The Gambler (7 page)

She tilted her head. “What about
Donna?
”

“What about her?”

“I thought you had a
thing
with her.”

He shrugged again. “I canceled it.”

“If you were planning to come to the wedding, where’s your tux? You told me you were going to pick it up in Seattle because you changed your flight.”

“It’s in a garment bag in the trunk of the rental car. You didn’t expect me to wear it on the plane, did you?”

She lifted her eyebrows. “You do realize you’re talking to a woman who’s wearing a wedding dress in the Golden Cowboy Café?”

He laughed and she couldn’t help but laugh with him. Still, while she could live with the embarrassment, she couldn’t live with the guilt of hurting Mitch. Her laughter faded and she grew serious. “I still need to talk to him.”

Noah was quiet for a moment. “Do you know his number? Or is it just stored on your phone?”

“I know it.”

He slid out of the booth and walked over to the nearby table. The family of five sat watching them with great interest as Noah approached him. “I have a huge favor to ask.”

The wife stared up at him wide-eyed and the husband murmured, “Okay.”

“Libby here,” he pointed his thumb toward her. “She needs to make a phone call. And she got so freaking excited”—he stopped and looked down at the three kids at the table—“oh, damn. I just said freaking in front of your kids. Oh shit. I just said damn.”

Libby started to chuckle and the wife waved her hand, her gaze shifting back and forth between Noah and Libby. “They’ve heard worse. Go on.”

“Well, she got so excited at the idea of eating at the Golden Cowboy Café that she literally ran off and left her phone in Kansas City. Could she borrow yours? If you let her go outside and make a call, I’ll stay here as her deposit.”

“You can borrow mine if you’ll sit with us as a deposit,” shouted a woman who was sitting at a nearby table with three female friends. The other women giggled.

“Sure, on one condition,” the wife said, speaking up to get his attention.

“Okay . . .”

“I want a picture with the bride.”

Noah glanced back at Libby, his eyebrows raised in an exaggerated gesture.

She hesitated, her stomach protesting the call she was about to make. “Sure.”

Noah studied her for a moment before turning back to the family. “Tell you what, let’s let the bride make her call first, then she’ll be available for a photo after.”

The wife handed him her phone, which Noah brought over to Libby. After helping her to her feet, he stooped to whisper in her ear. “If you don’t feel up to taking the photo after you talk to Mitch, I’ll get you out of it.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

A strange look crossed his face. “Haven’t you heard? Not following through and making up excuses are all that I’m good for. Now go make your call.” When she started to protest his declaration, he gave a slight push to the small of her back. “I’ll be here if you need me.”

Libby walked out of the restaurant, drawing another round of curious stares from the diners. But she ignored them and stepped out the door, immediately shivering in the November cold in her sleeveless wedding dress. Sucking in a deep breath, she typed in Mitch’s number and waited, feeling like she was going to throw up. He answered on the third ring. “Hello?” She could tell he was confused by the unfamiliar number.

“Mitch, it’s me.”

“Libby?” He sounded worried. And relieved.

“Yeah.”

“Where are you? Are you okay? When no one heard from you, we all worried you got kidnapped after you hopped into that stranger’s car.”

She shook her head, feeling like the world’s biggest bitch. “How can you be so nice to me after I ran out on you like that?”

“Libby. I still care about you. You running out doesn’t change that.”

“I’m sorry.” She choked on the words.

“Was it the Razorback call? Or the play from the Cotton Bowl?”

“Oh, Mitch . . .”

“It’s okay, Libs. Really.” There was a pause on the line, and then he added, “I was having doubts this week, but I didn’t want to be that asshole who broke up with his fiancée before the wedding.”

“You
were?
”

“Yeah . . .” He sounded embarrassed. “Remember me telling you about my old college girlfriend?”

“Sheila?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Well, she called me up this week . . . and I . . . I’m sorry.”

