Chapter 1

Scarlett

One Week Ago

“SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING LIMP DICK TAINT STAIN!” I slam my ornately decorated fall bouquet to the ground, gold-glittered spirals gliding across the floor as flower petals and stems break apart on contact. “I should have known!”

An entire sanctuary full of people turn at my outburst, which pisses me off even more now that I’ve made myself a spectacle.

Go big or go home, right?

“FUCK!”

“Shhh, Scarlett,” Maria, my Maid of Honor sputters, closing the narthex doors and trying to avoid a scene. “Maybe he’s just…you know, stuck in the bathroom.”

“HE’S AFRAID TO SHIT IN PUBLIC, MARIA! YOU KNOW THIS!” I shout. “He wouldn’t be caught dead shitting in a church.” A low rumble of laughter comes from the other side of the door as I pace back and forth in the narthex where I had been patiently waiting with my bridesmaids to make our grand entrance. I was supposed to marry the love of my life today, but apparently, my asshat of a fiancé had other plans.

“Okay so maybe he just needs a little more time. Maybe his shoelace broke. Or his pants ripped.”

I cock my head at my other bridesmaid, Jess. “Do you know how many hours I put into planning this…this…” I flail my arms. “Party? Do you know how many sleepless nights I had trying to plan this wedding so everything would be perfect for him? I wanted a fun Halloween themed wedding but noooooo. Mark said that would be classless for his line of work so I gave in and planned this fucking beautiful day.”

“I know, babe.”

“And I look amazing!” My chin begins to quiver. “And I feel…I felt…”

Aaaaand cue the waterworks. “I felt beautiful today.”

Jess pulls me in for a hug. “Scarlett, honey, you do look amazing. Nothing about what’s happening changes that.”

“I fell in love with this dress and now it’s…tainted. Everybody came here today for this grand event that Mark paid for! Why would he do this if he had no intention of showing up?”

“Could he have been in a car accident?” Maria asks with a cringe.

Feeling terribly guilty for my outburst when it is entirely possible that Mark was in an accident on the way here, I start to panic.

“Oh God! What if you’re right? My phone. Who has my phone? I need my phone!”

“Here, I have it!” Jess dips into her pocket and pulls out my cellphone. I tap it on and open my LIFE360 app to see where he’s located and my face falls.

“He’s at the fucking office.”

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this means.

He chose work over our wedding day.

He chose work over me.

He doesn’t want to marry me.

Ripping my veil from my elegantly twisted and pinned hair, I drop to the floor. “It’s over.”

“Oh Scarlett.” Maria and Jess both try their best to comfort me but sometimes a girl just needs to cry it out before she can pull up her big girl pants and figure out a way to make the sweetest lemonade out of the big fat lemons she’s been tossed.

“What am I going to do?” I ask them, my fears and self-pity finally surfacing.

Maria takes my hand, giving it a supportive squeeze. “You’re going to do just what you’re doing because your feelings are valid. Be sad. Be furious. Be whatever you want to be.”

“Yeah.” Jess nods. “And then we’re going to go drink all the top shelf alcohol at the country club because Mark is footing the bill. He may think he’s a good businessman but he has yet to experience the hell that is a woman scorned on her wedding day.”

I snort. “An angry and petty as fuck woman scorned on her wedding day.”

“Amen to that, Sis!” My bridesmaids give each other a high five. “We’ll be right by your side all night.”

___

Okay, small confession here. I think deep down I’ve always known Mark Adelman was not the love of my life. I mean, did I love him? Yes. But if I’m being honest with myself as I reflect on what happened last weekend, I know he didn’t really believe in me.

In who I am.

In who I want to be.

He didn’t see my work as viable or as a benefit to the community. I’ve always had this feeling, though he never said the words outright, that he thinks being a social media influencer isn’t a real job and that it’s all fun and games telling followers about my favorite shoes or my favorite books or my favorite new kitchen tool. He has no idea just how daunting it can be. The hours of research, website building, content planning for social media, the constant array of messages from one company or another wanting you to be a part of their brand. It’s much harder work than anyone gives it credit for, but I ignored his little snide comments over the years. I even ignored his silence when trying to tell him about some of the best parts of my job. The money. The unique gifts. The extra perks. The friends I’ve made along the way. He didn’t care. I chose to keep my chin up anyway and continue doing what made me happy…even if the feeling of inadequacy stirred in my soul more often than I care to admit.

“Have you spoken to him?”

“He texted me the day after. Two words. Can you guess what they were?”

“I’m working?” Maria guesses.

I shake my head. “Guess again.”

Jess narrows her eyes, tapping her fingernails on the tabletop. “I’m sorry?”

“Not even that,” I scoff. “His text just said I can’t.”

Maria’s brow peaks. “I can’t? Seriously?”

I nod silently as Mark’s words sink in.

“Fucking Asshole,” Jess murmurs.

“Yep.”

“So, what are you going to do about the honeymoon?” Maria takes a sip of her coffee. “You guys are supposed to be on a plane in a few days for New Orleans.”

I roll my eyes. “He never wanted to go to New Orleans. He wanted to go to Fiji or someplace remote and tropical. You know, where all the rich people go.”

“Didn’t he agree to New Orleans for you?”

I nod. “Yeah. He secured VIP tickets for us to attend the famous Once Upon a Halloween Night party together. It’s at Generations Hall in the French Quarter and it’s one of the biggest Halloween parties of the year. I’ve been dying to go since I was in high school. So, he agreed to a few days in New Orleans if I agreed to a private Caribbean cruise on his friend’s yacht after that. That’s why we decided to wait a week between our wedding and our honeymoon. Now that’s all fucked.

Jess shakes her head. “No girl. You’ve got that all wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going on that honeymoon.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” She nods with a smirk on her face like she just planned the best prank of her life. “You’re totally going and you’re taking every single one of your followers with you. And it’s all on Mark’s dime.”

I shake my head. “Sorry. No. I have no interest in putting myself on the yacht that belongs to one of Mark’s friends or…sleezy businesspeople. No thank you.”

“Not the cruise,” she says. “Fuck the cruise. Let him eat that trip and explain it to his friend if he hasn’t already. I’m talking about the Halloween party.”

Hmm. I’m intrigued.

“I’m listening….”

“You already have the tickets, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

She sits back in her chair with a smile and gestures to my phone. “Then get on that thing and invite someone to go with you and take that fucking trip. Go. Have a fucking blast without the man who is footing the bill. Do all the things. You can consider it revenge if you want to, but really, you deserve to get away and do something that makes your soul happy.”

The idea of attending the Halloween party without Mark does excite me to some level, but “Who would I ask to be my plus one?”

Maria shrugs. “Anybody. Put it on your platforms. See if you get a bite. My guess is someone out there wouldn’t mind a free trip to New Orleans and to one of the biggest Halloween parties of the year.”

“You mean you guys don’t want to go?”

Jess shakes her head. “Babe, you’re a social media influencer and your followers love you! Take them on this trip and show all those jilted lovers out there that this is how you stand up and take what you deserve. Scarlett Dayne doesn’t just lay down and take it up the ass. She deserves the foreplay. The fun. The excitement. The adventure. You can do this.”

A smile broadens across my face. “You know, I think you might be right.”

“Hell, yes, I’m right.” She gives me a high five. “Now let’s work on what you’re going to say and how you’re going to choose and then we’ll create the perfect video for you to put out there.”

I swallow down my mimosa, because what’s better to drink when you’ve been drinking for days and you’re hung over than more alcohol and sit up in my chair. “Let’s get to work.”