Wedding Survivor (44 page)

"We, ah… we weren't really seeing each other," Marnie tried, and earned a bunch of snorting laughter from around the table for it "Really!" she vainly insisted.

"Oh, Marnie!" Mom said, laughing.

"And besides, he's out of the country right now," Marnie added smartly.

"Oh, that's a pity," Mrs. Campbell sighed. "I was hoping we'd see him again. He's so
cute
. I just want to eat him right up."

"I want to eat him right up, too," Mrs. Farrino said, and Mrs. Donaldson guffawed.

Marnie felt the back of her neck get hot and glanced at her mom. But Mom just laughed and playfully punched her on the shoulder. "Honestly, Marnie! Where is your sense of humor? They're just teasing you!"

"Speak for yourself, Carol," Mrs. Campbell said, and the four of them howled again.

"Mom," Marnie said, pinning her mother with a look. "I
really
have to
go
."

"Then go on," Mrs. Farrino said with a flick of her wrist. "We're just having a little fun. No need to get your panties all in a wad."

They were not in a
wad
. "It's just that I have an appointment this afternoon, and I really have to go," she said, standing up. She waved weakly at the lot of them and said, "Bye."

"Bye!" the women called out.

"Marnie, honey, we're having soy enchiladas tonight! Go tell your dad you're here."

"Okay, Mom."

"Don't be late!" Mom trilled.

"Okay!" she trilled right back, and as she exited, stage left, she heard them all laugh again when Mrs. Farrino remarked that Marnie had seemed a little too uptight even when she was a kid.

Marnie stalked to the kitchen, picked up the mail, and flipped through it, finally finding the one addressed to her. She glanced at the return address and her heart soared.
Thrillseekers Anonymous
.

She quickly tore it open, but her face fell when she withdrew an invoice with a yellow Post-it note stuck to it. The note was from Michael, explaining that the invoice had arrived only last week, and he could find no record of it having been paid, and could she please shed some light on it? She glanced at the invoice—it was for John and Jim, the professional guests.

It was not a letter from Eli. In fact, Eli's name didn't appear anywhere on the damn thing.

Okay. All right. She'd pined, she'd hoped, and she'd had faith. Now she was just pissed. She folded the letter and stuffed it back into the envelope and shoved it into her purse. She marched out of the kitchen and into the hallway, headed for the door. As she passed the dining room, her mother saw her. "Marnie, where are you going? Don't forget the enchiladas!" she cried.

"Sorry, Mom, I've got something I've got to do!" she called over her shoulder and went out, got behind the wheel of her car, and pointed it in the direction of the Thrillseekers offices.

THE T.A. offices weren't really offices, but Jack's house off Mulholland Drive. Marnie had discovered this just before the wedding of the century that never happened, when she'd had to get a check for a vendor. He had a guest house on his property, set behind the main house and deep in some acacia trees, that served as their offices.

She lucked out—Jack and Michael were both there, going over a movie script. They looked a little surprised when she walked up to the glass door and banged on it—she could see them sitting just inside. Jack instantly got up and let her in.

"Hey, Marnie. This is a surprise," he said.

"Right." She took the invoice from her purse and shoved it at Jack. "Michael wanted to know about this invoice. I paid these guys at the lodge. This is for your records."

"Ah," Michael said, nodding as Jack took the invoice. He stood up, too, put his hands to his hips, glanced at Jack, and asked, "You drove all the way over here just to tell me that?"

"I was in the neighborhood," she said with a shrug. "I, ah, I told Eli you'd be getting an invoice for your records," she lied, and looked at the floor. "I guess he forgot to tell you?"

"Ah. I've only talked to Eli a couple of times since he and Cooper left for Brazil," Michael said.

Aha, so there
was
a means of communication. Marnie bit her lip, absently fingering the edge of a lampshade. "Soooo… he's still in Brazil?" she asked, trying very hard to act innocently about it. "I thought that would have been over by now."

"It is," Michael said. "Right now he's in New Zealand."

Marnie's head snapped up at that. New Zealand?
New Zealand
? "New Zealand?" she exclaimed, forgetting her act. "He never said anything about New Zealand!"

Michael exchanged another look with Jack. Jack put his hand on her shoulder. "He, ah… well, he had to go there in place of Cooper when Cooper's mom had emergency surgery. It was a last-minute deal."

"Oh," Marnie said, nodding. "Last-minute."

"Yeah. Last-minute."

She should have thanked them and left. She should have just let it go. But she didn't—she started talking to fill the awkward silence like she always did. "But he might have called and mentioned New Zealand, right? I mean, it's not like I'm entitled to an itinerary or anything, but, you know, we just survived the wedding disaster of the century, and it wouldn't have
killed
him to see if I was doing all right, would it?"

