Page 58 of The Wedding Fake
30
CLAIRE
Straightening my spine and lifting my chin, I walked back to the head table, flanked on either side by Nora and Emily. Tessa was already sitting, frowning down at her plate, but she looked up when I sat next to her. “Are you okay?” Tess asked.
For a moment, I just blinked at her, surprised by the dark storms that swirled in her vibrant green eyes. “I’ll be fine. Are you okay?”
Tessa shook her head as if to clear her thoughts.
If only brains worked like Etch-a-Sketches, I thought ruefully.
“I’m fine,” she replied quickly.
I had the sense this wasn’t true, but I was drowning in my own shit at the moment, and we were all meant to be faking a good time, so whatever was making Tess look unhappy would have to wait. I pasted on a smile and Tessa followed suit, lifting her wine glass and taking a big gulp.
Tessa’s issue back-burnered, I turned my attention to the crowd. I pointedly avoided looking in Dan’s direction, and sought out Hudson instead. He’d been seated with the bridal party dates, but neither Tessa or Em had brought a date, so the ratio of men to women at the table was estrogen heavy. Hudson smiled at me, and I smiled back, but my gaze was pulled by the beautiful brunette to Hudson’s right. She was thick and curvy and exuded sex—the exact opposite of me. Maybe that was actually Hudson’s type.
Not that it mattered, because across the table from Hud sat a girl who could’ve auditioned to be my twin, we looked so much alike. The reality was, even if I was Hudson’s type, the world was filled with women who checked all those boxes. Were men really capable of being faithful?
I looked away when the curvaceous brunette laughed at something Hudson said. It didn’t mean Hudson was flirting. He was very funny. My eyes drifted across the room, landing on Dan before I realized my mistake.
Grunting, I took a loaf of bread from the bowl in front of me and ripped off a chunk. I was relieved to discover that, even with the surprise of Dan being here, it didn’t hurt too much to see him. It felt more clinical, as if my brain was saying, Oh yeah, and there’s that raging asshole, Dan.
I’d been to more weddings than I could count, and I’d stood up in a fair amount of them, but it wasn’t until Nora’s wedding that I realized how trapped I was during the reception. Our table put us on display at the front of the space as each course was delivered. Dan sat almost directly in front of me, so it was hard not to look at him time and again. More and more, as the ceremony went on, I found him looking back, holding my eye contact in a way that made my stomach turn over itself.
Hurriedly, my gaze shifted to Hudson. Often, I found him looking back in my direction, smiling softly. Once he winked. Other times, though, he wasn’t looking my way. Instead, he was eating or engrossed in conversation at his table. Of the three men who sat at table seven, Hudson was by far the most attractive, and, going by the expressions of the five women who shared the table, he was regaling them with stories. Funny stories. Stories that made the curvaceous brunette and the Claire-clone throw their heads back in laughter and clutch his shoulder. And though I’d been looking to Hudson to calm my troubled thoughts, every time I saw the way these women looked at him, I only felt worse.
“Here’s a palate cleanser,” the waiter said, setting a tiny dish of sorbet in front of me. I pushed my chair back, stumbling up from the table, and Emily looked alarmed next to me.
“I’m good,” I assured Em and Tessa. “Just need to use the bathroom.” I stepped off the platform the bridal party was situated on and hiked up my velvet skirt, moving toward the B&B quickly. I’d only made it as far as the door when a hand closed around my arm. I tensed, not ready to face Dan. Not like this.
“Claire? You okay?”
Hudson. He should’ve been the friendly face I wanted to see, but my muscles didn’t unwind at his touch. “I’m fine. Just using the bathroom.”
His brow dropped as he scrutinized my face, and I did my best to smooth all my features. The worries plaguing my brain weren’t worries I intended to share with Hud. His eyes landed on mine, holding my gaze as he pulled me closer. “Is it Dan?”
It wasn’t Dan. It was him. Or maybe it was Dan. Maybe it was both of them. I didn’t even know anymore. All I knew for sure was Hudson was closing the distance and I smelled a strange perfume on his shoulder. It blocked out the subtle masculine scent of him completely. “You smell like perfume,” I said quietly.
He turned, sniffing his shoulder, his lips pinched and his nose curled. “God, I do. The woman who’s sitting next to me reeks of perfume. Hopefully we’re almost done eating because I may pass out from the fumes if I have to sit there much longer.”
His lips tilted and I knew I was supposed to smile back, but every thought in my brain was drowned out by the screaming memory of opening the email from Dan’s lover. I shook my head, trying to clear it. “I’m going to use the bathroom,” I repeated.
Looking concerned, Hudson ran the backs of his knuckles down my cheek. “I’ll wait for you,” he offered.
“You don’t have to do that.”I offered him a cheery smile I didn’t feel. “Everything’s good. I’m just using the washroom.” I slid out of Hudson’s grasp and into the B&B, walking as quickly as I could to the bathroom.
It was funny to me that my whole life could be turned inside out and yet I still looked immaculate. Makeup unblemished, not one hair out of place. Perfect. But that was good, right? It meant, as long as I could school my face, no one had to know how miserable I felt. I practiced a smile in the mirror a few times, then slipped out the bathroom door, nearly running into Hudson. “What are you doing out here?”
He chuckled, cupping my chin in one palm. “Are you sure you’re okay? I was waiting for you, of course. You are my date.”
I was just that. His date for the evening. I nodded numbly, and he lowered his face to mine, tipping his forehead until it rested on mine and the air mingled between our mouths. “Have I told you how beautiful you look?”
My eyes tilted down, but I couldn’t see the ugly crimson dress from where I stood with my head pressed to Hudson’s. “This dress is hideous,” I whispered, and he laughed.
“It’s not my first choice, agreed, but you look gorgeous in it. You’d look gorgeous in anything, though.”
I inhaled deeply, letting myself sink into Hudson’s voice and his touch and the warmth of his body so close. And for a few seconds there was peace in my roiling brain. And then I heard the DJ’s faint call for the first dances, and I shot up straight. Hudson didn’t back off, he only cocked his head, still looking at me curiously. I should’ve pressed my lips to his and let his touch quiet my mind once more, but I didn’t. Instead, I slipped out of his grasp and began to walk back to the reception. I couldn’t miss the first dance.