Page 186 of Bridesmaid for Hire
“Oh, you know, Daddy Reggie saw right through me and then showed me the door. Told me my proposal never stood a chance. And then oh boy,oh boy, did I mess up with Maggie. Like…did the worst thing that I could have ever done. She saidsee ya later, bucko, and told me not to contact her. So, I haven’t.” I shake my head as I feel my emotions get the best of me. “I have not spoken to her.”
Jaleesa pinches the bridge of her nose. “But how did we get here, to this moment?”
“Alcohol.”
“Brody,” she groans. “I told you not to get drunk.”
“I know.” I tip back my pineapple juice, letting the sweet, tangy taste melt on my tongue. “And I went into the bachelor party with every intention of not drinking, but Reginald was not having it. He told me to drink…and drink…and drink. So, I listened to Daddy.”
“Can you not call him that?”
“When he decided that I was good and liquored up, he bent me over and smacked me on the bum.”
“What?” she asks, outraged.
I shake my head. “Metaphorically.”
“Jesus, Brody.” She leans one shoulder against the front wall of our building, still keeping her eyes on mine.
“He made me do my proposal right then and there. I can tell you that it went horribly. Not the idea he was looking for and in my drunken state, I gave him an idea that was really Maggie’s, and Daddy Reggie’s giving it to the fucking turkey leg up there. Oh, and they’re going to put Maggie out of business, so…yeah. She broke up with me and now all I have is this can of pineapple juice and this pigeon friend right here.” I gesture toward the pigeon, but startle the damn thing and it flies away.
Yup, that tracks.
Jaleesa rubs her hand over her face and quietly says, “Okay, Brody, let me find out what’s happening. Go home.”
“But that’s the thing,” I say as I hop off the planter. “I don’t want you to figure out what’s going on. I don’t want this job. I don’t want anything to do with them, with Hopper Industries. I’d rather bring my idea to the Cane brothers, let them know that they can take it, do what they want with it—aka, bury Daddy Reggie—and then I don’t know, do something with my life that doesn’t require participation in business networking and corporate ladders. Like…maybe I can be a dog walker or something.”
“You don’t have a dog,” she says, confused.
“Which makes me a great candidate for walking dogs, because I won’t scare the canines away with my territorial scent. It’s genius.”
“Brody, you’re not a dog walker.”
“You don’t know that.” I tuck my box under my arm and straighten up. “This could be the start of a new adventure for me. Brody’s Bow Wow Services.”
“Jesus Christ,” she whispers. “Can you just go home?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t want to be alone…I need Gary.”
“Then go see Gary.”
I wince. “But he’s going to be mad at me for hurting his sister. What if I lose Gary?”
“You’re going to lose something soon if you don’t get moving.” She nods behind me. “Security is approaching.”
I look over my shoulder and see the two beastly men that dragged me out here in the first place.
“One of them needs to cut their fingernails—I suffered some good scratches while they were dragging me out of the building.” I pat Jaleesa on the shoulder. “Let them know that as you walk by.”
And then I take off, knowing that my next stop is going to suck, but it has to be made.
Gary needs to know.
MAGGIE
“Wait…he did what?” Hattie says as she sits on my couch and curls her feet under her.
When I was at the airport, ready to board my flight, I texted Hattie and told her I needed her to meet me at my apartment when I got back. She didn’t ask questions. She just told me she’d be there with my favorite cookies—cherry almond from her store in Almond Bay.
