Little Gray Dress Read online

  “I haven’t.” He ignores me and heads straight to Jack, hand extended. “It’s great to meet you, son, what do you do for a living?” Trust Aron to immediately quiz a potential suitor of his daughter’s on what he does for a living.

  “Um… I’m a lawyer at Morgan, Steller & Cabot?” Jack says it like he’s not even sure, and glances at me for assistance.

  “A lawyer—”

  I cut Aron off. “Actually, Aron, this is my fiancé, Jack.” I get a confused look from both Greta and Aron. ‘You actually met him last summer at the company picnic?’ I stare at his shaking head and scrunched face. He obviously doesn’t remember.

  “He belongsh wifth me.” Greta glares down at me. “Daddy, telll himm.”

  “Greta is a fine young woman. But if he belongs to Emi, I respect that.” It’s as if we’re talking about an object, which I can tell by looking at Jack is not something he’s very impressed with.

  “WHHAT?!” Greta yells, gaining the attention of the people near us. “No. Look at him? He’sh gorgeoush, he’sh well off and shhe is jusht… ugh!” The disgusted noise coming from her makes me want to crawl into a hole and die. If only she would hiccup randomly through her sentences she’d be the description of an obnoxious drunk. “Shhe should be wifth hims.” She points to Morgan, who has a steak halfway to his mouth without using a fork. “He’sh like, ew and she’sh like, ew. Jusht trusht me… I’ll take goood care of hiiimm.” She pats Jack’s ass again with her free hand and tries to plant a kiss on his lips, but stumbles over her own step, tightening her grip on Jack’s arm that is outstretched to keep her away.

  “I don’t think so.” Jack somehow manages to escape her grip, causing her to fall over and slump down into a nearby chair. “I’m with Emi and I’m perfectly happy with that.” He wraps an arm around me, pulling me as close to him as possible before clearing his throat and loosening his tie with his free hand. “But I’ve no doubt, any man would be lucky to have you.” He politely smiles at Aron but avoids direct eye contact with crazy Greta. Likely for fear that she’ll take it as some kind of marriage proposal.

  My Jack. Always the gentleman, in even the strangest of situations.

  Greta suddenly starts wailing some kind of snorting cry or distress signal, and Aron kneels down by her chair. A few sniffs into the air and I’ve no doubt he’s discovered she’s had more than just one drink. “What did you do to her?” Aron asks me, pointing at a now slurring, sobbing, slumped-over Greta.

  “Nothing. We were trying to prep her on the commercial—”

  “SHHOW!” Greta yells the word at me.

  “And she was only interested in the bar so we uh—”

  “So, you just let her get wasted?” Aron stands so that we are again at eye level.

  “No. No, sir. We didn’t let her, she’s an adult. I just… She’s quite a handful and—”

  “So, let me get this straight, I’m paying for a film crew—” He glances at Morgan, who is hardly an entire crew. “And the host is slurring, crying, and being humiliated by your fiancé.”

  “I didn’t humiliate anyone, actually—” Jack shakes his head at Aron.

  “Emi…” Aron is avoiding direct eye contact with me and shaking his head. “I thought you were right for this job. But with Greta coming into the picture, I can see that jealousy has taken over, as it always does when women are around my Greta.”

  “WHAT!?” Jack, Morgan, and I say in unison. He has got to be kidding me. Jealous? Of Greta?! I don’t think so. Maybe I’m a little envious that I can’t pull off the dress she’s wearing, but that’s it.

  “I am not jealous of Greta.” The disbelieving laugh I’ve been trying to stifle surrounds the words I’m using as my defense. Which makes me sound completely disrespectful. Although, in this particular situation, who would be married to respectful at this point? I mean come on, I’m in trouble because a grown woman decided to get wasted when she knew she was working. How is this my fault?

  “It’s funny now?” Aron throws his hands in the air.

  “No. Not funny, just… crazy! You can’t be serious about this? She’s a full-grown adult. I can’t make her not drink. I suggested it, but she wouldn’t listen. In fact she’s been talking down to me all night long. What did you expect me to do?”

