Before Bree even opened her eyes, a tightening in her stomach reminded her that this was the day she’d been dreading for days--maybe longer than that if she was honest with herself. She’d been dreaming of marrying Trent for a decade, hadn’t she? Now, he was getting married. But not to her.
He’d tried to call her the night before. She’d seen a missed call on her phone. And at one point, she thought she’d heard a soft knock on the door. She’d been in the bathtub and hadn’t been sure. When she made it to the door, no one wa
Bree walked into the chapel and noted her guitar was already in place. She didn’t wait for an usher. Her spot was reserved, so she walked right to it, ignoring all of the other guests. There were several there already, and she heard her name shouted in a familiar voice that was probably Christy, but she didn’t look. She was in performance mode, robot mode, and she didn’t want to lift her eyes to look at anyone or even make small talk and pretend smile. She’d have to talk to Christy later and explain that she just hadn’t heard her, which wasn’t true, but Christy didn’t need to know that.
The sun was still shining; the waves continued to roll across the shoreline, wetting the sand, and tumbling back out to sea. The seagulls danced and played above her, and the blue sky was vivid and bright, refusing to hide itself in clouds.Bree sunk down in the sand, leaning back against the rocks she’d used as shelter many times that week--a week that had taken on a life of its own, stretching beyond five days into a millennium.
Trent watched Bree walk down the aisle. He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t stop at her seat. It had been a shock that she’d stayed as long as she did. The fact that she had actually sang that song at his wedding, while staring into his eyes, let him know how much he meant to her--she really did love him, still.And here he was, holding the hands of a woman he knew had cheated on him with his best friend, getting ready to say, “I do.” I do--what? Want to be with you? Want to spend the rest of my life with you? Treasure you? Trust you? Lov
Bree was still gazing up at the sky when she realized she wasn’t alone. The familiar scent of his cologne told her who had come to sit next to her on the sand without her even tilting her head over to look at him. She didn’t, either. Whatever he had to say, he could say it while she watched the only cloud she’d seen in a while slowly float by.“I’m sorry,” Trent said, his voice as quiet and still as the heavens above them. “I should’ve listened to you.”
Bree was relieved to hear that the pastor had locked her guitar back in the closet in the church where he’d kept it the night before. “Here you go, dear,” he said, unlocking the door and handing it to her. Then, he turned to Trent and said, “I’m sorry things didn’t turn out the way you’d expected, son.”“Thank you,” Trent said, and Bree could tell he wasn’t sure what else to say. The pastor gave them a sympathetic smile and then waved, and Bree and Trent headed out.
A few hours later, after more dancing, eating, and drinking, Bree found herself on a blanket under a full moon on the beach with the man she loved, two glasses, a bottle of champagne, two forks, and the top tier of Trent’s wedding cake. It was delicious.“You know, it took her about a month to decide what flavors of cake she wanted,” Trent said between bites. They weren’t bothering with plates. The cake sat on its original platter between them on the blanket, the gorgeous detail in the white frosting visible in the moonlight. It was a German ch
Bree woke up in Trent’s arms, but nothing had happened once they’d gotten to her hotel room. For that matter, nothing had happened on the beach either. Well, that wasn’t quite true. There’d been a lot of kissing, a lot of touching, but they hadn’t gone all the way. That was okay with Bree, though. She loved Trent, but she thought he was right to take things slow. He’d obviously just gotten out of a long term relationship, and she was making the mental adjustment to thinking they’d never be together to realizing he was hers now.
“Here it is… my humble abode.” Bree opened the door to her small, one bedroom apartment, and stepped aside so that Trent could bring in their baggage. She was slightly embarrassed at how tiny the place was, but Trent smiled and nodded as he walked in.“It’s really cute, Bree. I like how you’ve decorated it. You always did have a good eye for things like that.”
