Take Two
Authors: Whitney Gracia Williams
Take Two:
A Romantic Comedy
(The Jilted Bride Series)
Whitney G
racia Williams
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously, and
a
n
y resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Co
p
y
r
i
g
ht © 2012
b
y
Whitney
Gracia Williams
All
ri
g
hts re
s
e
rv
e
d.
No
p
a
rt of this book may
b
e
r
e
produced,
st
o
r
e
d in a retrie
v
al
s
y
stem, or
t
r
a
nsmitted in a
n
y
fo
r
m,
o
r
b
y
a
n
y
me
a
n
s
, ele
c
tronic, m
e
chani
c
al,
p
hotoco
p
y
i
n
g
,
r
ecordi
n
g
o
r otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
Cover photograph by
Alagich
Katya
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katya_alagich/6813664168/sizes/l/
This book is dedicated to my mother, Lafrancine
Maria
Bond
Edwards. Thank you for
always
believing
in me and my dreams
. You have no idea how much that means to me.
Jennifer Williams,
you
are the best sister in the world
.
Fred Jones,
I can’t thank you enough
for reading
this all the way through and refusing to accept
my laundry list of excuses. Ashley Warren,
t
hanks for
helping me with the first few chapters—hope I wa
sn’t too “list-y” in the others
.
:-)
Nadira Williams,
cheers to
“Tonight
ttttt
, We A
re Youn
g…Let’s Set
t
he W
orld on Fire!”
William R. Edwards and LaFrancine Edwards
, t
hanks for putting up with my “b
umminess” and giving me the space to write the book. Jay Williams
, muchas gracias
for your input on the cover.
Ray Edwards II, thank you for reading this out lo
ud to me on numerous occasions.
Tamisha Joiner and Tiffany Downs, I hope both of your weddings end better than Melody Carter’s.
:-)
Thanks to Aster Teclay, Alonna Grigsby, Tanisha Hill, Sherbrin
a Shepherd, Christina Royster,
Courtney Johnson
, and Karleic Ellison
for being great inspirations from afar
:-)
Thank you to
all my friends and family
. I love you all.
Mrs.
Melody Scofield
…
e
r 1
Melody
H
urt and embarrassed, I sat
in the fi
rst class cabin of a Boeing 707. I was heading to
Tennessee,
anxiously awaiting
my parents’
embrace.
Alth
ough I’d managed to suppress
tears all day, m
y eyes were swollen and puffy
—revealing five nights of uncontrollable bawling.
As the flight attendant announced the emergency procedures, I crossed my legs and realized I was wearing two different tennis shoes. I
had
n’t
even
bother
ed
packing a suitcase, only a carry
on with a couple
outfits. I knew
those probably wouldn’t match either
, but I didn’t care. I just need
ed to get away from New Yor
k City, away from my heartache.
The plane began its ascent and
I exhaled. Two hours and thi
rty minutes away. Two hours, thirty minutes, and fifty five seconds away.
I tried
to keep my mind occupied
:
I flipped
through a worn copy of
Sky Mall
magazine, watched
the woman across from me paint
her toe
s orange, and order
ed
Rum & Coke.
I was
tempted to pull out my laptop
to get a head start on t
he late
s
t
Matthew McConaughey
movie, but I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t in the mood to write a movie review, especially for a romantic comedy.
“That’ll be
twelve dollars
,
Mrs. Scofield,” the flight attendant s
miled as she handed me a drink.
I wasn’t sure if it was the
twelve dollar
price tag for a six ounce
glass,
or
hearing her voice linger on “Mrs.” for more than half a second,
but I began to cry.
Five days ago, I was standing at the altar with my fiancé,
Sean
Scofield. He was everything I wanted in a man—kind,
loving, supportive, successful. He was also one of the most
attractive men I’d ever met.
I gazed
into
his
bright blue
eyes
and
recite
d
my vows. “
Sean
, you are my first an
d
only love. When we met six years ago, I had no idea that the guy
I tripped over on the subway
would end up being my husband. I wake up every morning and think of you, of us, of how wonderful these six years have been. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you and I promise to cherish, love, and respect you forever.
”
A soft applause arose from the
audience and Sean smiled at me.
I broke our gaze and took in the venue.
The theme for our w
edd
ing
was Old Hol
lywood.
Sean
had
spent over
three hundred thousand dollars
to bring everyth
ing to life:
the aisle’s red carpet, the white Marilyn Monroe
-inspired
bridesmaid dresses
and Humphrey Bogart tuxedos
, the twent
y piece orchestra, the thirty thousand
red and
white
roses,
the faux paparazzi, and the chandelier
modeled after the one in
Phantom of the Opera
.
We
’d
even
taken
three months of dance lessons to nail the routine from
Dirty Dancing
at the reception.
I turned to face Sean once more. His bright blue eyes were gleaming, his short sun kissed hair was
brushed away from his face
, and his wide smile hadn’t faded since I walked down the aisle.
Suddenly,
I remembered
all
the times he showed up on campus to surprise me,
all
the times the other girls would fawn over him and jealously whisper as we walked hand in hand.
“Melody,” he said. “I loved
you the first day we met
. I’ve known that you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with ever since. Every day we’re together is amazing and I look forward to every day after today. I promise to love you, respect you, cherish you, and protect you until death do us part. I love you.”