they obeyed, closing the door quietly behind them. Faith sank onto her bed, the tulle skirt puffing around her like dandelion fluff. There was her big red suitcase, all packed for the honeymoon, the tickets to San Francisco peeking out of the side pocket.
Hello Kitty ticked away the minutes from the bureau. She could hear the rumble of her father’s voice through the open window as he talked to someone. Mrs. Johnson was banging around in the kitchen—distress cooking, they called it when she was upset. From down the hall came the sound of Abby’s sobs—poor kid. Jeremy wouldn’t be her uncle, though she’d been calling him that for months now. Bragging about it.
Faith drifted over to the mirror and stared at her reflection. Her mascara was smudged under her reddened eyes, and her lipstick was gone. Face utterly white. But her hair had come out really great.
You know what else? She’d dieted for two months to get to this weight, even though Jeremy assured her he loved her just the way she was. Jeremy, who was gay. Gay men liked curvy women. There you go. Shoulda known.
This morning, Faith had been the luckiest girl in New York State, if not the universe. Everyone thought that, especially her. Now, at 12:44, she was the woman who didn’t know her fiancé was gay.
How could she not have known? They slept together. A lot! Okay, well, maybe not a lot, not as much as she would’ve liked or as much as her friends seemed to sleep with their boyfriends, but they’d been in college, hello? In separate states! And then in grad school, also in separate states! And then, this past year...well, still not so much.
Justin Timberlake.
Holy futtocks.
All this time, she thought they were happy. All this time, Jeremy, her wonderful, sweet, thoughtful Jeremy, had carried this secret alone.
Well. Levi knew. She guessed he’d told Levi.
She stood up and started to take off her wedding dress. It was impossible. All those damn little covered buttons and loops...Jeremy was supposed to have unbuttoned them, slowly, lovingly, and you know, yeah, she’d thought that once they were married and getting pregnant would be a joy and not an oops, their sex life would take off. It had always been fine. It’d been fine! But marriage, she’d just known, would only improve it.
Here she’d been lying naked with Jeremy Lyon, totally in love, believing him when he said she was beautiful and perfect, when he’d been thinking of Justin Timberlake dancing around in a hoodie. And while that was an entirely appealing image, the man she loved shouldn’t have been cramming it into his head to block out her. You know what? Justin Timberlake wasn’t even that good. Totally average. How dare he occupy Jeremy’s mind during sex?
Faith’s phone buzzed. Goggy, said the screen, featuring a photo of her scowling grandmother. Faith let it go to voice mail. A minute later, the phone chirped with a text. She looked. Pick up the damn phone. A second later, Goggy’s face scowled at her again.
It’d be easier to talk to her grandmother than dodge the calls. Goggy was a slab of granite when she wanted to be. “Hi,” Faith said.
“Go on your honeymoon,” Goggy said firmly. “Get out of here for a while.”
Faith was silent. At the moment, she couldn’t imagine standing up, let alone getting on an airplane and flying across the country.
“Do it, Faith,” Goggy said, her voice more gentle. “Spend a little time away from home, see the world.”
The words were horribly familiar, cutting right into the middle of Faith’s heart.
“You have the tickets, right? Use them. Go to San Francisco, honey, and just be away from all of this.”
If that wasn’t a rope, Faith didn’t know what was. “Okay,” she whispered.
“I’ll drive you.” Goggy sounded triumphant, but she was the type who never quite managed to hit forty mph on the highway.
“That’s okay. You stay here. I’ll get someone else. And, Goggy...” Faith’s voice broke. “Thank you.”
“I’ll call you tonight, sweetheart.”
Goggy was right. She couldn’t stay here. Jeremy couldn’t leave, and she couldn’t stay. Jeremy was her next-door neighbor, albeit a mile down the road. She’d see him everywhere.
And at this moment, that thought was unbearable.
Add to that, Manningsport had 715 people in it. Everyone now knew that Faith Holland was too stupid to realize her fiancé was gay. Nope, I didn’t suspect, they’d say. Not the way that kid threw the ball...but I didn’t sleep with him, either! Heh heh heh!
Her zombielike state shattered abruptly. She grabbed her suitcase and yanked open the door, flew down the stairs, her dress rustling against the family photos, knocking them askew.
Justin Timberlake. She hated Justin Timberlake.
Just as she got to the bottom, a quiet knock came at the front door. She jerked it open, out of breath.
Ah. The other man she hated. Levi Cooper, Wedding Destroyer. “You,” she hissed.
He was still in his dress uniform, his chest full of ribbons and medals. Mr. Hero. “Jeremy sent me to check on you.”
“Take me to the airport,” she ordered.
His eyebrows rose, crinkling his forehead a little. “I don’t know about that.”
“Do what I say, Levi,” she said.
“Listen, you’re probably not—”
“Shush. Just take me there.”
Her father came up on the porch. “Faith, sweetpea, I was just coming to check on you. How are you, honey? This is such a shock, I don’t know what to—”
“Daddy, I’m going to San Francisco. Okay? I’ll call you when I land.”
“Wait a second, sweetie, slow down,” he said, glancing at Levi. Why? Why glance at the guy who ruined her wedding and kept Jeremy’s secret, huh? “I think you should stay here, baby, with your family. This is a tough, tough day, but we’ll get you through it.”
“I’m going to San Francisco. I have tickets,” Faith said.
“Faith—”
“I—I—I—I have to get out of here, Dad,” she stammered, the hyperventilating starting up again. “I’ll just go to San Fran. Remember Liza? My friend from college? She lives there, so I won’t be alone. I’ll call her. She’s really fun. Okay? Call you later.”
“Now, Faith, this doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“Daddy, I need to get out of here. I’m going.”
“All right, all right. Settle down. Just...if you want to go, give me a minute, and I’ll pack some things and go with you. Okay?”
“No. I’m going alone. Right now. I have to get out of here or I’m going