  Jack squeezes my hand. Probably as a signal that I should shut up and not make the situation even worse, but I can’t seem to go down without a fight.

  “I’ll have you know that this entire situation has been utterly humiliating for me. If you’re now upset because she’s turned into this…” I point over at her. Her mascara is running down her face and her skin now a pale shade of green.

  The retching noise she makes as she leans over to throw up on her father’s shoes turns all the heads that weren’t already in our direction.

  “Ohh… That’s never good,” Morgan says behind me.

  Aron momentarily closes his eyes through a giant heaving sigh. “I’m sorry, Emi. I’ll need you to pack up your things. Unfortunately, I’ll have to let you go.”

  “You’re firing me?! For what?”

  “For letting Greta become wasted at what was supposed to be our company Christmas Greeting recording and party. I expected you to be able to handle anything thrown at you in this job. This entire situation is hardly professional, and I think you and I both know it.” He directs his statement at both Morgan and me.

  “You’re right,” I shout. “The entire night has been completely unprofessional. Your daughter is the most conniving, manipulative person I have ever met, and I’ve only known her for an hour. The fact that you are punishing the only person who tried to keep things professional is a testament to her manipulating even her own father. Good luck keeping your company afloat with her as the face of the business.” The grip I have on Jack’s hand is probably injuring him. Holy Moses, I’ve snapped. A drunk, nude model has caused me to have a complete breakdown, and I’m standing in the middle of a party screaming at my boss.

  “You can excuse yourselves now.” With a wave of his hand, he expects me to be gone for doing nothing wrong. “You, though,” he points at Jack, “you will apologize to my Greta for making her feel badly about herself.”

  “I don’t think so! If anything she should be apologizing to everyone in the room.” Jack looks between Greta and Aron for a moment. He rolls his eyes skyward and nods with an irritated laugh. “Let’s go.”

  Jack and Morgan work quickly grabbing his equipment and bags. “This is insane,” I bark at them as I grab my purse. “I’m taking these.” I pile the three heaping plates of food on top of one another and quickly shove the full bottle of wine chilling in an ice bucket in the center of our table, into my bag. I did all the work, so I should at least taste the menu.

  My heels clack across the floor as I follow Jack and Morgan through the room. The eyes of my co-workers are following my every step. If I was really evil, I’d post whatever video Morgan got on the internet as soon as possible. But I can’t. I may have just had an epic meltdown in front of hundreds of people, but I can’t ruin anyone, not even Greta.

  “I don’t even know what just happened.” I look up at Jack when I catch up with him.

  “Me neither.” Jack’s face is netted with confusion. “That was… insane.”

  We’ve all made it to the front of the building and stand staring at each other in disbelief. This is definitely not the Christmas party experience I was expecting.

  “I stole our plates… and this.” I pull the bottle of wine from my purse and watch both Jack and Morgan break out into laughter.

  “Wow… You’re a fighter and a thief. I’m learning all kind of things about you tonight.” Morgan grabs a plate from the pile of three in my right hand. “Want me to upload this video? I got the whole thing.”

  “You were filming that?” I ask him, surprised I didn’t notice it. I shove the wine back into my bag before handing Jack a plate of food.

  “Well… I thought it might be useful for the impendin
g lawsuit.” He winks at me.

  “It’s tempting.” I look over at Jack who shakes his head with a small smile. “But my lawyer says it’s not a good idea.”

  “I know. If you ever change your mind, though, I’ll save it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I say to him. “I’m so sorry about tonight.”

  “Don’t worry about it, they’re assholes.”

  “I hope you find another playboy bunny.” I try not to scrunch my face in disgust as I say it, but I can tell my face isn’t co-operating.

  Morgan laughs and winks at me. “No worries there, I’ve got a whole stack of 'em.”

  “Ew,” I say before watching him toss his half-empty plate into a garbage can on the sidewalk, grab his bags and jog across the street to hop on the Max train.

  Jack’s phone pings in his pocket.

