My One and Only(60)
“Mind your own beeswax, lady,” Lainey said, baring her teeth at me. She had braces.
“Let me guess, Alec,” I said quickly, ignoring her. “At first, Lainey was so nice, right? But then, once you proposed and gave her an Amex with her name on it—”
Nick materialized at my side. “Okay, we’ll just get going here,” he said, giving me a tug. “Sorry to bother you folks.”
“How’d you know I gave her an Amex?” Alec asked me, frowning.
“Car, too, I’m guessing?” I asked.
“Mind your business, lady,” Lainey snarled.
“Alec, I wonder if you have to work this hard now, when you’re supposedly in love—”
“Shut it, Harper.” Nick’s voice was low.
“—just imagine how—” My words were cut off as Nick clamped his hand over my mouth. He hauled me out of the chair and began steering me to the door, Coco following obediently, her leash trailing.
“Oh, that dog is so cute!” Lainey exclaimed. She looked up at Alec, her steely eyes morphing to calculated softness. “I wish I had a wittle doggy like dis one.”
“Want me to buy you one?” Alec asked.
“Wiwwy? You would? Faw me?” she said. She reached out for Coco, who wisely dodged away. Nick let go of me and picked up my dog’s leash.
“She’s just after your money, Alec,” I said quickly. “Make sure you have a prenup!”
“Sorry,” Nick said to the happy couple. He grabbed my arm again and practically dragged me out the door, then released me. Coco sat down and stared at me as well, as if in a collusion of disappointment. “Did you have to do that?” Nick asked.
“What? Tell the truth? Try to save that guy some misery?”
“It’s not your job to decide, Harper,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“It’s like watching a car head for a telephone pole at sixty miles an hour. I couldn’t just say nothing.”
“Just let them be. They’re strangers, for God’s sake. You don’t know anything about them. Maybe their…thing…works.”
I took Coco’s leash out of his hand. “Right. And you know what else, Nick? The Brooklyn Bridge is for sale.”
“You sell everyone short, Harper. You’re such a cynic.”
Oh, those words…that condescension! “I’m a realist, Nick,” I said. “This is what I do for a living—deal with crappy relationships every single day. He’s crazy about her, and she can barely stand him. But he’s pretty well off, as we can see from this brand-new Chevy pickup, Exhibit A, Your Honor.” I pointed to the shiny black truck in front of us. “She might have a three-carat diamond on her hand, but Mom and Dad couldn’t afford dental care, because she’s only got braces now, Exhibit B. I bet we both know who’s paying. He’s a nice guy, bending over backwards to make her smile, and she can hardly look at him. It’s not fair. They shouldn’t get married. I’d bet you a thousand dollars she’ll cheat on him. I bet she’s cheating on him right now.”
I stopped, a little out of breath. Nick was looking at me oddly. “The window’s open,” he said softly.
Oh…crotch. I turned my head…yes, crotch. Indeed. Lainey looked nervous, her eyes darting between me and her fiancé as she twisted her ring. Because of course, I was right.
Alec was staring at me, his mouth opened slightly, as if I’d just clubbed him with a shovel. Sorry, mister. Slowly, he turned to his fiancée. “Do you love me, Lainey?” he asked.
She hesitated, then fixed a smile on her face and took his hand, her acrylic nails gleaming like claws. “Of caws me wuvs oo! Oo’s mah favewit cowboy!”
He bought it. Of course he did. Well, any man who spoke LOL Kitty clearly had no self-respect, and soon, another of my divorce-attorney brethren would have a new client.
“Take a walk,” Nick said in a low voice. “I’ll meet you at the car in twenty minutes.”
I walked. An unfamiliar sensation sloshed in my stomach, and it took me a minute to name it. Shame. I was right, I knew. Everything I said would come true, I’d bet my liver with a side of kidney. Was it wrong to try to save LOL Kitty Man some heartbreak? Granted, maybe the truth shouldn’t have come from a stranger, but at least he heard it. Maybe late at night, he’d have a revelation. Dump her, find some kindhearted woman who really appreciated him and end up happy.
But probably not. Probably, he’d marry that manipulative little money-grubber and live miserably ever after.
The disappointment on Nick’s face…that hurt. Crap.
Being right wasn’t everything.
Coco trotted neatly along, her strong little legs a blur. She stopped to sniff a streetlight, one of four in the downtown area. Townspeople were out and about on their errands, the men clad in jeans and flannel shirts, green John Deere caps or, in the case of a few, cowboy hats. The women were similarly attired, sturdy and capable. In my linen pants and pink silk shirt, silver bracelets and expensive shoes, I definitely stuck out.
I missed Kim, who liked me, and Dennis, who had never once been disappointed in me, or made me feel as if I was wrong, or misguided. I missed Willa, who always loved me, even when I was telling her what not to do. Then again, she saw potential in everyone.