Page 57 of The Wedding

Still, a girl could make it known that it was a travesty the girlfriend hadto leave.

“You’ll come home to me tonight, right?”

Etta took an extra second to kiss her, lightly enough to let her keep dozing. “I’ll try. Might be late, and I might have to stay in the penthouse, depending. This is the day we’re announcing the merger with Adele, so it’s going to be chaotic.”

“Aww.”

Her phone rang on the end table. Etta glared at it.It’s not supposed to ring during early hours unless certain people are calling her.Other such contacts were sent straight to voicemail until eight. So, for someone to be getting through now…

“Well, it’s not you, at least.” Etta picked up the phone. “It’s Monique.”

“Huh? What is she doing calling so early?”

Etta answered, leaving it on speakerphone. “Monique?” she greeted with a groggy voice.

She was quick to speak. “Have you seen the paper yet?”

“What? Not yet, no. I literally just woke up.”

“I thought so. You better get one. Right now. First page of the Business section.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not going to be the one who tells you. You have to see this. Both of you.”

Jamie perked up. “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s just say the first thing Helen did when she saw it was make drastic planning changes for this June. Then she asked me what was so off about it.”

“What?” Etta was out of bed, carrying the phone with her to the door. Usually, the paper was waiting for her downstairs. Sometimes she read it. Occasionally, Jamie went downstairs to see her devouring a certain article and then angrily calling someone. This sounded like adifferent beast, however. “Beatrice! Harris!” Etta shouted down the hall. After a second shout, Beatrice’s cheery voice piped up. “Bring me the paper, please!”

As long as she says please, I guess. Jamie was too tired to chastise Etta for acting like that. Yet she found the strength to get up, snatching her engagement ring off the nightstand. She wasn’t comfortable sleeping with it yet.

Beatrice scuttled into the room, handing Etta the paper. “Anything else you two need?” When she was dismissed, she shrugged in Jamie’s direction and went back downstairs, probably to start their breakfasts.

Etta didn’t waste any time. She unfolded the paper, digging through it until she found the Business section. The rest of the paper landed on the bed, waking up Barbarossa with a yawn. Jamie’s cat rolled over and looked as cute as a kitten while the fiancée turned beet red.

“What the fuck!”

Jamie held out her hand. “Let me see.”

Etta was already on the phone, slamming buttons until she was on the line with someone at the paper. Jamie held it up, seeing two separate pictures of Etta and Adele, side-by-side.

That wasn’t the scary thing, however. Neither was the fact the headline ran with:Coleman and Thompson Merge Businesses – To Marry In June.

Wait. Jamie read that again.

She took journalism for a while in school. Even worked on the community college paper, albeit as a layout artist, not a reporter. Even so, she heard plenty of stories about headlines that made no grammatical sense other than to report something beyond the truth. This happened a lot with young and naïve journalists. It was not, however, supposed to happen at one of the biggest papers in the nation.

Because that headline? Implied that it was Etta and Adele getting married. Jamie assumed this was a mistake, or she was still too tired to read it properly, and continued to read the article, hoping to see her name appearas Etta’s actual fiancée.

In a way, she was mentioned.

“And what of Jamie Joy, Etta Coleman’s current girlfriend? Sources say she is out of the picture and Coleman has reunited with Adele Thompson, her new business partner – and soon-to-be wife.”

“What the fuck!” Jamie echoed.

“Same sources report that Coleman and Thompson have already begun merging businesses and will be marrying this June.”