Jones stayed outside the entrance. The party was in full swing when Isabel walked in. Lexi spotted her first and ran to her. Then Damon and Mia rushed over to hug her. Mia showed Isabel her beautiful engagement ring and demanded to know if Isabel would come to their wedding. Isabel promised she wouldn’t miss it.
With all the introductions to Damon’s and Mia’s family and friends, it took a good hour before she was finally able to relax and enjoy the party. Damon brought her a beer, and Lexi carried over two plates of hors d’oeuvres. The two of them sat at the table, but before Isabel could take a drink, she was pulled to the stage to sing a song for the guests. She didn’t want to sing, but she accommodated her friends and sang the song they had heard the last time they were together.
Wild cheering followed, and she was pressed to sing another song. Then she was done. For another hour Isabel was grabbed and pulled to pose for cell phone photos and answer question after question about Xavier. One brash young girl pushed her way to Isabel and asked if she was going to marry the love of her life. She held her cell phone up and was obviously recording. The girl had to be Brigit, Isabel thought. She was petite with freckles. Brigit resembled her sister but wore braces and, according to Mia, was going through an obnoxious stage.
“Hello, Brigit. No, I’m not going to marry the love of my life,” she said. “And I’m not going to marry Xavier. He’s just a friend.”
“Are you mad at me? Mia’s mad at me.”
Thus began a fifteen-minute discussion on being mad and not being mad. It was exhausting.
When Mia’s mother finally dragged Brigit away, Isabel asked a passing waiter for a sparkling water with lime. Then she walked to the back of the ballroom for a moment alone without people grabbing her. The band was playing a romantic ballad, and couples were swaying to the music.
Damon was dancing with Mia. The way they looked into each other’s eyes was so loving. They were lucky they had found each other. Damon was loyal and steadfast. He would stay by Mia’s side in the good and the bad times. He wouldn’t go away for four weeks and six days without calling. In fact, he probably wouldn’t leave her at all.
Uh-oh, she knew where this was heading.
Standing there, drinking her sparkling water and feeling like a wallflower, Isabel made a decision. She would give him one more week to figure it out, and if she still hadn’t heard from him, she was going to hunt him down and explain it all to him. She would very calmly tell him that he loved her. She was pretty sure she was going to call him a bonehead, too. It couldn’t be helped.
The clock was ticking. Now that there was a deadline she felt better and was ready to get back to the party. She was here to celebrate Damon and Mia’s engagement, and she was going to do exactly that.
She went up on the stage, picked up the microphone, and belted out a rousing old rock-and-roll song that made everyone rush to the dance floor and let loose. Afterward, the band continued to play old songs everyone could dance to. Isabel joined the fun. She danced and laughed and talked to old friends and met new ones. She and Lexi even did an intervention. They took JoAnn into the ladies’
room and, as gently as possible, told her she had a problem. If she didn’t stop coloring her hair a different shade every week, using bleach to strip the old color each time, her hair was going to fall out. It was a brassy blond tonight with streaks of orange, which JoAnn confessed weren’t supposed to be there.
The party was still going strong after midnight, but Isabel was weary. She was standing in a room filled with happy people, and she was suddenly feeling alone again. Oh, how she missed Michael.
She heard a commotion, looked up, and there he was. She was so shocked she actually closed her eyes and opened them again just to make sure. He hadn’t disappeared. Michael Buchanan was standing just inside the door, talking to Damon.
Hands shaking, Isabel pulled her glasses out of her purse and put them on. Michael was still there.
She could barely catch her breath as she made her way over to him. She saw the astonished look on Damon’s face and stopped. Michael was furious and he wasn’t making any sense.
“You can’t marry her. She doesn’t love you. She loves me.”
Confused now, Damon asked, “She loves you? Did she tell you she loves you?”
“No, not yet, but I know she does. You’re not going to marry her. Got that?”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course I do. Do you think I would be standing here yelling at you if I didn’t?”