Two weeks later…. Bree sat on the beach, a drink one hand, Trent’s fingers interlaced with her other where it lay in the sand. The ocean waves rolled in, wetting the sand near their toes, the sun baking down on their tan skin as it dried from their first dip in the ocean. There would be plenty more.&nbs
The sound of the gavel echoed throughout the courtroom. No one said a word for what seemed like the longest few seconds Bree could ever remember. Then, the people around her came back to life, and she found air in her lungs again. “Are you okay?” Trent asked. He was always asking her that, checking on her, making sure she was all right. Bree nodded. She was all right. She was going to continue to be all right, too. It seemed like a nightmare that had lasted almost two years was finally over.&nb
Yet again, Bree found herself speaking to a police officer. This time, she wasn’t the one lying in a hospital bed, though. Instead, after they’d pieced together enough of the story to know that the maintenance man had been trying to make it so that the pipe above her head would move down, Bree and her bandmates had been asked to come to the police station. The others were sitting outside, or maybe one or two of them were being interviewed by other officers now. All she knew was the man sitting across from her, Detective Coop Wellington, didn’t look like the sort of person one kept information from. “We know Monica and this&helli
“All right--Bree Matthews!” a stagehand shouted, coming over with a clipboard and a microphone on his head. “Are you ready?” “We are ready!” Bree said for all of them, bouncing on her heels. “Then, head to your spots.” He signaled for them to approach their section of the stage. The band had been prepped on how this would work before the show. They headed to the places they’d been told to earli
Sitting in a chair, staring at a runway, brought back way too many uncomfortable memories for Trent. Had it really just been a little over a year since he’d spent at least one or two days a week sitting in just such a chair, waiting for Monica to come down the stage? It seemed so strange now. He tried not to fidget, but his leg was bouncing up and down so quickly, he was glad he wasn’t outside because he might manage to start a fire with the right kindling--and like Bree, he’d had enough of fire for one lifetime. “Are you all right?” Celia asked, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “You’re making me nervous, an
Anxiety bubbled up in Bree as she stood in the staging area, getting ready for the big show. All around her, models and bands were putting the finishing touches on their makeup and hair, the models getting into their first outfits so that they’d be fully prepared to grace the runway as soon as it was their turn to take the walk and show off the newest fashions to an invigorated audience. From what Bree could tell, this wasn’t actually one of those fashion shows where the clothing was practical and might be bought by the average housewife. No, it was mostly lingerie, and it was mostly, well, ridiculous, in her point of view. None of it was s
The sound of voices from the television met Bree’s ear as she walked through the apartment door. She checked the time on her phone. It was only a little past 3:00. What was Trent doing home? She had to assume it was him watching the television because it sounded like the news channel, and if the housekeeper had turned it on, it would’ve been a soap opera or court show. Hanging her purse by the door, and placing her keys where she could find them, she went into the adjoining room to investigate. Trent was sitting on the couch with his laptop open on his lap, his stocking feet on the coffee table, typing away. She almost didn’t want to
Meeting Monica at the event center where the Nashville Nights concert was to be held was intimidating, even though Bree had her bandmates with her. She had insisted Trent go to work; it was a Thursday afternoon, after all, just after lunch, and there was no reason for him to miss work to walk with her through the building where she’d be playing in a couple of nights, not when she had three capable men and Shawna with her to give her moral support.Trent had protested, saying he’d feel much more comfortable if Bree allowed him to go along, that the rest of the band wasn’t aware of how Monica could be. It had almost led to an argument. Bree had insisted she wasn&
“This is a horrible idea. The worst one ever. In the entire history of the world, I cannot imagine one idea worse than this one.” Celia sat across from Trent in his office, her arms folded, her legs crossed, her face puckered.At the moment, he couldn’t even allow himself to snicker at her exaggeration. While he agreed that what he was about to do was a terrible idea, he could think of lots of other ideas that were worse, many of them involving wars that had killed thousands or millions of people. Or spread disease. Or polluted the environment. But she was right--of all of the decisions he’d been directly involved in, this one was pretty awful.