"No," Jack said firmly. "No, it would not have."

"
Thank
you," she said. "I'm not asking for anything but common courtesy here. Just some indication that he's human, and that he considers the feelings of people with whom he has worked closely. It's not often I get stuck in the mountains—like never—and my career didn't quite pan out like I'd hoped after that fiasco, but does anyone care about that? Nooo," she said.

"Ah… we care. We really do," Jack said, looking ex-tremely uncomfortable. It was guy code, she realized—they were not going to dish Eli with her. Hell, they were probably all love 'em and leave 'em kind of guys.

Marnie suddenly felt very dejected and let her hands drop listlessly against her sides. "Okay," she said with a halfhearted shrug, "if you guys ever do another wedding, you know who to call, right?"

"Right," Jack said, patting her on the shoulder.

"I guess I'll just go now," she said, and turned around. Jack got the door for her. Michael walked up behind her as if he meant to tackle her if she tried to stay. "I moved to an apartment," she blurted, as if that meant anything to anyone in this room.

"That's great," Michael said. "You want us to tell Eli you came by?"

Marnie snorted. "
Why
?" she asked bitterly. "Don't bother. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about that invoice," she said, and stepped out the door. "Okay. Thanks again." She reluctantly lifted a heavy hand to wave to them.

Jack and Michael glanced at each other, then at Marnie. "Bye," they said.

Marnie walked away, her heart heavy, her feet even heavier, and she thought, for the first time—okay, the second time—that she really hated Eli McCain.
New Zealand
. That bastard!

Behind her, Michael frowned as he quietly shut die door behind Marnie's retreating back. "Did McCain say anything to you about having something going with the wedding coordinator?" he asked Jack.

Jack looked surprised. "No. Did they?"

"Are you blind?" Michael snorted. "What do you think? You saw her."

"Right," Jack said, looking confused. "That was pretty weird. But you don't
really
think there was anything going on, do you?"

"Why not?" Michael returned. "She's a damn fine-looking woman."

"Yes, she is," Jack readily agreed. "But this is Eli we are talking about. You know, the I'll-never-be-with-a-woman-again Eli."

That made Michael laugh. "You want my opinion? I think Eli will be the first one of us to be taken down by a woman."

"Nah," Jack said.

"Bet."

"How much?"

"A thou. And no interfering," Michael said, sticking his hand out.

"No interfering," Jack said, taking Michael's hand, "except to tell him she stopped by. He can take it from there."

"Deal," Michael said, shaking. "And I am going to enjoy spending your money, bro."

"But you won't be spending my money," Jack said. "I'll be spending yours."

"You're really pretty dumb when it comes to this stuff, you know it?" Michael said, grabbing two beers out of the fridge.

"Oh, and what are you, Casanova?" Jack snorted, taking the beer Michael offered him.

"I'm damn sure more successful than any of you assholes," Michael said, and the two men continued to argue about who was the real ladies' man over a couple of beers.

September 3 if I could have one night over, it would be the night of the storm. Do you remember it? I've thought of it a lot and sometimes the image is so vivid that I can feel your hair on my face or your breath on my neck. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you, Marnie. Not a moment exists without you in it somehow. I think of you when Is ee the sun glinting off the highest peaks, I smell you in the salt of the sea, and I hear your voice when we've folded down at night and there is no sound but the crackle of the fire. You are everywhere, coppertop, yet you are so far from me that I know I must be dreaming…

DID she think of him? Did she recall that night in the same way as he did, or was he building castles in his mind? Had he fallen over the edge again, had he tripped and broken his heart wide open? Would she be waiting for him?

Waiting! Why in God's name should she be
waiting
for him? He'd come to New Zealand on a whim, in a moment of cowardice. Michael had said he'd do it when Cooper had to bail, but Eli had jumped in without thought, acting from that place in his gut where all his fears and insecurities continued to live. It was embarrassing—he'd written her a dozen letters or more—love letters, letters he didn't think himself capable of thinking, much less writing—and they were all stuffed in the cargo pocket of his pants, none of mem mailed.

He couldn't quite put down that small niggling fear that kept creeping, uninvited, into his thoughts, the one that he was the only one to feel this way, that he'd built her smile and her admission of love in the throes of lovemaking to something more than was really there. If he was the only one to feel this bond, he rationalized, then acting on it would make him an even bigger fool than one who wrote passionate letters to a woman who was halfway around the world and stuffed them in his backpack.