  “Oh no, is it work?”

  His face suddenly tenses as he looks at his phone before handing it over to me.

  Jack, I have connections. You’ll be hearing from me. Greta

  “What the fuck?” I yell, nearly dropping my plate on the ground and startling an older woman walking past us with a bag of groceries. “She could hardly speak a straight sentence five minutes ago. Now she’s suddenly become Nancy Drew? How on earth did she get your number so fast?”

  “She’s going to be a real pain in the ass.” Jack growls in irritation. I watch as he hits Delete and shoves his phone in his pocket. “Don’t worry about it, though, I want nothing to do with her.” He gives me a peck on the cheek and nods in the direction of the parking garage. “Dinner on the street as we walk to our car, there’s a date we’ve not yet had.”

  “True.” I wish this situation was a little less stressful than it is. Jack’s trying hard to make light of it, but I just lost my job. A job I worked really hard at.

  “Everything will work itself out for the best, you’ll see.” As if reading my mind Jack sends his usual positive vibe into the atmosphere.

  I hope he’s right.

  Chapter Seven

  Present Day

  West Hills, Portland, Oregon

  The Bridal Shower

  “What happened last night?” Lily asks. She, Hannah, Josh, and Evan are all sitting around the dining table with me the next morning, coffee in hand.

  I guess now is as good a time as any to spill all the secrets I’ve held back about the last day Jack and I were together. As I rattled it all off to Liam last night I felt bad that I was telling it to a stranger before I told even my own brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law.

  “There are some things you guys don’t know.” I glance at everyone except Lily and Josh, who already know too much. “Greta and I have a bit of a history.”

  “How?” Evan asks.

  “Remember when I worked for Mayfair Home?”

  “Oh yeah… I forgot about that. You quit right after you and Jack got engaged, right?”

  “Not exactly.” I purse my lips together. I hate it when I lie and then get caught and need to explain it later. Right now, I honestly feel like I’m twelve years old. “I didn’t quit, I got fired.”

  “How did you get fired?” Hanna’s voice is high-pitched and unbelieving. I can’t blame her; I’m not the girl who normally gets fired, and even she knows it.

  “Greta. She was supposed to be the face of a commercial we were shooting, but she got wasted, took a liking to Jack, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I was accused of being jealous, not keeping a close enough eye on her, not keeping her sober, and being irresponsible. So her dad fired me.”

  “WHAT?” Evan and Hannah say in unison.

  “Oh my God, Ems.” Hannah stares at me. “I’m so sorry. If I’d had any idea at all about this, I never would have asked her to be a bridesmaid.”

  “Oh God. She’s a bridesmaid?” I didn’t know this detail because I only stayed here for a few minutes with her last night. I just assumed she was here for the barbecue because Jack is in the wedding party. I expected Evan to have him as a groomsman; they’ve been best friends for years. I couldn’t possibly expect him to dump Jack just because of what happened between him and me.

  “Yes, I mean she’s engaged to my brother so I felt like I should include her. I’d kick her out but it’s too late for that.” She shrugs her shoulders apologetically.

  “No, you don’t have to do that.”

  “We need to find you a date for this wedding. Someone better than asshole Jack,” Lily says enthusiastically. I watch her mouth the word sorry to Hannah, probably for calling Jack an asshole.

  “Right. How’s that going to—” I stop mid-sentence and remember meeting Liam last night. I know he mentioned that he’s been recently heartbroken, but maybe him hearing my Greta story last night made him feel sorry enough for me that he would help a girl out. It’s not like I’m asking him to get married, or even go on a real date. I just need backup proof that I’m well over Jack.

  “What?” Lily asks me, knowing, as best friends do, that I’ve got an idea.

  “I actually met a man last night.”

  “My God.” Evan shakes his head as if I’m the most pathetic person he knows. I’m not sure why, but he’s always felt the need to protect me from even myself, and this headshake is the same reaction he had right before he gave Ezra Mitchell a black eye when he heard him talking about taking my virginity when we were seventeen.

