The Cinderella Bride (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

“You did what?!” I shout at the phone, my eyes widening, and my hands ready to strangle the person on the other side of the line.

“I said, I might have accidentally told mom that you and Carter are married. Geez, Ava; pay attention!”

“How the hell can you accidentally tell someone something, Jennifer?!”

Carter and I were having breakfast before Jennifer had called, and now, I probably look like I’m ready to murder someone. Carter, on the other hand, is looking at me curiously, he seems to be able to understand what’s happening by listening to the parts of my sentences.

“Well, I was talking to a friend of mine about it, you said I couldn’t tell mom about it, you said nothing about telling a friend. So, yeah, while I was on the phone, mom might have passed by and heard me, and yeah, that’s how she found out.”

My heart is beating so fast, it feels like the one thing I didn’t want to happen most has already happened, there’s a fear beating within me. l could see it, my mother going crazy, demanding for me to divorce Carter.

“What did mom say?” I ask, trying to calm my unsteady nerves.

“That’s the thing! She was so calm. She asked me to tell you and Carter to come over here on Halloween for her Halloween party in costume, I honestly don’t know what she’s planning, but yeah, you guys could stay at a hotel in the mean time. She just wants you guys to come over here.”

There it is. The one sentence that I had been fearing leaves Jennifer’s mouth.

I sigh, “Tell mom we’ll be there.” I say this and hang up the phone. The horror on my face must have been transparent because Carter seems to look at me worriedly.

“Everything alright, Ava?”

I shake my head, “Not in the slightest.”

“What happened?”

I sigh, “It’s Jennifer, she told my mother about our marriage.”

His eyes are the size of saucers right now, “Well, what did your mother say?”

I close my eyes trying to gather my thoughts. It takes me a few seconds but I open them and look back at Carter, “She wants us to go see her tomorrow night at her halloween party. She’s throws one every year with her partner to help promote their product, and just have a good time.”

“And where does she live again?”

“Los Angeles.”

My answers seems to make Carter scrunch up his face in thought. He reaches into his pocket to fish out his phone. When that’s done, he stares at it for a couple of minutes, tapping away at the buttons, “Well, I have a good news and bad news.” he tells me.

Uh. Oh. “Tell me the good news first.”

“The good news is that I have a meeting with someone at the Los Angeles branch of the company, so we can go there tomorrow.”

“And what’s the bad news?”

“The meeting is tomorrow and I might not be able to make the Halloween party.”

I felt like he had just told me the one thing I didn’t want to hear, and I could feel my body tremble from the pressure this whole situation was putting on me.

Some people might say I’m overreacting with the way I’m handling all of this, but those people have never met Lauren Thorpe. She’s a headstrong woman who is stubborn, and yes, she loves her children dearly, but she is also borderline crazy- and I am not exaggerating when I say that.