Free Take Two by Whitney Gracia Williams Page B

regret. I should have been hones t with you. I should have called off the wedding the very next day, but I couldn’t…
    You were so happy, so obliviously happy, and I still loved you (and I always wil l ). I was going to go through with the wedding and the honeymoon and act like Emily never happened, like it was just a blip on an otherwise clean slate.
    Standing there at the altar with you, I almost thought that was possible…until Emily showed up. Even though we’d only known each other for two months, I knew without a do ubt that I was in love with her .
    I believe that you deserve better, Melody. You deserve to be with someone who will share the same ideals you have about your future, someone who won’t lie to your face, someone who won’t knowingly hurt and aba ndon you.
    I wanted to be honest because I owe that to you and so much more. You are the reason Belazi was possible. You were the only person who believed in my desi gner dreams and wasn’t persuading me to stay within my family ’s realm of law school. You are the ultimate reason why I am who I am, and I would still do anything for you.
    I know that you are still very angry with me and that you may never speak to me again, but I want you to know that I’ll always love you . And if you ever need anything (anything, Melody…) I will bend over backwards to make sure that you have it.
    Sincerely,
    Sean
     
    I rolled over o nto the sand, crying. My tears were falling fast, my sobs were irrepressible. All this time I thought he and I shared the same dreams. All. this. time. The only thing I wanted was him , not something he could “bend over backwards” and purchase.
    I knew he cheated on me, that he slept with blonde bitch before our wedding, but three days before? Maybe seeing it in writing, knowin g that it was he who was telling me , made it even worse.
    I ran through memory after memory : I remembered him mentioning “Emily” to me as an “upset customer,” asking me to join them for dinner. I had no reason to be suspicious, he took clients out to dinner all the time and he always invited me. I remembered mentioning the nursery to him . He smiled and kissed me on the forehead. He even asked me what color I would paint the room: pastel yellow.
    I remembered the weeks leading up the wedding, the weeks I was “so obliviously happy,” and he was happier than I’d ever seen him. I remembered my wedding day, being elated one second and disheartened the very next.
    The sand was beginning to irritate my skin, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. I was having trouble discerning fictio n from reality.
    I’m dreaming… I’m on my honeymoon and Sean is back in the suite…I came out here for a walk and fell…I’m just dreaming.
    “Melody!” Jen’s voice forced me to see the truth. “Melody! What the hell are you doing?”
    “I’m just … I’m just,” I continued sobbing.
    She sat down next to me and brushed hair away from my face.
    “Shhh,” she said. “You’ve been out here for a long time . I was really worried .”
    “He…H e wrote me a,” I handed her the letter.
    I watched her eyes dart back and forth, watched her face turn red, and watch ed her stand up and walk to the ocean.
    “No Jen ! No!” I jumped up and ran towards her.
    “You’re planning to hold onto this ?”
    “Yes, I want to—”
    “You want to what? You came here to get away from everything, to continue getting over him! But now you want to cry and hold on to this ?”
    “Jen , please—”
    “I didn’ t agree to come here to watch you slip into a depression , Melody! You’re better than that!” she handed me the letter. “I’m going to sit r ight over there . Don’t talk to me until you’ve done what needs to be done to that piece of crap.”
    Piece of crap?
    Jennifer rolled her eyes and sat on a rock.
    I read the letter three more times, absorb ing every word. I folded it in two, but then I unfolded it and read it once