The Exception(35)

She turned on her heels and pushed her cart down the aisle as fast as she could. I watched as she stood in line, waiting for the next available cashier.

“Sorry you had to witness that,” I spoke as I turned to Jillian.

“No worries. She’s still broken up over you.”

“Too bad. She needs to move on.”

“I have a feeling that getting over you isn’t easy.” She smirked.

Giving her a small smile, I kissed the side of her head. “Let’s get you some dishes and get the hell out of here.”

When we arrived back at her apartment, I helped her unpack and put the dishes in the cupboard.

“Why are you putting them over there?” I asked.

“Because this is where I want them.” She smiled.

“But it’s more convenient for them to be placed in this cupboard.”

“I’m sorry, but do you live here still?”

I sighed. “Sorry. Old habits. We haven’t eaten since lunch and I’m starving. How about we go eat at that little Chinese restaurant down the street?”

“Sounds good to me.”

She had her laptop sitting on the counter and a call came through.

“I have to get this. It’s Kellan and we’ve been playing phone tag today.”

“Who’s Kellan?”

“My best friend. You’ll see.”

She accepted the call and his face appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Jilly Bean. Where the hell have you been all day?”

“Here and there. There’s a few things I need to tell you, but now isn’t a good time.”

“Why?”

“I’m with someone right now,” she spoke.

“Hmm. Just by you saying ‘someone’ indicates that it’s of the male species. Because if it was Kristen, you would have said you were with her. Who is he, Bean? Let me see?”

She looked across the room at me and then turned her laptop around.

“Drew, meet Kellan. Kellan meet Drew.”

I gave him a wave and a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

He stared at me as if he was at a loss for words. Jillian must have told him about me from Hawaii.

“Nice to meet you too, Drew. Jillian Kathryn Bell. What is going on?”

“How funny is it that Drew lives in New York too? Okay, got to go, my love. We’re heading out to dinner.”

“Wait! Don’t you dare end the call. I want details!” he shouted.

“Tomorrow. Bye, Kel.” She ended the call.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Jilly Bean?” I asked.

“Pet name. He loves me. He’s been calling me that since we were thirteen years old.”

“It’s cute. I like it.” I winked.

“Don’t you dare, Mr. Westbrook.”

She grabbed her purse and we walked down to the Chinese restaurant.

****

Jillian

As we were sitting in the restaurant eating, Drew asked me to tell him about Kellan. So I did.

“He’s the best friend anyone could ever have. The things he did for me. Wow.”

“What did he do for you?” he asked.

I swallowed hard. “Drew, I’m a terrible person.” I looked down in shame.

“No you’re not. Don’t say that.” He reached across the table and placed his hand on mine.

“No, actually, I am. Remember when I told you that I booked the flight to Hawaii for a ‘just in case’ I decided to leave Grant?”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“I had it planned all along.”

His brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I purposely waited for that day to leave him. It was the perfect plan and Kellan went to great lengths to help me.”

“Why?” he asked in confusion.

“Because I wanted revenge on him and my parents for what they did to me. Mostly my parents. But Grant had it coming. I already told you that he was a cheater and a liar.”

“And how did you and Kellan plan this so meticulously?” Drew cocked his head.

“Well.” I sighed. “Where do I begin? About three months before the wedding, I placed an ad under an alias name on Craig’s List for my wedding dress to be shipped out the day after my wedding.”

“Did you sell it?”

“Yeah. A nice woman in Wisconsin who couldn’t afford a wedding dress bought it for $50.” I smiled. “A fifteen-thousand-dollar wedding dress for fifty bucks. Patricia would be so pissed.”

Drew picked up his glass and took a sip of his drink. “Look at it this way. You made someone who couldn’t afford a wedding dress feel like a queen.” He smiled.

“I guess. So all in all, some good came out of what I did. A couple of days before the wedding, Kellan went and bought me a new phone and he rented a hotel room.”

“Why the hotel room?”

“That’s where I kept my luggage for my one-way ticket out of Seattle, which by the way, Kellan purchased for me. Before I left the church, I called a cab from my old phone and had him meet me at Pier 59. I did a factory reset and set it on the chair next to my ring. Once I left the church, I had the limo driver take me to Pier 59 and then I climbed into the cab and took it to the hotel. I changed out of my dress, grabbed everything I needed, and hopped on a plane.”