I frowned. Beck’s eyes were watery, red, and streaked with mascara. “Yeah… Beck, listen. You need to talk to Sam. He loves you. You two can work it out.”
She glanced again at the door, eyes still upset, still worried.
I put both my hands on her shoulders. “Listen, I’ve been selfish and completely blind to what you’ve been going through. But Beck, I never wanted anything more than for you to be happy. So whatever happens, just know that I’ll be right behind you.”
She nodded. “Thanks, Alice.” We hugged one last time, and then I opened the door for Sam, slipping past him into the hall as he closed it behind him.
I went back out into the living room. Twain and Mason were back, both by the windows. Mason looked tired and drawn. Twain was smoking again, but he was blowing it out of the crack. Jules glared at him openly. Keegan’s jaw was noticeably clenched.
I sank down on the couch next to Kylie. She looked at me questioningly, but I shook my head. Later, maybe. If I ever got past the shame of letting my best friend down on the most important week of her life.
It was ironic. The best of intentions, right? I’d wanted so badly to get Beck down the aisle that I’d had blinders on to how she was really feeling. How many times over the planning had I made decisions for her? Had I pressured her into making choices she hadn’t otherwise wanted? Had Sam? Beck was happiest when everyone was happy, sometimes at a detriment to herself. She must have thought that she was getting what she wanted, Sam, and that everything else was just circumstantial.
When it came down to it though, it was different. Weddings were incredibly stressful in the best of circumstances. And so far things had been far from perfect.
My thoughts drifted to Mac again. I wondered where he was. Why couldn’t he just have been happy for our friends? But really, was he any more selfish than how I’d been acting? He hadn’t wanted the wedding to happen. I’d wanted it too much. Both of us were pretending it was for our friends’ best interests when, in reality, it was just a tool to ignore the gaping loneliness inside us.
I tried hard to be mad at Mac, to fault him for the situation with Margot, for everything that had happened. But really all I wanted was for him to be sitting by my side. I wanted to talk to him. To work things out.
Too bad you told him to get lost, huh? And he’d lied about Margot. Was that something I could ever get past?
I wanted to sit in silence and ponder the question longer, but at that moment, Jules snapped.
“Goddamn it!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and turning on Twain. “Put that fucking thing out.”
“Go to hell,” Twain spat back.
Keegan stood too. “Watch it, Twain,” he said, pointing a finger at him.
“Or what?”
“Stop!” Mason shouted. “Twain, smoke on the balcony if you have to. And apologize to Keegan.”
Twain threw the cigarette on the carpet and stubbed it out with his bare heel. “Sorry you have a bitch girlfriend, Keegan.”
Keegan strode forward until he was towering over Twain. Twain stared up at him, angry and unfazed.
“Could you both—” Mason started. Then he stopped and everyone turned to see what he was looking at.
Beck and Sam stood in the entrance to the hallway, holding hands. Keegan and Twain automatically stepped away from each other. Everyone waited to hear what they’d say.
“We’ve decided,” Sam said, “to go home and get married in New York.”
There was an audible gasp around the room. It didn’t surprise me. I’d known the moment I saw Beck. Her eyes were still shiny with tears, but the excitement had returned to them. She was happy and Sam looked satisfied too.
“What about your guests?” Mason asked, the first to recover.
Sam shrugged. “I’ll send out an announcement saying something’s come up. I’ll still cover the cost of their stay so hopefully nobody will be too upset.”
“Why?” That was Jules and it sounded like a demand.
“We’ve decided it’s for the best,” Sam said calmly.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with Mac, does it?” Jules asked. “Because he screwed us all over. And he got you all hurt.”
“Mac is one of the reasons,” Sam said. “He’s made mistakes, but I still want him in the wedding.”
Jules scoffed. “So we have to leave Mexico and fly back because of Mac. I’ve wasted an entire week here and there isn’t even going to be a wedding? Well, forget it. Mac is an asshole and if he’s going to be in the wedding, then you can count us out.”
She paused for Keegan to back her up. He didn’t. She turned and looked at him. “Keegan? Don’t you have anything to say?”
Keegan’s mouth twisted. “Yeah, I do. Jules, I don’t think this is working out.”
Her mouth dropped and I had to stifle a laugh. “What the hell are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’m breaking up with you.”
Her face flushed, eyes darting to everyone standing awkwardly around. Henry and Twain both looked entirely gleeful; Mason just looked relieved.
“Fine, see if I care!” she said. “I didn’t want to be in this stupid fucking wedding anyway.” She turned and stormed off to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
There was a long beat of silence in the room. Then Twain dissolved into laughter and everyone started talking at once. There were plans being made for packing. Slaps on the back for Keegan. Questions for Beck and Sam. I stood back and took it all in. They’d be getting married in New York, the city where they’d met on Beck’s first night out of Kentucky, where they worked and lived and fell in love. It felt right.
Everyone started going their separate ways, to pack and get ready for the flight. Sam stepped aside to call the airport and tell them to prepare his plane. But before he could dial, I stopped him. I had to know.
“Sam,” I started. “How… how are you able to forgive Mac? I know it ended up working out, but he almost destroyed your entire wedding.”
Sam looked at me for a long moment and then said, “Alice, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t really on board for this huge wedding either. I thought Beck wanted it though, the fairy tale thing, you know? It was a surprise to hear how she’s really been feeling. And she only told me after I told her I needed to go after Mac.”
“You were going to follow him to New York?” I asked, surprised.
“I was going to bring him back. Screw Lorne.” He rustled his hair as he chose his words. “I should have believed him about Margot.”
“Why?” I asked. “I don’t believe him.”
Sam laughed. “Because Mac is the most honest person I’ve ever met. He wears every emotion completely on his sleeve. And I’ve never heard him lie to my face in all the years I’ve known him. If he says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it.”
I nodded slowly. “Thanks, Sam.”
“No problem. Now I’ve got to make a call.”
He left and I stood for a moment thinking about Mac, thinking about Daniel and the guys before him. Mac had always been honest with me, I realized, from the very beginning. He never once claimed to be something he wasn’t. And if that was the case, then when he said he hadn’t wanted me to leave?