  “Not like that.” I glare at Evan as a warning to stay away and let me deal with me for once. “We just talked. He owns a bar up the street. He agreed that my entire situation this week is more than rough, so maybe he’d help me out?”

  “Do you have his number?” Lily asks.

  “No, but I know where he works.”

  “Well you don’t have time to go there this morning. We have my bridal shower in an hour.” Hannah smiles through clenched teeth. She knew I was hoping they would have had this bridal shower before I got here. Mingling with my ex-fiancée’s mother is not something I’m looking forward too.

  “I’ll go afterwards. I’m sorry if this whole thing is becoming weird,” I say, even though I don’t think it’s entirely my fault.

  “Don’t apologize, I only wish I’d known all this earlier.” Hannah frowns, obviously upset that she isn’t in on all of my secrets. But it’s not like I intentionally kept all this from her. Until yesterday, I didn’t even know Greta was back in the frame.

  “I’m sorry. I was humiliated.” I sigh deeply, knowing I should tell the rest of my secret to Hannah right now before she finds out on her own and hates me forever. “There might be something else between Greta and me…”

  “There’s more?”

  “Yeah, it gets worse. I could have lived with the Christmas party thing. But…” I pause, trying to find a delicate way to say this next part. How do you tell someone their cheating brother was in cahoots with Greta the bitch the entire time? “The day I caught Jack… you know. With Lily’s advice, I went over later that day to talk to him but, it didn’t go as I planned.”

  “How did it go?” Evan asks, more interested in the story than I expected him to be. He’s never been one to be interested in every detail of my drama, but right now, he’s all ears.

  “When the elevator doors opened, I heard Jack’s voice so I peered around the corner before leaving the elevator, you know, so he wouldn’t see me, and I saw…” I have to stop and take a breath to keep myself from becoming emotional. It happens every time I relive this part of the story. “I saw Greta at our front door telling him she heard he was newly single. And then… he invited her in.”

  “WHAT?! He did? What happened next?” Hannah’s voice is high and whiney, almost like she’s having a hard time believing her perfect May could do something this brazen.

  “I dunno. I never spoke to him again. But now they're engaged. So what does that tell you?”

  “I am so sorry, Ems.” Evan reaches across the table and pats my hand. “I had no idea. I can kick his ass if you want?”

  “N
o, you can’t, because no one is going to mention this. He chose her even before we broke up, so, no matter how much any of this appears to bother me, he gets to keep her. He’s obviously not the Jack I once knew.”

  “I promise to keep a fair distance between you and Greta at the bridal shower.” A thin apologetic smile spreads across Hannah’s face before she stands from the table. “I hate to cut this short but we have to get ready. Is there anything else we should know?”

  “That’s it.” Thank God that’s it. “I’ll try and not let my emotions get the best of me the next couple of days.”

  It won’t be easy, and I definitely can’t make any promises, but for Hannah’s sake I’ll at least try and do my best and not over-think the situation. No matter how much my heart hurts over all this, Hannah and Evan deserve a stress-free wedding.

  “Emi!” Amelia greets me before even her own daughter when we walk through the door. “My dear girl, how I’ve missed you!” She surprises me by pulling me in for a hug. I kind of figured after I bailed on the huge wedding she was planning that she’d be more irritation, and less missed me. “You look…” She looks me over for a minute, probably trying to find another, less obvious, word for fat. “Fabulous.”

  I’ve noticed in life that when people tell you you look ‘fabulous’ you really don’t. You look just slightly less great than they expected, and ‘fabulous’ rolls off the tongue so quickly and easily in a tense situation.

  “Can you believe that we finally get to be family?”

  “Well… Not me, but Evan.”

  “That includes you. Who’d have ever thought that instead of you and Jack, we’d end up with Hannah and Evan getting married.” She smiles sweetly before putting her arm around my shoulder and walking me into her lavish living room. “Still such a shame about you and Jack, though.” She leans closer to me. “The boy was heartbroken for ages. Even now, I sometimes wonder.”