Faithful (32 page)

Leo is already slap-happy buzzed when he gets up to do his toast. “I just want to say something for my beautiful wife. I tried to find the right poem or words, but I know my Lauren. She’s a mob movie addict. So, be warned, she’s probably the only person in this room who will appreciate this quote, and I apologize in advance to Father Pat. Really. Cover your ears, Father.”

Everyone laughs and then quiets down for Leo’s toast.

“ ‘She was beautiful! She was young. She was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I ever had, and I’ve had ‘em all over the world!
’ ”

“
The Godfather
!” Lauren shouts with a fist pump, causing people to laugh despite looking confused.

Cooper, Carson, and Dylan are whooping it up and pounding the table.

I stand and feel a few pops in the back of my dress as some staples spring free when Leo hands me the microphone.

“Well, it will be hard to top Mr. Romance there,” I address the guests who laugh as Leo stumbles back to his chair. “And I’d like to point out that I trump the rest of this supporting cast because I’ve known Lauren since we were babies. So, tonight, I am the best bestie of this couple, just so you’re all clear on how important I am to these two fabulous people.”

“Hear! Hear!” Lauren claps as the crowd laughs.

“I also want to thank Father Pat for holding his tongue when the bridesmaids showed up at the ceremony looking like
Charlie’s Angels
decked out Vegas style.”

Father Pat gives me a smile and nod from a nearby table.

“But I’m not here to talk about me and how great I rock this hideous dress; I’m here to toast my best friend and her wonderful new husband. They are two of the most beautiful people, and I love them dearly.” I choke back the tears that begin to pool in my eyes. I look away from Lauren’s teary eyes and catch Cooper’s intense stare, his steely, gray eyes watching me. I blabber on with more sentimental words and a bit of humorous nostalgia about Lauren before taking my seat and blotting my eyes with my napkin.

“What the hell was that?” I mutter to Emma.

“You got a little emotional, so what? Everyone gets that way at weddings,” she says, patting my back.

“Not me. I don’t cry at weddings. I’m the fun one, the woman who parties it up.”

Cooper is handed the microphone next, and as he stands to give his toast, he looks at me with a sexy smile, and my heart races. I’m definitely falling for him. Falling hard.

“I need help!” Jess whisper-shouts, leaning behind Emma’s back to get my attention. “The fake boobs are falling down to my stomach and the top of my dress is caving in.”

As I rifle through my bag for the staplers, I don’t hear anything Cooper is saying, but he sure is working the room like a nightclub comedy act. Emma crouches behind Jess and attempts to retrieve the runaway rubber breasts while I scoot over to Emma’s chair to assist by covering Jess’s front with a napkin.

“And I am in awe of Lauren and Leo and their marriage,” Cooper continues. “I could never do this.”

I could never do this.
That’s the only thing I hear before Cooper sits down, and the quartet begins performing the first waltz. Leo takes Lauren’s hand and walks her to the dance floor.

“Carson!” Jess hisses in an angry whisper.

Carson looks over at us with concern and then quickly heads into the space between our tables to stand in front of Jess.

“Why are you feeling up my wife?” he asks Emma who has her hands in the back of Jess’s dress.

“She’s trying to reposition my boobs,” Jess snaps. “Just stand there, Carson, and block people from seeing us.”

“You’re what?” Carson is completely mesmerized as Emma fumbles with the cutlets and Jess struggles to keep the front of her dress from falling down.

“I look like one of Picasso’s freaky three-boobed women. These rubber chickens fell out of my bra, and the whole dress is collapsing,” Jess explains.

While Carson leans over the table, tall and broad enough to hide us from view, I stand and begin stapling Jess’s zipper again.

Dylan and Cooper both jump over their table like cowboys swinging over a fence. They jog over to see what all the excitement is about.

“Hey, it’s our turn,” Dylan says. “We have to get out there and dance, boys and girls.”

“Just a second, honey,” Emma says as I give Jess one last staple in her back and she adjusts her bra.

“Jesus. What’s going on here?” Dylan looks as captivated as Carson with our wardrobe adjustments that look more like an erotic strip club dance.

“Two seconds,” I say to Dylan. I glance at Cooper, but then look away and take extra time putting away the staplers and our bags to gather the whirlwind of thoughts racing through my mixed up brain.

