Honeymoon For One
Authors: Lily Zante
For One
By Lily Zante
PUBLISHED BY:
Lily Zante
All
rights reserved.
No
part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means,
electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and
publisher of this book.
The
scanning, uploading and distribution of this book through the internet or any
other means without the prior written consent of the author is illegal and is
punishable by law.
This
is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product
of the author's imagination or used fictitiously and do not bear any
resemblance to any real person, alive or dead.
Copyright © 2012
Table of Contents
Ava lay on the couch wiping her raw nose again.
Her head throbbed with shooting pain and she wanted to close her eyes and drift
off to sleep, but she couldn’t. Damn this flu.
But Connor would be here soon. Wincing in pain, she
blew her nose yet again and sank back onto the couch, dragging the chenille
blanket up to her neck. Swatches of peach colored organza and pale pink silk
fabric lay on the other side, at her feet. As soon as her mind had cleared
enough she would choose one fabric and this would signal the start of the
wedding favors sub-project. For now she was too congested to think straight.
Wearily she grabbed the television control.
When
Harry Met Sally
was on and she flicked back and forth between live coverage
of the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square and the romantic film she
had seen countless times. It was 11.14pm.
Connor would be here soon. What was keeping him so long?
The loud cheers on the television woke her up. The
Robitussin had done its job and she had managed to slip into a delicious sleep.
Ava shook her head not quite believing the clock on the television
screen. It was midnight already. A digital counter in one corner of
the screen counted down, “
10, 9…..8….7…
”
No Connor anywhere.
She grabbed her cell and called him, her heart
racing with thoughts of anything and everything that could have gone wrong.
Dear god, not now.
“5…..4”
“Connor? Where are you? I’ve been worried
sick.” A part of her was relieved to hear his voice again and to know
that he was alright and another part of her was angry that he wasn’t by her
side on this special night.
“3…2…1….Happy New Year everybody!
” The crowds went berserk in the main square and
New Year’s Eve confetti rained down from the skies.
It was here. The New Year had finally arrived. And
the wedding was only six weeks away. A burst of happiness exploded through her,
wiping out the worry she had felt when Connor hadn’t turned up.
“Happy New Year Darling.” She smiled as she said
it, even though her head hurt and her throat felt as though it had been
sandpapered.
There was a pause at the other end.
“I can’t do it Ava. I’m sorry.” Connor sounded
dull and quiet even though in the background she could hear everyone at
Russell’s house party screaming and hooting for joy.
She
blinked in confusion. Had she heard him right? Maybe the Robitussen was playing
tricks on her.
“Can’t do what Connor?” she asked in a muffled voice,
as she wiped her nose with a soggy Kleenex.
“I can’t marry you. I’m sorry. I can’t go through
with it.” His words cut her more than her throbbing headache or throat.
“What? Connor?”
What did you just say?
“I’m sorry, I can’t go through with the wedding. I
don’t think I love you.”
She had heard him the first time.
I don’t think I love you.
From deep inside her, she managed to find the
strength to say, “I know,” before hanging up. She felt her body shaking all
over, except that it didn’t really feel as though she was inside it. The next
moment she collapsed backwards onto the couch and let out a gut wrenching
scream, flinging her arms out and sending the swatches of organza and silk
fabric hovering delicately to the floor. She heard a primal, guttural sound
ringing in the air and it took her a few seconds to figure out that it was her
voice.
I don’t think I love you.
But the wedding was no more than six weeks away.
On the television, the crowds were hugged and kissed
each other and the euphoric party goers were all smiles and laughter. They had
high hopes for this brand new start to a brand new year. Sick at the sight of
so much happiness, Ava smacked the television off and then curled up into a
ball and hid herself completely beneath the soft comfort of the blanket.
A short while later Ava woke up and found herself
staring at the ceiling. She had dozed off with the light on and even now, hovering
on the edge of sleep and wakefulness, the first words she remembered were
Connor’s.
I don’t think I love you.
What surprised her more than what he had said, was
her response. She realised with a start that she hadn’t been totally surprised
to hear these words, not really; not if she was being completely honest with
herself.
