Cancel the Wedding (42 page)

Authors: Carolyn T. Dingman

BOOK: Cancel the Wedding

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I surprised myself by hitting him. “Dammit, Elliott! You just”âpunchâ“scared me”âslapâ“to death!” Shove.

He started laughing. “I just told you I want you to stay here with me and you start hitting me. This is not an auspicious beginning.”

“I thought you were trying to tell me good-bye.”

“You're so crazy. How could I let you go now?”

I said, “Then what was all that about us not knowing each other very long and feeling guilty?”

“I do feel guilty. I'm being selfish by asking you to stay here with me. I know that. But you know I can't leave. My dad, my family, the paper. I've worked so hard to get it running. But what about your job? Your family?”

It all felt so easy now. “I'm quitting that job and I'll always have my family.” That little sideways smile of his that I really liked was beginning to form. I said, “I don't want to be anywhere without you either.”

“You'll stay with me?” he asked.

“Yes.” It came out as a whisper.

“I'm so glad you said yes. You would have been so miserable if you had left me.”

I laughed. “Oh, really?”

“Really. You know you're in love with me.”

“I do. I do know that. I wasn't aware that you knew it.”

He said, “I'm very perceptive.”

“So you keep telling me.” I asked, “What do we do now?”

“Now? Now we fight over the covers. I will probably let you win, because I'm a gentleman. I will install first aid kits all over the house for you since you're such a klutz.” I hit him again playfully, but he just kept talking. “I will cook you dinner and you can make me coffee. I had to meet your sister so you'll have to meet my mom. She'll want to get to know this girl I've fallen for and can't seem to live without.” He shrugged. “I just want to be with you.”

I asked, “You do?”

“I do.”

We leaned in to each other and I kissed him until the last ripples made from the urn traveled across the water to the edge of the bank. They resolved themselves in a tiny wave over the red Georgia clay. One decision in life can roll out like that, travel out through time and place, until it has changed, ever so slightly, everything in its path. Our mother's secret had been one of those ripples, cast out onto our world. I did not regret coming here and diving in. I did not regret knowing her in a way that she had never intended. Everything in my life had changed because of it, because of my decision to come here. But they were my changes and my choices. I was the one causing the ripples, no longer the one merely in their path.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am most indebted to Caroline Upcher, freelance editor, published author, and deliverer of copious red-ink admonishments. Caroline is the single greatest factor in this book being finished and published, and I owe her and that red ink a great deal of thanks. I have never been more grateful to someone for scolding me in a British accent.

My amazing and kind agent, Marly Rusoff, who has ruined my perception of things by making me believe that everyone in the publishing world is generous and friendly. I also owe a thank-you to Michael Radulescu for his help with all of the logistics along the way and to Julie Mosow for her honest critique and thoughtful edits.

I will be forever indebted to my editor at Harper, Claire Wachtel, who took a chance on a new author and guided me with her subtle notes and keen insight, improving the entire manuscript. Also a big thank-you to Hannah Wood, associate editor and accomplished hand-holder.

To all of my friends who have always supported my strange endeavors. My Burke Girls: you don't tell and I won't tell. My Clemson friends: you can't tell because you don't remember anything. Playgroup: thank you for not judging all that may or may not have happened. My Blog Tribe: you were the best and safest place to learn how to write. My friend and photographer Jo Reeves, who put up with way too many photo shoots because I hate getting my picture taken. Card Group, especially Lisa with her endless tales of the South. And to all the soccer and school and karate parents with whom I spend way too much time, thanks for always making it fun.

To my early readers, who were always very supportive and encouraging even if they were probably lying: Laura Heard, Jules Johnston, Becky Mautner, Darcy Mayers, and Travis Ward.

And of course my biggest thank-you goes to my family. My sister, Julie, who approaches everything with the enthusiasm of a puppy. My mother who has told me my entire life that I could do anything. Except that one time when I wanted to try out for the seventh-grade chorus.

My sweet, neurotic husband, Scott, who is the best dad and the worst cook, and didn't flinch when I gave up doing laundry about ten years ago. My oldest daughter, Tempel, with her wry wit, endless empathy, and mad gaming skills, who is never afraid to taste any food, but is still wisely afraid of zombies. My baby, Parker, who has a lust for life and being silly, who can somehow run faster than her dad and organize better than her mom, and makes the sweetest and most creative birthday cards ever. Thank you for asking me to stop writing about you in my blog, which forced me to start writing fiction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PHOTO BY JO REEVES PHOTOGRAPHY

CAROLYN T. DINGMAN
lives in her adopted hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and their two daughters.
Cancel the Wedding
is her first novel.

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CREDITS

COVER DESIGN BY MILAN BOZIC

COVER PHOTOGRAPH Â© MATTHIAS CLAMER / GETTY

COPYRIGHT

CANCEL THE WEDDING
. Copyright Â© 2014 by Carolyn T. Dingman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-227672-8

EPub Edition August 2014 ISBN 9780062276735

14 15 16 17 18
OV/RRD
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Australia

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Canada

HarperCollins Canada