The Paid Bridesmaid(82)

Sadie was going to be utterly humiliated. I had no idea what this was going to do to her online reputation. Would she lose sponsors? Followers? I tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up. I told myself that it made sense that she’d turn off her phone, given that she and Dan were running away from the reception. They wouldn’t want people to be able to get in touch with them.

That had to be it, right? It wasn’t that Sadie had seen the live feed and was furious with me? I tried to ignore the rising sense of dread that this was only the beginning and things were about to get worse.

Although how they could possibly get worse than this, I wasn’t sure.

I also had no idea how to fix any of this. The damage was done and online.

Camden joined me a few minutes later, sitting in a chair next to mine. “We got her up to her room. She was conscious and still had on most of her clothes, so I’m counting that as a win.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m here to help you in any way that I can. We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

I considered his words. It was so nice to have someone who was here for me. Of course he cared about Dan’s wedding because they were close, but he made me feel like everything he’d done today had been because of me. It had been so long since anyone had made me feel that special.

There were smeared frosting and tiny chunks of cake stuck to his suit. “I hope that wasn’t a rental,” I told him, pointing at the food decorating his clothes. “I don’t think you’re going to get the deposit back.”

“At least it isn’t blood,” he teased as I pulled the napkin away. It seemed like the bleeding had stopped. His smile faded when he saw my expression. “What is it?”

“I should have been out in front of this. It never should have happened.”

He reached for my free hand and said, “You couldn’t have predicted that any of this would happen.”

“Sadie told me it might, that she was worried about it, and I should have prevented it.”

Camden squeezed my hand gently and it was so reassuring, even though I didn’t deserve it. “Rachel, this isn’t your fault.”

My throat felt heavy, thick. I blinked back tears. “It might not be my fault, but I definitely feel responsible. If I hadn’t been busy with . . .” I let my voice trail off as I looked down at my feet.

“If you hadn’t been busy with me.” I heard the pain in his voice at my implication that he was responsible for this failure, too.

I met his gaze, feeling wounded by the upset I saw there. “Camden, no, that’s not what I—”

“Rachel?” I heard a male voice ask.

I turned to see where it was coming from and my mouth opened in shock. No.

This was not happening.

No, no, no, no.





CHAPTER THIRTY


The man smiled at me, pointing at himself with both of his hands. “It’s me. Vinnie Hemmings.”

I had been a bridesmaid for Vinnie’s wife, Theresa. I’d never even considered this possibility. We deliberately chose brides and weddings where there didn’t seem to be any connections to our previous work. I stood up, still gaping in shock.

“Camden! How are you, man?” He shook hands with Camden. “Have a little trouble with the cake?”

“Something like that,” Camden said as he got to his feet.

“How do you two know each other?” I asked—both because I was desperately curious and because I was trying to turn the conversation away from myself. Hoping I could somehow salvage this.

“Dan and I were in the same frat, and we all went to Ohio State,” Vinnie said. “Theresa and I flew in this morning. I couldn’t get the time off of work, but I definitely wanted to be here for Dan’s big day! Our flight was delayed so we missed the wedding, but we got here for the reception. And this was certainly something, wasn’t it? Nothing like my wedding! Right, Rachel?”

Camden gave me a questioning look. He was too smart to be put off for long. I ran through a hundred different scenarios in my head, but none of them were going to change what was about to happen. I just had to sit here, being flooded with dread and regret, and I couldn’t stop it.

“Theresa! Look who’s here!” Vinnie called out.

Theresa came over and as soon as she saw me, her face went slack. She was the bride who had put me in the yellow-feather-and-hot-pink getup. We’d never had any kind of crossover like this before. I had no plan B here.

This was so bad. Theresa had been awful from beginning to end. Apparently Vinnie had given her a budget that she’d gone wildly over. She’d asked me to refund my fees and I had a no-refund policy. Especially since we’d done every wild thing she’d asked us to. She just didn’t want her new husband to find out that she’d spent so much money. I hadn’t worried too much about it at the time, but now I was deeply regretting everything as I thought of a million different ways this could go.

Still oblivious, Vinnie said to me, “What are the odds of running into you? You must be friends with the bride.”

“Rachel is the maid of honor,” Camden said.

“That’s a coincidence!” Vinnie again turned to Theresa, trying to get her to come over. “She was a bridesmaid at our wedding.”