I was completely excited to show off my dance moves with Cooper, but his words,
“I could never do this,”
keep resonating through me in a sickening way.

Cooper comes around the table to my side and holds out his hand. “Ready?”

With the others already gliding across the dance floor around Leo and Lauren, I take Cooper’s hand and he sweeps me into the waltz. As he leads me gracefully through the other couples with powerful moves that make me feel like I’m floating, I keep my eyes fixated on our clasped hands.

“Your toast was very funny. Lauren really enjoyed it,” he says finally to break the silence.

“Hmm.” I keep looking at our hands and other couples.

“Why won’t you look at me? What’s wrong, Imogene?”

“I don’t want to mess up the waltz. A lot of people are filming this.”

“This is the last one and then the DJ comes on. Do you plan on looking at me then?” he asks.

Right then, “Dyslexic Heart” starts blasting, and Lauren bops by us, singing along with the song like a spastic groupie. Leo’s arms are flailing about and Cooper has to pull me aside from a flying fist.

“I forgot that Lauren planned on playing a bunch of her parents’ old tunes.” I put on my best fake smile.

“Then let’s show these goons how to dance.” He takes my hand and drags me to the middle of the crowded dance floor.

“Imogene!” Cody intercepts us and Cooper frowns.

Cody still looks like a hunky high school jock, and I can tell Cooper is sizing him up.

“Cody, wow. Nice to see you,” I say flatly.

“Hey, do you mind if I cut in and dance with her?” he asks Cooper.

“Actually, yeah. She’s not available. There’s a table of women over there, waiting to be asked to dance.” Cooper nods with his chin.

“Seriously?” Cody chuckles. “Imogene and I go way back, and—”

“Great. We just missed the fun song.” I stand between the two men as The Human League comes on.

“Slow song,” Cooper says. “Sorry, buddy, you’ll have to catch up with Imogene later.”

Cody scoffs as Cooper pulls me in for a snug embrace.

“Cody, snag a bottle of champagne, and I’ll meet you at the fountain lobby. We can talk then,” I say over Cooper’s shoulder.

“Sounds good!” Cody slaps Cooper’s back before he walks away.

His expression grim, I feel Cooper’s arms loosen as though he’s about to turn and throw a punch at Cody’s head. I press my hands hard against his back to hold him in place.

“What the fuck was that, Imogene?”

“Watch your language. We’re at a wedding. He’s an old boyfriend who asked me for a dance. Big deal.”

“I hate him already.”

“It was years ago. He’s from my high school days. Get over it.”

“Why aren’t you all over me? What happened between the church and the reception? You’re acting strange, like you’re mad at me. And I’m not the one in a room full of exes. Yeah, I saw Jeremy.”

“It’s not my fault these guys are here. Lauren and Leo invited them.”

“I don’t care about those guys. What’s going on with you?”

“Shoot. I like this song,” I say as The Duhks’s “Annabel” starts playing. “And you’re ruining it for me.”

“Me? Why?” he growls.

“Did you mean that? What you said during the toast, that you could never do this? Never get married?”

Cooper shrugs. “Yeah. I never saw myself as the marrying type.”

“And you still feel that way?” I’m not hiding my anger.

“Why? Are we getting married?” he asks, equally angry.

“No. We’re dating. At least, I thought we were.” I push away from him. “You know what? I don’t want to have this argument here on the dance floor. In fact, I can’t talk to you right now. I’m going to go cool off.”

“I’ll go with you, and we’ll talk some place more private.”

“No. Really. I need to be alone,” I snap. As I turn to walk away, I feel a loosening sensation on my back as several staples pop and the fabric gives. “Kcuf!”

“Imogene!” Cooper grabs my arm and turns me back around to face him. “You’re being childish. Come with me and we’ll talk this out now.”

“Childish? You really know how to win me over. I can’t talk to you. I’m pissed as hell and my dress is shredding … Soon, I’ll be pissed and naked.”

Cooper takes off his tux jacket and swings it around my shoulders. “Wear this. Please,” he says calmly with a tight jaw. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. I don’t want to piss you off. Why don’t you go sit down with Lois and Archie, and I’ll give you twenty minutes to calm down, then we’re talking.”

