Page 123 of The Wedding

“Oh, thank you. That’s kind of you.” Adele crossed two long, smooth legs, the pale yet healthy white of her skin positively glowing in the lights. “I’ve always tried to be fashionable. In my position, you either dress for success… or you go beyond. I like to think going beyond has done wonders for me.”

“Well, you certainly have the body for it… I mean…” Jamie clapped her mouth shut. Wasn’t she wonderful at saying the most inappropriate shit?

“I’ve been blessed in many ways. So have you.”

“Dunno what you could mean by that…”

“Oh, come on. You’re a gorgeous girl. You’re also wicked sharp. You must be to put up with a woman like Etta.”

A woman you ultimately couldn’t put up with?Jamie kept her eyes focused on her feet, toes peeking out of her Gucci sandals.Etta paid for these. Adele, on the other hand, paid for her designer wear and couture looks with her own money. “You’re telling me.” Jamie tried to bite her lip, but the anger bubbling back up exploded. “Did you know that she was going to spring a prenup negotiation on me?”

Adele dropped the lipstick she held. “What?”

“She randomly took me to her lawyer’s on Sunday. I got the trophy wife prenup special.”

“No!”

“Yes. I’m not kidding. I know we had to do a prenup, but… no warning. Her lawyer made the worst accusations against me and my intentions.”

“With no warning? Sheesh. I’m sorry. That’s so weird she would forget to tell you.” Nevertheless, Adele snorted. “She probably needed Amanda to tell her, and she dropped the ball. I swear, if she doesn’t tell Etta to take a piss, she ends up wondering why her stomach is cramped at five in the afternoon.” When Adele saw the look on Jamie’s face, she explained, “I’m joking, of course, but she relies far too much on her. Her mind had been addled with everything going on so far this year.”

Jamie would believe it, but she wasn’t sympathetic. “I am so embarrassed and angry with her right now. Do me a favor and go back to the office and smack her on the head. Tell her she knows why.”

Adele laughed. The strange thing? Jamie had never really heard herlaughbefore. Oh, she heard the carefully timed giggles, the sighs of humor, and the smirks that were audible to sensitive ears. Those were in social situations, however. Adele was a lot like Monique in that she could carefully control her responses to get the best outcome possible. Jamie wasn’t like that at all. Too impulsive. Too brash for her own good.

When Adele was caught off guard and naturally laughed, she sounded like… well, she sort of sounded like a braying horse. Not a loud one, but Jamie jerked back, wide-eyed to hear Adele sound so abrasive and completely unladylike.I suppose she really is that composed and dignified on purpose.Then again, Adele didn’t come from a wealthy family, either. She had to teach herself most of the manners that seemed to come so easily to her.

“That’s rich,” she muttered. “I want to smack her head for something or other at least once a day. Would be nice to do it on someone else’s behalf for once.”

Jamie couldn’t help but smile. “You don’t really think she did that on purpose, do you?” Not that Jamie was convinced she had. On the contrary. Knowing Etta, she really did need her assistant to tell her to piss every couple of hours in case she forgot.I want to hear her say it.

“I would be shocked if she had. That woman loves you so much it’s almost disgusting.” Adele’s mouth twisted after that last word fell from it. “Er, I mean…”

“No, I know what you mean.” Adele would know all about that. “She just texted me asking me to meet her tonight… I haven’t talked to her much since Sunday. Guess I should let her make amends, huh?”

“I’m assuming you still want to marry her.” Adele pulled a wipe from her bag and cleaned her hands. Her sharp nails sliced right through the wet paper.

“I guess I do.” Jamie pursed her lips, hands shoving beneath her thighs as she closed her eyes to the lights shining above them. “You know, I don’tcare about the money. Not really. If for some obscene reason we had to get a divorce, I wouldn’t expect her to give me anything but respect and courtesy.”How many women got that?“I’m just getting tired of being portrayed as some gold-digging slut who doesn’t know what she’s about or what it means to be like her future wife. I’m not using her for her money. I really do love her.”

The wipe slowed its assault on Adele’s hands. “I know you do. For what it’s worth, I think you’re the perfect wife for a woman like her.”

“You do?”

“I wouldn’t bullshit about that.” Adele tossed her wad of now dirty paper in the nearest wastebasket. “If I thought you were nothing but a ‘gold-digging slut’ trying to milk Etta for everything for all she was worth, you would know… and I wouldn’t be happy.”

“I can’t say I would want you against me. You seem frightening.”

“Do I? I suppose that’s good news for me…” Adele’s pearly white teeth flashed in Jamie’s direction. “But don’t be afraid of me. I have nothing against you, Jamie. Sometimes I worry for you… no, forgive me. I shouldn’t say such things.”

Jamie wasn’t going to press for more info, but those were words that ended up lodged in the back of her mind to mull over later. “I’m getting married in a few weeks.” That still didn’t seem like reality. “And I still don’t have a wedding dress.”

Adele had to do a double-take. “Still? You need to get on that!”

“I haven’t found anything that resonates with me. At this rate, I’ll have to get whatever’s off the rack… or take up my mother’s offer to wear her burlap sack.” Unfortunately, that was a real conversation Luna brought up one day.

“Everything else is still coming together, right?”

“Not really. Yes and no. I don’t have a maid of honor, because I can’t choose between my two friends. Never mind I’m supposed to have anotherperson picked out because heaven forbid I don’t have at least three people standing up there with me.”