So he’d cheated on her. She could hear it in his voice, yet she didn’t care. It would have been hypocritical to care given that she’d only arranged to marry him in the hopes that another man would come along and destroy their wedding. “Mitch, believe it or not, I really do want you to be happy.”

“So this worked out for both of us?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t quite believe it.

“Yeah.” She laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek. Karma was a real bitch, but this was what she deserved for treating him like crap. It sounded like Mitch had found his match, and Libby was still alone. “I suppose it did.”

“I hope you find what you’re looking for, Libby. I knew all along I wasn’t it. I should have ended things months ago, but you were like the perfect woman, you know? Gorgeous and laid back, and you didn’t even care that I was gone so much. I couldn’t understand why we just didn’t feel right, but I figured it would all work out in the end.”

She sighed. “Me too.”

“Take care of yourself. And if you haven’t already, call Megan and Blair. They’re flipping their shit.”

She cringed. “Thanks.”

She hung up and called Megan, figuring she would probably be the easier to deal with of her two friends.

“Hello?” Megan answered tentatively.

“Megan, it’s me.”

“Oh, my God! Are you okay? Blair’s raising holy hell because the police won’t put out an Amber Alert for you.”

“Amber Alerts are for children.”

“Everyone’s told her that . . . not that she cares. She was certain you were kidnapped. Where are you?”

A sharp wind hit her, making her shiver with cold. “Junction City, Kansas.”

“What? How did you get there?”

“Noah just drove—”

“
Noah?
How could you be with Noah? He’s in Seattle.”

“No, he changed his mind and flew to Kansas City, but his plane was delayed, which is why he was late. He was driving the car I got into.”

There was a long moment of silence, then Megan said, “So you planned this?” There was a sharp edge to her voice now.

“What? No!”

Megan was silent for another beat. “Why did you run away, Libby?” she finally asked.

What should she say? “I was scared. It was all too much.” Both true.

“You never intended to marry Mitch, did you?”

Oh, God. She’d figured it out. Libby’s face burned with embarrassment. “How can you say that?”

“Because you believed in the curse more than any of us. And after what happened to Blair and me, of course you’d think the same thing would happen to you.”

How could she respond? Megan was right, but that didn’t mean she wanted to own up to it.

“I’d ask you how far you were willing to let it go, but I guess we all got front row seats to that answer.”

The condemnation in her words stabbed Libby in the heart. In all the time she’d known Megan, she’d never sounded so judgmental.

“Why shouldn’t I believe in the curse?” Libby asked, wrapping an arm across her chest in an effort to block out the cold. “It worked out exactly like the fortune teller told us it would for you and Blair. She said the curse covered all three of us. It should have worked!”

“The curse isn’t real, Libby!” Megan lowered her voice. “You’ve pulled some crazy things before, but this . . . Think about what you did to Mitch. You left that poor man at the altar, when you had no intention of marrying him at all.”

“I’ve already talked to Mitch. His old girlfriend called him this week. Turns out he didn’t want to marry me either, but he felt bad about breaking up with me right before the wedding.”

“Libby, that doesn’t make it right.”

Anger roared in Libby’s head. “You know what, you’re one hundred percent correct. It doesn’t make it right. Not even close. I feel like a bitch and I already apologized to Mitch. But let me ask you
this
, Megan Vandemeer
McMillan
: Who stood by you when you paraded a fake fiancé around claiming he was Jay? And who helped you realize that he was the love of your life? Me. That’s right,
me!
” She stamped her foot for effect, sending pain shooting up from her heel to her shin. “I stood by you because you’re my friend. I’m sorry if you think it’s too much for me to ask you to do the same!”

“Oh, God, Libby,” Megan said, sounding horrified. “You’re right. I’m so sorry.”

“Too little, too late.” Then she hung up and sucked in a deep breath of cold Kansas air. Megan’s words had stung, but there was no denying they were true. She’d been irresponsible and self-centered, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She felt a sudden need to see Noah. He’d make her feel better. He always did. Turned out he really
was
her best friend.

