Chapter 13
I took a napkin from somebody's hand, pressed it over the cut myself, and walked off.
People were whispering behind me.
Richard seemed to call after me.
But I didn't look back.
I walked to the far end of the lawn, found a spot where nobody could see me, cleaned the blood off my arm, and put a fresh bandage over it.
My fingers shook a little while I did it.
The pain had nothing to do with it.
I had simply caught sight of how ridiculous I was.
After everything, one line from him, don't make a scene today, could still take me apart.
A hand came into view holding out another piece of candy.
It was the same man from the garden.
He had wandered over again at some point and stood against a tree, looking down at me in the same unhurried voice.
"I told you you'd need it," he said.
I looked up at him.
His eyes rested on my arm and one brow went up.
"Cut like that and not a sound out of you.
"You take a lot."
I left the candy where it was, looked at him, and asked him something.
"Got plans later?" I asked.
He paused for a second, then flashed a teasing smile.
"Depends what kind of busy you mean."
I took the candy, closed my hand around it, and kept my voice low.
"Does driving me out of here count?"
The smile went out of his face by degrees.
He studied me for two seconds, deciding whether I was joking.
I held his eyes and didn't look away.
After a moment he looked down, pulled his tie looser, and laughed.
"All right.
"As long as you've actually got the nerve."
The wedding games came during the cocktail hour that evening.
The lights came down, the music picked up, and most of the room had already had a few too many.
Half a dozen voices pushed the subject over to Emily.
She stood in the middle of them with barely a smile, and her eyes went looking for Richard first, as though none of this appealed to her at all.
The whole room was waiting on her.
She let two seconds go by before she gave the crowd what it wanted.
"With a crowd like this, the bridesmaids shouldn't go home with nothing."
Someone immediately chimed in.
"Then let Ms. Winters pick first."
"Mr. Stanton set it up, so let's settle it right now," another person added.
The laughter went up around us.
Richard had been standing a few yards off, and his face changed when he heard it.
His phone rang at exactly that moment.
His assistant came over fast and said something low in his ear.
Richard frowned and shot me a look.
Something I couldn't name sat in that look. He seemed about to say one thing and dropped his voice to say another.
"Wait for me."
I nodded from where I stood in the crowd.
"Sure," I said.
He turned and walked away.
As soon as he left, the whole place got even more rowdy.
Someone pushed the whole lineup of groomsmen out, parading them in front of me for inspection.
I stood there with the cut on my arm throbbing in waves and the candy dissolving on my tongue, sweet enough to taste bitter.
They were all watching for the moment I embarrassed myself, waiting for the flush and the lowered head and the line I always gave them about not being teased.
But today, I wasn't about to look down.
I looked up and walked over, step by step.