him at the altar.

He should be pissed. Upset. But he wasn’t.

All he felt was relief – relief that he didn’t have to marry her; relief that he didn’t have to be the one to break it off; and relief that he didn’t have to give up Amy.

“Brett, honey, are you in here?” His mom’s soft voice carried through the closed door.

“Yeah.” He opened the door and turned his back to her, not wanting her to see the lack of emotion on his face.

“Are you okay?”

He plopped down on the couch and dropped his head into his hands. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

His mom sat beside him and gently rubbed his back. “What happened?”

“Vanessa left. Said she wasn’t ready, that she felt we’d rushed things,” he lied.

If he told his mom that Vanessa left him because of Amy, then Mom would insist that it was a sign that Brett should be with Amy. He didn’t want to hear it. Not yet. He wasn’t ready to face the truth.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

“I want Amy. I mean… I need to talk to Amy.” Brett slowly turned his head to look at his mother. He’d been pushing his thumbs into his closed eyes so that it would look like he was holding back tears. “Will you go get her for me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

When his mother left, Brett stood and took off his jacket, draping it over the chair. Then he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. He had his back to the door, rummaging through his duffel bag when he heard Amy enter.

“Brett?” she said softly.

Slowly, he turned to face her. God, she was beautiful. He licked his lips. “She’s gone,” he said, his voice devoid of all emotion.

“What?” Amy walked farther into the room. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

“She left.” He dragged a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “She left me a note saying she couldn’t marry a man who didn’t put her first.” He watched the color drain from Amy’s face.

“Oh, God, Brett...this is my fault? I’m so sorry.”

Brett held her gaze and spoke slowly, making sure she heard and understood everything he was about to say. “No, it’s not your fault, Amy. I did everything in my power to make her feel better about our relationship, to let her know that you and I were just friends.” Brett shook his head.

“Still... I’m sorry.”

He began to pace the room – something he only did when he was highly agitated or severely upset. Between being left at the altar and the sudden onslaught of emotions he felt toward Amy, he was ready to combust.

“I need to get out of here. I need to get out of this town. You’ve got your car here, right?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Get me the hell out of here.”

Amy looked at him like he had four heads. “Where do you want me to take you?”

Brett shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He gathered his jacket and tie and shoved them into his duffel bag in the corner.

Then he paused. The tickets for his honeymoon were right there, staring at him, taunting him.

It was the perfect place to go, to get away from all the sympathetic looks from his family, to try to make some sense of his feelings for Amy.

“Take me to the airport,” he said suddenly.

“The airport? Where are you going to go?”

He could tell by her tone that she was worried about him. “My honeymoon,” he said so low she almost didn’t hear him.

“Your honeymoon? What makes you think Vanessa hasn’t done the same thing?” Amy paused. “Unless...you’re hoping she’s there so you can talk to her.”

Brett shook his head. “No, she has no idea where we were going. I was going to surprise her.”

“Oh, so...you’re going to go on your honeymoon alone then? Is that really a good idea?”

“No.” The last thing he needed right now was to be alone. He lifted the bag and pulled the strap over his shoulder. “You can go with me.”

There was no better way to figure out his feelings for Amy than to spend a week alone with her, right?

“What?” Amy took several steps back, away from him. Then she laughed. “You want me to go on your honeymoon with you? No way. Uh-uh, absolutely not.”

“C’mon, Amy.” He gave her that look. The look he always gave her when he wanted something that he knew she wouldn’t do.

The same look that would ultimately get him what he wanted.

“I need to get the hell out of here, but I don’t want to be alone.

I can’t be. Please.” Brett took a few steps toward her.

“You are still my best friend, aren’t you? ”

“Yes, of course I am.”

“Then please do this for me, Amy. There’s no one else I can ask. Please.” He playfully batted his eyelashes for good measure.

With a sigh, she said, “Can I at least go home and pack first?”

Brett smiled and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He released her. “And yes, you can pack but make it quick. I want to get as far away from here as quickly as possible.”

“Okay.” Amy dug her keys from her purse and followed Brett out the back door.

As they walked to her car, Brett realized it was probably a bad idea to ask Amy to go with him, but one way or the other, he had to figure out what was going on inside of him.

It was glaringly obvious to him that he couldn’t maintain a relationship with a woman that wasn’t Amy.

So, maybe his mother and his brother were right.

Maybe Amy was the woman he should be with.

Lord knew he found her attractive, and that he’d fantasized about her enough.

Well, it was about time he did something about it.

And for all he knew, Amy didn’t feel the same way, but he’d never know unless he made a move.

But first, he’d spend a few days reconnecting with her, hoping he could gauge her feelings before he made an ass of himself.