Page 75 of Forked (Frenched 2)
I was so aggravated I almost didn’t listen to the voicemail from Angelina. But I figured nothing could put me in a worse mood than this, so I hit play and put the phone to my ear.
What she said had me sliding down the door until my butt hit the floor.
“Coco it’s Angelina. Listen, the party’s off. The whole fucking wedding is off. Lorenzo’s a big asshole.”
I listened to it three times, just to make sure I heard right. Then I called her. Maybe she was just being dramatic.
“Hello?”
“Angelina, it’s Coco.”
“Hi. The wedding’s still off.” She sounded stuffed up, like she’d been crying.
I bit my lip. “I heard your message. Are you OK?”
“No. I found out that he’s been cheating on me with my slut cousin Christa. For months he’s been fucking her!”
Damn you, Lorenzo. “So you broke up?”
“Hell yes, we did. And I’m not taking him back, neither. He can go fuck Christa if he wants to. Actually he can go fuck himself.”
In the anise, I thought. “OK, well…are you sure?
I mean, I don’t think I’ll be able to get deposits back from those vendors. It’s less than a week away.”
“I don’t care. No party. I can’t face anyone, I’m too humiliated.”
Closing my eyes, I nodded slowly. Goodbye, house. “I’m sorry, Angelina. If you need any events planned in the future, I’d love to work with you again.” Not true, but what else could I say?
“All right. Thanks. Sorry about this.” She sniffed.
“It’s OK. You’ll find someone better.”
“Damn right, I will. Hey, is Nick Lupo available?”
“No.” Rolling my eyes, I ended the call and put my head in my hands. What the hell else could go wrong?
Back in my car, I called Nick, but it went straight to voicemail. I didn’t want to leave the test results in a message, so I hung up and figured I’d try again later. At home, I brushed my teeth and curled up in bed, my phone next to me in case he called back. It was crazy how much I missed him sleeping beside me, when he’d only been there for the last two nights. I reached for my phone and texted him. I miss you. Call me.
But I fell asleep still waiting for the phone to ring.
#
The next morning I got ready for work, looking at my phone way more than usual. Normally I’m not someone who’s glued to it, but my job makes it necessary to be available to clients and vendors even when I’m not at the office. By noon, I still had no call from Nick, and I figured with the late flight and time change, maybe he was sleeping.
Hey sleepyhead. Wake up. Let’s talk.
After lunch, I tried calling again, and this time I left a message. “Hey, it’s Coco. Just trying to reach you, so give me a call. The party this weekend is off, so don’t worry about that. Thanks for saying you’d help out, though. And I’m glad we got to spend time together. Hope you arrived safely and that you’re having a good time. Bye.” That last part was kind of a lie—I didn’t really want him to have a good time there. I wanted him to miss me the way I missed him.
By three in the afternoon, I was a little annoyed.
By five, I was angry
By six, I saw the pictures.
I was still at the office, and even though I’d managed to slay the dragon urge to Google him before, today was a different story. The dragon won.
I typed his name, hit enter, and sucked my lips between my teeth. In the news, it said at the top, and underneath the words was a photo of Nick with his arm around a pretty brunette, his lips pressed to her cheek. Gasping, I clicked on it. According to the gossip site that posted the photo, it had been taken two hours ago. And there were more.