I open my mouth to say something; however, I struggle to think of a single word that doesn’t make me feel like a fool. Instead, I storm off the dance floor and wade through the dining tables until I spot Archie and his entourage. There are two open seats between Lois and a woman sitting next to Archie, so I plop myself down in the chair next to Lois and pull the lapels of Cooper’s tux around me.

“Oh, no, is the dress a goner?” Lois frowns. “I noticed all the girls are wearing the men’s jackets. Did your backside make a big showing?”

“Something like that.”

“That didn’t stop them from dancing. Why are you sitting here with the old folks?”

“I suddenly lost interest in dancing.” I take a sip of champagne from an unclaimed glass and notice two distinguished looking older men across the table in a very serious conversation. “Are those your dates?”

“Yes. The silver fox is Ben. He’s my date. Nice, right? The tall, dark, and handsome one came with Eleanor. He’s Steven, a widower and very successful in some kind of retail franchise.”

“How do you manage to meet men? Women my age complain about it all the time, and somehow, you and Eleanor always find these nice, available guys.”

“We’re more resourceful.” Lois finishes off a glass of water. “We make a point to go to as many social functions as possible, whether it’s a funeral or a bake sale at the library. I met Ben at a swanky cocktail party at Mohonk. I had an appointment at the spa there when I stumbled upon his group of friends. Next thing you know, he’s asking for my phone number. Eleanor met Steven at the gas station. How’s that for dumb luck? So where’s your handsome date?”

“He’s around here … somewhere.” I fling my hand in the air.

“Why do you young women use every party as an opportunity to create unnecessary drama? Is it part of the chase? Does it really make it more fun?” Lois regards me with a serious frown.

I shrug. “Sometimes things don’t become obvious until we’re in the middle of one of these massive social functions. Sometimes we’re stupid, and …”

“You’ve had a disagreement with Cooper.” Lois sighs and sits back in her chair.

“Yes.” I cross my arms and slouch in my chair.

“Stop pouting. I hate when grown women do that. It’s so unbecoming.”

“You’re so understanding I can’t stand it.”

“You are at your best friend’s wedding and have a wonderful, young man who lavishes great attention on you. What do I not understand?”

“Did you hear his toast?” I say in a shrill voice that makes others glance over at me.

“I thought he was absolutely adorable.”

“Well, I must have missed that part,” I snipe.

“Do you see that woman on your other side, the one Archie can’t take his eyes off of?” Lois asks in a low voice.

I turn to my right to get a better look at the attractive woman I noticed earlier.

“That’s Emily Weston,” Lois says.

I shake my head. “So?”

“Before she was Emily Weston, she was Archie’s Emily.
The
Emily.” Lois smiles as my eyes go wide.

“You mean the woman we thought was a myth, a farfetched story Archie made up?”

“That’s the one. She broke his heart fifty years ago and married someone else, and Archie said he’d never get over her.”

“So what is she doing here?”

“Her husband George died six months ago, and Archie ran into her at some county planning meeting, save the rain forest or something.”

“We don’t have a rain forest.”

“You know, one of those public meetings to stop development on someone’s land or some owl’s tree. They ran into each other, went out for lunch, and they’ve been together ever since.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m so happy for Archie. What luck.”

“Right, like the luck you had at my party,” Lois slips in, “hooking up with Cooper.” She smiles.

“We didn’t
hook
up
at your party, and since when do you say things like that? My mother doesn’t even use that expression.”

Lois shrugs. “I’m more hip. And I did see Cooper carrying you off that night.”

“I believe I was unconscious at the time, so it doesn’t count.”

“Imogene, I wish you would understand that loving someone doesn’t have to be impossible or even difficult
,
unless
you are looking for reasons to make it impossible. I’m not saying everyone is worth loving, but you did find someone good. I hate to see you foolishly waste time on being upset over some silly tiff.”

“Who says it’s silly?”

“Me. You’re sitting at the geriatric table instead of dancing with that handsome, young man.”

“What if the love isn’t equal?”

“Love is a bitch if you love someone who can’t give you what you want. And time is cruel. It goes too fast when you’re happy, and it seems like an eternity when you’re miserable. Love and time are both cruel bitches. They’re also necessary.”

“Then I’m screwed either way. Why do I bother talking to you about this?”