Save the Date

13

Okay, this one looks good, but I liked the one with the train more. Maybe try this one on again." Shannon's mom, Mary said pulling out the ugliest dress that I'd ever seen. We'd been at the bridal shop for over three hours. "Mrs Van der Built, I think Shannon is a little overwhelmed," I said, taking the dress away from her. "Maybe we should take a break, go for lunch and then maybe try a different shop?" Luckily Mrs Van der Built was immune to subtle inferences, the shop she had brought us to had once been a very renowned bridal boutique in the 80s. Now the "boutique" was just old and overpriced. The gowns cost a fortune but I could only rationalise that it was because of the amount of fabric used per dress. The one Shannon wore now had shoulder pads. Shoulder pads! It was like going back in time. "Hmmm, I don't know," she said looking at her watch, "Oh, my goodness! Is that the time? Never mind, I have to get going, I'm supposed to play Golf with Clair. You two go for lunch, just don't buy a dress without me!" She air-kissed our cheeks goodbye and left. "C'mon, let's get you out of this monstrosity," I said helping Shannon get through the door of the dressing room, roughly shoving her along with the ball gown. "Yes, please! I can't believe my mom brought us here. I think it was a favour to the owner. She designed my mom's wedding dress, you know?" "You don't say?" I said with a hint of sarcasm eyeing all the yellowing dresses around the room.

After the call from McKenzie, I had a message from Shannon. WTF is going on!? The message read. I called her straight away and told her what McKenzie had said. Halfway through the call, McKenzie had called Shannon. It was all out in the open. Shannon had invited me to go dress hunting with her and we were going to meet up with McKenzie afterwards. Since the wedding, Shannon and I had never spoken of it again. We had pretended that nothing had happened because I don't think we had fully come to terms with what had happened. I was standing outside of the fitting room, trying to pull the mounds of tulle over Shannon's head. "I have to confess something to you," she said muffled. "Okay?" "It's not that I didn't believe you about Sean, but in a way, I pretended that it wasn't true." I didn't blame her for thinking this way, "It did seem unreal, didn't it?" We left the shop and didn't look back despite the old owner trying to shove a pamphlet for the groom's man suits into our hands.

We got to Marcello's and found McKenzie in the restaurant section with a scarf wrapped around her head and she had sunglasses on like Grace Kelly. "I am a laughing stock," she said taking off her glasses as we took our seats. "I can't be seen anywhere right now." "Mac, it's not your fault, how were you supposed to know?" Shannon said rubbing her back. "I knew." The simple answer struck us. I was dumbfounded, what did she mean she knew? "After I'd chased you out of the wedding, I confronted Sean. He denied it and I believed him. I was so blinded by him. There was nothing he could do that I wouldn't forgive. A year into our marriage I found him in bed with someone I didn't know. I owe you an apology." She said looking at me. "It turned out that they had been together even before we were dating, once I found out he didn't keep his different relationships secret anymore. I was mortified and too embarrassed to do anything about it. Strange women would even stay over and I had to sleep in the guest bedroom. The day I found him with that woman was the last day that he touched me."

My heart constricted, I couldn't believe what McKenzie had put herself through. What she had allowed Sean to put her through. The more she spoke the sicker I felt. "Eventually though," She continued, "It wasn't just woman, he was bringing different men home, remember his best man Brad? Yeah, he really was his best man." She let out a terse laugh and then blew her nose before continuing, "It was evident he had a problem. He was addicted to sex. It wasn't about having a relationship anymore. I asked why he had married me and all he said was that it was what society expected. He needed a beard." "I can't believe this! Why didn't you tell us?" Shannon asked after downing the wine the waiter had brought. I kept quiet; I wasn't going to say 'I told you so'. It would have been too cruel. "I was ashamed, I'd thought about calling you guys so many times but I felt terrible after what I did and said to you at the wedding. How could I apologise? How could I admit that I had hurt you unnecessarily? And the embarrassment of what a fool I'd been!" She took both our hands in hers and said, "I should have listened when you told me, I'm really sorry for having been this blind and I'm sorry for what I did to both of you at the wedding." "I forgive you," Shannon and I both said. "To be fair," I said with a shrug, "We didn't really tell you so much as you overheard what I'd seen. And I did tell him to tell you. I didn't want to get involved, to be honest." I said playing with my serviette. "He admitted it to me one night when he was on a bender. He laughed in my face, and told me that I'd turned my back on the only friends I could actually trust," she started crying with audible sobs. "Okay, but this doesn't explain the money," Shannon said, "Did you know about that too?" Solemnly she nodded, "Despite all our issues, he never cut me off financially and he always had expensive clothes and booze, we lived a life of luxury. I spent what I wanted when I wanted. I never asked questions because I didn't care. Even after his injury retired him we had enough to sustain my lifestyle as well as his. He told me that he had invested his earnings." "I know professional rugby players get paid a lot," I said, taking a piece of focaccia. "But enough for him to evade that much tax?" "It's going to come out anyway so I might as well tell you. After his retirement, he got even more restless. Alcohol and sex just didn't satisfy him anymore. He started gambling and he was good at it. He won a lot and he didn't declare any of it. Also, he got involved with a cartel. I don't really know what went on there. Quite frankly I don't want to know. I'm done with him."