In fact, thinking about the past few months and
the constant rows they had had to do with the wedding preparations, she wasn’t
surprised at all. Because even though they had been together for nearly three
years, Ava felt the two of them had started drifting apart during the last six
months. These had been defining times for their relationship and deep in her
very core, her soul had known that it wasn’t right. She had seen Connor
becoming something that he had never been since she had known him: distant. And
the distance had increased the closer the wedding date loomed. Now with only six
weeks to go, it was no wonder Connor couldn’t have kept the pretense up for any
longer.
Ava blew her nose again and briefly wondered
whether she should get up and move into her bedroom. But she couldn’t summon
the willpower to move her body. Instead, she closed her eyes. She would worry
about tomorrow when she woke up.
The next morning Ava woke up in an awkward
position with a dull ache on the left side of her body. She had slept badly and
awkwardly on the couch and this morning she was paying the price for neglecting
her bed.
She sat up on the couch and reached over to the
floor to get her cell phone. Everything she needed was on there. She always checked
her emails, messages , calendar and to-do list for the day before taking a
single step out of bed. And sure enough this morning there was an email
from Connor.
Coward.
She noted the time of the email; he had sent it at a quarter to four in the
morning.
Dear Ava
I’m so sorry I broke the news to you as I did yesterday, just on the
stroke of midnight and you deserve better than that. I’m sorry.
I don’t feel I can carry on. I think I love you, but sometimes I’m
not sure I do. The thought of marriage scares the hell out of me. I’m not sure
I’m the marrying type. Everything was great between us. But as you got more
carried away with everything for the big day, I got more and more frightened by
the sense of responsibility. You talked about babies and I’m still thinking
about my career. Babies weren’t in my career plan. But they are in yours. I
can’t take that away from you.
It wasn’t just that. I knew I couldn’t go through with the wedding
and I owe it to you to tell you this. That weekend I told you I went to a law
seminar in Connecticut. I did. But I also ended up sleeping with a woman I met
from another law firm. I knew then, that if I was capable of that, the one
thing I wasn’t going to do was to let you think marriage to me was the way
forward. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me one day.
Connor.
So it hadn’t been a dream after all.
She dropped the cell phone on the floor and buried
her face in her hands. But the tears did not come. The course of her
whole life ahead had been changed.
But why did she feel a tiny sense of
relief?
With a sinking heart she realised that her mother
had invited the two of them over for a late lunch today. Her mother had also
invited her other daughter, her son-in-law and of course, little Tori would be
there too.
The thought of seeing her closest family and
breaking this news to them filled her with dread. But she had to start sometime
and she would tell them first.
Elsa Ramirez lived alone in Cherry Creek, a small
suburb within the Denver city limits. She had invited her daughter and future
son-in-law over for lunch on New Year’s Day.
A widowed woman, in her late sixties, Elsa was a
social butterfly with a very busy social life. Yet she always made time to see
her two daughters, Ava and Rona. She wasn’t too worried about Rona. Her husband
Carlos looked after her well and she was busy enjoying life as a new mother to
six month old Tori. It was Ava that she was more concerned about. This
wedding was taking its toll on her daughter, she could see that. Her daughter
was busy enough as it was, what with her copywriting assignments and her online
store which was taking up more of her time and now the wedding preparations had
taken over.
Each day she hoped the final arrangements for the
wedding were drawing near but each time her perfectionist daughter was going
the extra mile doing everything to make the big day extra special. The wedding
preparations were never ending.
Elsa sniffed her nose in annoyance as she peeled
the potatoes and diced the cabbage, checking the ham steak every now and then.
She would put up with Connor for the sake of her
daughter but, thought Elsa, ferociously dicing the cabbage for the sauerkraut,
she didn’t feel completely at ease around him. Not that it would matter now.
She would have to keep her mouth shut because Ava was happy and that was all
that mattered. Still, she would keep her eyes open for any signs that
Connor was making her sad. She sensed that her daughter always tried to live up
to what she perceived to be Connor’s ideals. His family was rich and he came from
a long line of lawyers. Elsa had met Connor’s parents once. Cold smiles and
eyes that gave away no expression. They smiled politely at her and it was clear
that they had met and liked Ava on a number of occasions. But Elsa wasn’t
convinced that his parents thought Ava was good enough stock for their son.
With six weeks to go to the wedding day, Elsa
hoped everything would go according to plan. She prayed her daughter would be
happy and that her future son-in-law would be worthy of her.