“Dan and I were in the same frat, and we all went to Ohio State,” Vinnie said. “Theresa and I flew in this morning. I couldn’t get the time off of work, but I definitely wanted to be here for Dan’s big day! Our flight was delayed so we missed the wedding, but we got here for the reception. And this was certainly something, wasn’t it? Nothing like my wedding! Right, Rachel?”
Camden gave me a questioning look. He was too smart to be put off for long. I ran through a hundred different scenarios in my head, but none of them were going to change what was about to happen. I just had to sit here, being flooded with dread and regret, and I couldn’t stop it.
“Theresa! Look who’s here!” Vinnie called out.
Theresa came over and as soon as she saw me, her face went slack. She was the bride who had put me in the yellow-feather-and-hot-pink getup. We’d never had any kind of crossover like this before. I had no plan B here.
This was so bad. Theresa had been awful from beginning to end. Apparently Vinnie had given her a budget that she’d gone wildly over. She’d asked me to refund my fees and I had a no-refund policy. Especially since we’d done every wild thing she’d asked us to. She just didn’t want her new husband to find out that she’d spent so much money. I hadn’t worried too much about it at the time, but now I was deeply regretting everything as I thought of a million different ways this could go.
Still oblivious, Vinnie said to me, “What are the odds of running into you? You must be friends with the bride.”
“Rachel is the maid of honor,” Camden said.
“That’s a coincidence!” Vinnie again turned to Theresa, trying to get her to come over. “She was a bridesmaid at our wedding.”
“Really?” Camden said, but there was something off in his voice. “Small world. How did you two meet?”
Theresa was still silent, probably every bit as freaked out as I was feeling. Vinnie didn’t seem to notice, though. “They’ve been in a yoga class together for years.”
Camden turned toward me, his expression serious. Accusing. “Vinnie lives in Vermont.”
“Yeah.” Vinnie finally seemed to be sensing that something might be off. “So does Rachel.”
“Funny thing,” Camden said, his eyes boring into me. “Vinnie and Theresa got married last year. I remember because Dan and I argued about going. We were busy and neither one of us could afford to miss work, so we compromised by sending a nice gift.” Then he turned back toward Vinnie. “And Rachel told me she’s been living in New York for the last four years. So unless that instructor in Vermont is worth interstate travel, I don’t know how that’s possible. Not to mention Rachel’s deep-seated loathing for yoga.”
Vinnie started asking questions, understandably confused. Theresa stepped in and tugged at his arm, dragging him off while he sputtered the whole way. He demanded to know what was going on. I saw the reluctant expression on her face, how she cast her eyes down, and then I heard my name. And the name of my company.
I wanted to glance up at Camden, to see how much he’d just overheard and if he’d worked things out yet. I couldn’t meet his eyes. My whole life was falling down around me. Like every lie I’d told him had been part of an elaborate house of cards that was fluttering down so quickly there was no way that I could catch them and try to rebuild.
It was just gone.
My heart stopped and then restarted, but low and heavy so that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “I can explain. I couldn’t before, but Sadie gave me permission and I can tell you what’s going on.”
“You lied to me.” Camden’s voice was so low that I nearly missed what he was saying. “You’re not Sadie’s friend. I took you at your word because of that friendship.”
“If that’s the only reason you trusted me and believed me when I said I wasn’t some corporate spy, which I’m not, then I don’t know . . .” What argument could I make? Yes, I wasn’t a spy, but I had deceived him.
“None of this is about the spy thing. It’s about the fact that you lied to me every day since we’ve met. What else have you lied about? Is anything you told me real?”
“Of course it was. Almost everything I told you was the truth. Or some version of the truth,” I corrected myself. Like I wasn’t an event coordinator. Not technically, but it was close.
“Oh, we’re dealing with versions of the truth now?” He ran both of his hands through his hair and that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach just got worse and worse. “I feel so stupid.”