“Word of advice? He doesn’t love you. He’s just telling you he does so he can bleed you dry of all the money you have. Let me guess, your parents are rich, and you ran off to get married to spite them?”
Her wide eyes darted away, and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. “He’ll say all the right words, and the sex will blow your mind, which I’m sure you already know. But once he’s gotten everything he can from you, he’ll leave you for something better. For someone with more money to fund his precious art.”
Alessandro glanced up at me, and I bent down to look deep into his eyes. “You’re a starving artist because you suck. Your art is horrible, and no amount of money will change that. All the galleries that denied you should have been a sign. You just aren’t good enough.”
I patted his arm and stood, feeling better. Fae had a wide smile on her face as she led me out of the chapel. When I got to the doors, I spun around to face them. Alessandro was standing and brushing his clothes off.
“Oh, and one more thing. As soon as I walk out these doors, I’m calling the cops. Marrying someone for a green card is illegal, Alessandro. They’re going to send you and your shitty art back to Italy.”
An hour later, I sipped my vodka tonic and breathed a heavy sigh, looking out the window at the clouds below.
“Another drink, miss?” the flight attendant asked.
I looked down at my nearly empty cup and tossed back the rest of my drink. Then I held the cup out to her and nodded. It was my third drink, but the embarrassment was still fresh, and every time I replayed the day’s events, it was like opening the wound all over again.
After I left the chapel, I walked back to the hotel. But not before making a very important phone call to immigration. In my hotel suite, I packed as quickly as possible and hightailed it out of there. I needed to check out before Alessandro returned. I’d packed up his clothes, too, and tossed them into a dumpster I saw on the way to the airport. The cab driver was irritated when I asked him to pull over, but once he saw what I was doing, his anger quickly changed to amusement.
Throwing away Alessandro’s clothes only made me feel marginally better. The thought of returning to New York made me sick. Eventually, I would have to return to deal with the mess, but I couldn’t face it right then. So I made a snap decision at the airport and bought a ticket to North Carolina. I was headed to the little town of Oak Springs, where my sister Rebecca was living.
Before she moved, Rebecca and I had shared a New York apartment with two roommates, Riley and Anna, but I’d had another secret apartment where Alessandro lived. While I waited for my flight, I called the landlord and canceled my lease. I told him not to let anyone into the apartment and that I would clean it out when I returned from vacation. Once I agreed to pay him next month’s rent and forfeit the security deposit for breaking the lease early, he assured me he’d leave everything as it was until I returned.
When the flight landed, I hurried through baggage claim, then went to the bathroom to change. I’d worn leggings and a loose T-shirt on the flight, but that wasn’t how I wanted to greet my sister. Even though we had lived together in New York, she didn’t know about Alessandro and the mess I had gotten myself into, and I needed to keep it that way. I put on my “armor,” which consisted of a tight pencil skirt, a flowing blouse that showed my cleavage, and a full face of makeup, before walking out to find the Uber I’d ordered.
Thankfully, the driver knew where Oak Springs was. I rested my head back against the seat and closed my eyes, mentally preparing to see Rebecca. I couldn’t tell her what I’d been through because she would only lecture me on my life choices. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye.
I’d met Alessandro on a gap year trip to Italy with a friend, and we’d quickly fallen in love. Only it wasn’t love. It was just the excitement and adventure of it all. He dazzled me and pulled the wool over my eyes. Things progressed quickly, and after six months of dating, we were on a flight to New York, and I’d rented a small loft apartment in Brooklyn.
My parents paid for college and an apartment for my sister and me as long as we attended all of our classes and kept our grades up. We had trust funds that helped as well, but with the extra apartment, I needed a job. But when my grades started to slip, and I started missing more classes than I was attending, my parents cut me off.
I picked up a second job in order to pay for my part of the apartment and also Alessandro’s, but it still wasn’t enough. He helped occasionally when he’d sell a piece of art or his parents were feeling generous and sent money. But it put a strain on my relationship with Rebecca, which was already difficult.
The lies kept stacking until everything fell apart in Vegas. Looking back, I realized how many mistakes I’d made. It was past time to get my life together, but not before a little detour to figure things out.
The car twisted and turned down tree-lined country roads, bringing me back to the present. The scenery was beautiful but a little off-putting since I was used to the glitz and glamor of city life. We pulled to a stop, and I peered out the front window. The road ahead was blocked off.
“Looks like this is as far as I go,” the driver said.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“They’ve got some event going on,” he said, nodding toward the park that was crowded with people. “The road is blocked. You’ll have to get out here.”
I sighed and dug around in my purse for my credit card. After paying the sixty-five-dollar fare, I climbed out. The driver retrieved my luggage from the trunk, then reversed and left the way he came. I stood on the pavement, looking around. The street sign above me read Main Street. Cute stores lined both sides of the street, and I couldn’t wait to see them when they were open.
“Can I help you?” a deep voice asked. I turned and saw a man dressed in a police uniform. Long hair peeked out from under a god-awful hat. He looked like he’d just stepped out of an old-time movie or something.
“I’m looking for my sister.”
He tilted his head, studied me for a moment, then tipped his chin toward the park. “Could be in there.”
The guy had little personality, and his scowl wasn’t giving off a very welcoming vibe. I hoped he wasn’t the welcoming committee. I peeked around him. A giant movie screen was playingPeter Pan, and the park was filled with mostly kids.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Rebecca. Rebecca Cooper.”
He nodded. “At the bar.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, confused by his short answers.