A Time for Hope (Lexi, #3)(53)
Alex was still at our apartment as planned. I had travelled to James and Hannah’s earlier in the day under to ruse of needing to prepare for his big surprise party. Alex had humoured me and agreed to arrive at seven in the evening (and not a moment sooner) for a predetermined dinner. He would pretend to assume that the dinner would only be the band and the two of us, having seen his mother and brother earlier in the day. In a complicated web of omissions, the only people that knew the truth were James, Hannah, Taylah, Sydney, Dave and myself. The guests all thought they were attending a surprise party but that Alex had no idea of the plans. Alex of course, knew of the party but had no idea of the greater agenda and no one other than the six of us knew that everyone was about to witness a wedding. Even Matt and Anna had been kept in the dark in the conscious effort to keep a lid on it.
I had smuggled out Alex’s tux out of the apartment a few days ago and brought it here to James and Hannah’s. It had been placed in a spare bedroom where it awaited for Alex to change into upon his arrival and subsequent surprise.
Guests had arrived and assembled in Hannah’s living areas, oblivious to my flower and candle filled tent out in the backyard. Wait staff circled with canapés and beverages, keeping the guests believing that it was in fact a birthday party they were attending. Everyone had just assumed I was with Alex and maintaining the ploy so my absence had not attracted any suspicion either.
The plan dictated that when Alex arrived, and the big SURPRISE was yelled out by family and friends, James would direct Alex to the guest bedroom where he would change while Hannah, Taylah and Sydney would usher the guest into the Wedding Tent (as I had affectionately named it). Alex would still be clueless, wondering where I was and why I was insisting he wear a tux to his own birthday. James would concoct some bullshit story about me having some work emergency and possibly about me being a moody bitch (the latter part of the bullshit story not necessarily a lie) and even if Alex did suspect something it would be minutes before he would find out, so no big deal. In the meantime our wonderful family and friends would oooohhh and ahhhhh over the beautiful place settings and be let in on the secret that they were actually there for our wedding. Alex walks in, after donning his tux. SURPRISE. And then I walk down the aisle. A flawless plan one would have thought. What could go wrong, right?
At 7:05 p.m. I was a flutter of excited energy, the guests were anxiously awaiting the birthday boy and Sydney was up in alternate guest bedroom with me. Troy and Dan were still yet to show but they had the tendency to lose track of time, especially when they were together, so no search party had been sent out just yet. Alex was obviously running late but as I had insisted he didn’t arrive till seven, I figured he was being considerate to my request so allowing an additional five minutes.
At 7.15 p.m. there was a nervous milling around down stairs. Every noise that was potentially larger than a cat was met with a “battle stations” war cry where people dove haphazardly for hiding places in preparation. A few false starts and a few giggles later, there was still no Alex. Dan and Troy were also still AWOL and while everyone waited patiently I was starting to get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
At 7:30 p.m. with an increasingly restless crowd, James started dialing the mobile phones of Troy, Dan and Alex. One by one they diverted to voice mail. No clue as to where more than half the members of Power Station had disappeared to and I was officially worried. Where the hell were they? Why wasn’t anyone picking up their phones?
At 7.45 p.m I had dissolved into a complete neurotic mess. “Where are they?” I paced nervously the length of the floor as James continued his endless loop of hitting redial.
“Lexi, I honestly don’t know. They should be here by now.” Every single time, his call was met with no answer.
“I swear if they aren’t laying in a ditch somewhere I’m going to kill them.” Irrationality had now taken up permanent residence as I struggled to maintain perspective. It was only forty-five minutes late. There could be a logical explanation. Whatever it was, it had better be f*cking excellent!
“What do you want me to tell everyone?” A concerned Hannah entered the room, a cooing Noah in her arms.
“Tell them there has been a slight hiccup and Alex is on his way.” I refused to believe anything to the contrary.
“Ok,” Hannah hesitated before disappearing back downstairs.
I sat nervously on the bed as I watched the minutes tick over, willing Alex to call or walk through the door. James slid his phone into his pocket, abandoning any further attempts; he too had given up hope of making contact. Something had to be wrong, three separate phones and not one connection. My stomach lunged as James knelt gently in front of me. “He’ll be ok Lexi. I promise you. He will be ok.”
I swallowed as I checked my phone. The innocuous display proudly announced that it was now eight-fifteen. It had been over an hour since his expected arrival. There had been no contact from Alex (or Dan or Troy) since earlier today and it was time to make an announcement. I owed our guests at the very least an explanation, and then I could change out of my beautiful, white wedding gown and go in search of my missing husband, tearing the island of Manhattan apart if I needed to.
There was no easy way to walk into your own “surprise” wedding where the Groom was MIA but it didn’t feel right asking anyone else to deal with it. No, me and my big f*cking bright ideas needed to front up and come clean to our friends and family who had gathered, patiently waiting for the guest of honor who had still yet to show.