Page 76 of Time Served in New York
“Don’t you dare fuck up your face. Frankie will kill us both.”
“My friends are certifiable,” I whispered to Boss. “I better wade in there before someone else gets hurt.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m not going to think about it right now because Blue’s right. If I walk down the aisle with mascara running down my face, Frankie will kick my ass. We’ve got to hold our shit together for the next hour or so and then we can all have the breakdown we deserve.”
“You’re serious?”
“I am dead serious. If I think about it right now, I’ll probably throw up. I pulled a Spider-Man 90 stories above the ground and lived to talk about it. I’m going to focus on that right now rather than . . . the rest.”
“After the wedding . . .”
“After the wedding, I’m going to lose my shit. I have it scheduled. I haven’t cleared it with Bernadette yet, but she’s probably going to do the same thing as soon as the photographer’s finished with us.”
“I heard that!” Bernadette said as she walked past us toward the sink. “Come hold my hand, Peter Parker. Blue’s about to make me cry.”
“No crying!” I snapped.
“I’m not crying right now, but after the ceremony, I’m gonna completely come unglued.”
“In a few hours, we’re all gonna get shitty, sloppy drunk, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it,” Blue said firmly. “We deserve it.”
“I wonder how many edibles Paula has left?” I asked as I watched Bernadette sit on the vanity. Blue turned the water on and tested the temperature. When it was ready, Bernadette spun around and put her feet in the sink. Stamp came over and held her hands, and I winced when Blue used a cup to pour water over Bernadette’s legs. I started to get a little queasy, so I hugged Boss one more time and then made my excuses. “I’m going to get dressed and check on everyone else. I’ll send Sis in here when she comes up.”
“Are you okay, Jenn?” Blue asked through our reflection in the mirror. “Really okay?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s not my first rodeo, remember?”
“That doesn’t make it any easier, though, does it?”
“When I start to doubt myself, all I have to do is remember how terrified Boo sounded while he was holding her.”
Blue laughed, but there was no joy in it. “When I think about that, I want to revive the son of a bitch and then kill him myself.”
“I’m pretty sure Maylee’s already got that arranged.”
Bernadette laughed. “And I’m not even gonna complain when she doesn’t run it by me.”
???
BUG
“Little Bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head,” Hammer sang from where he was sitting on the couch entertaining my daughter. Boo’s laughter was like a balm to my soul, and the only thing that could pull me back from the ledge I was standing on. I wanted to find anyone who was involved with what happened earlier and rip them limb from limb before I tortured them with fire until they were just a shell of the person they’d been.
“You okay, man? You look . . . homicidal,” Captain said as he straightened my bow tie. When he was finished, he motioned toward his own tie and asked, “Am I straight?”
“You’re good,” I assured him. “And I’m alright. Boo’s already forgotten about it, and Maylee’s . . . coping, so I’m fine.”
“Do we need to find you an abandoned building somewhere?” Boss asked as he walked over to us. I reached out and adjusted his bow tie before I shrugged. “It might help, but I can think of other things that might help more.”
“When he says he’s fine, it kind of reminds me of the tone of voice Matalie uses when she’s reallynotfine at all.”
I laughed at Captain and agreed, “I know that tone, and you might be right. Inside, I’m . . . churning. When I think of how much danger my little girl was in and not being there to help her, my guts get all twisted and my heart starts racing.”
“I can’t believe Frankie is insisting we go through with all of this,” Captain said with a glance over at Santa who wasn’t in much better shape than me.
We turned toward the door when it opened and watched Zach, Luca, and Matteo come into the suite. They looked tense, and I could only imagine what was going through their heads. I was shocked when they came our way rather than rush to the bedroom to get dressed.