Noah anxiously glanced at the door for what had to be the hundredth time, wondering if he should go outside. Calling Mitch had to be difficult for her. What if she needed support? After five minutes passed this way, he decided to go after her, if only to give her his jacket, but the door opened and she walked into the restaurant with a strange look on her face.

She stopped at the table of the woman who’d lent them the phone, plastering what he recognized as a fake smile on her face. “Do you want to take that photo now?

The woman hopped out of her chair and raced around to stand next to Libby, pausing only to hand the proffered phone to her husband. “Get close up, Bill. No full body shot. I don’t want my fat rolls showing.” She turned to Libby. “I’m posting this on social media. No one will believe this, so I need proof.”

Libby’s smile widened as she faced the camera. After several clicks, Libby turned to face the woman. “Thank you so much for letting me use your phone. If you get a call from a woman named Megan, please tell her I said to go to hell,” she said in a sweet voice.

Noah’s blood pressure began to rise. So she’d called his sister-in-law, and apparently Megan had been a bitch about the whole runaway bride thing.

The woman’s head jutted back in surprise, and then she laughed. “Will do. I’m sure there’s a story
there.
” She cast a wicked glance at Noah and winked before leaning close to Libby and whispering something in her ear.

Libby’s eyes widened and she shook her head, mouthing the word
no
, but the woman ignored her and sat down with her family.

By the time Libby returned to the booth, the fake smile had slipped from her face.

“Lib? Did you get ahold of Mitch?”

“What?” She glanced up at Noah. “Yeah.”

“And?”

She released a heavy breath. “He’s actually pretty okay. He said he was having doubts too. Turns out his old college girlfriend contacted him this week . . .” Her voice trailed off, but he thought he heard her mumble something about a curse working for Mitch.

“So he’s not mad?”

“What?” She looked startled. “No. He’s not mad in the least.”

“But Megan is.”

She shivered. “Yes. I don’t know. I hung up on her.”

Her shaking drew his attention to the goosebumps on her arms, and he remembered she’d been standing outside in forty-degree weather in her sleeveless dress. He scooted around to her and pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You’re freezing.”

She stiffened at the contact, which caught him off guard. He’d hugged her plenty of times before and she’d never reacted like that. But she instantly relaxed and leaned the back of her neck against his arm.

“What did Megan say?”

“You’re warm.” She snuggled into him and closed her eyes.

He’d sat close to her more times than was probably appropriate given the fact she’d had a boyfriend. Somehow this was different. Libby was a stunningly beautiful woman, but tonight, in her wedding dress, she was beyond gorgeous. He’d spent so much time sneaking glances at her while she was asleep in the car, it was a wonder he hadn’t run off the road. But now her face was tilted toward him, and her cheeks seemed to glow in the warm light of the restaurant. Strands of her thick, dark hair had worked loose from her non-fussy up-do. As she snuggled closer to him, her lips softened and the worry wrinkles on her forehead faded. He was staring at her long, dark eyelashes when her eyes opened, and he found himself lost in her gaze.

He expected her to pull away, but she remained still, her rich dark eyes staring back at him. She looked so serene, so beautiful, he found himself drawn to her—the force so powerful it was almost magnetic. He started to lean over to kiss her, the instinct so strong it overrode all reason.

“Here’s two steaks for the happy couple,” the waitress singsonged in a happy voice.

Startled, Noah jerked upright and Libby scooted out from under his arm. Had she realized what he was about to do? God, he hoped not. He wanted more with her, but now wasn’t the time. A month ago, she’d made it perfectly clear how she felt about them moving past friendship, and he had to confess, she had valid points even if he hoped to persuade her she was wrong. But he’d rather have her in his life as his friend than not at all, and he’d never forgive himself if he screwed it up with her. Let him fuck up everything else in his life, but not this. Not her. As the waitress slid their plates onto the table, he was already working on excuses if Libby decided to call him out.