“You belong here,” he says. He’s about to say something else, but someone comes up to him and calls for his attention. He introduces me to the man who looks like he’s ninety with his three-piece suit and the gold chain leading to his watch in the small pocket of the vest.
“If you would excuse us, girly,” he says and pulls Beau away, leaving me standing in the middle of the room. I look around, and I get some who smile at me and some who sneer my way.
“This is going to be so much fun,” I say to myself, taking another sip of champagne. I walk farther into the house, and a woman comes up to me and introduces herself as Beau’s new assistant. She smiles and then runs off to speak to someone who she knows. I look around for him again as I finish off my glass and then grab another one. I try to look for Beau, and when I spot him, he looks like he is with a group of old stuffy suits.
“Savannah.” I hear my name called and turn to see Mary Ellen coming toward me. She is dressed perfectly with a A-line dress that is tight on the top with a string of pearls around her neck. “Don’t you look lovely?” She smiles and leans in to kiss both my cheeks, which shocks me. She’s never done this before.
“Mary Ellen,” I say her name and smile as fake as she is acting. I thought she liked me somewhat, but I guess I was wrong. I was wrong about so much. “You look lovely yourself.”
“Thank you, dear,” she says and then sees me drinking the champagne. “I would go easy on the drinks, Savannah. We have a name to uphold.” I’m about to ask her what, when she grabs her own glass of champagne. “You don’t actually drink it,” she says. “You just hold it while you chitchat.”
“Good to know,” I mumble.
“So I heard the news that the two of you got married,” she says, and I think maybe she might be happy for me, but when I look at her, I see her almost sneer at me.
“We did,” I say, taking a sip. “It was lovely.”
“I can only imagine since I wasn’t given an invitation.” She hisses out the last word, but she does it with a huge smile on her face. “It’s a mockery is what it is,” she says, and my stomach starts to burn. “Look at him.” She motions with her head toward Beau, who is standing with a woman I’ve never seen before. Both of them are laughing, and she puts her hand on Beau’s arm. “He should be married to someone like that and not—” she starts to say, and I bury down the hurt.
“Not the town whore,” I finish the sentence for her. “I get it.” I take another sip of the champagne, the sting of tears burning my eyes. “I’ll see that it’s put on my tombstone.” I don’t let her say another word. Instead, I walk away from her and from Beau, who hasn’t once looked my way. I walk to the bathroom, ignoring everyone and pondering how bad it would be if I took off. I finish the champagne, leaving the glass in the bathroom, and when I walk out, I see that more people have arrived. I look around to see if I spot Beau, but all I see is Cassandra. “Hey, did you see Beau?”
“Yeah, he was in his office with his mother.” She points at the office door and smiles at me.
I walk away from them and head to the office door, and before I knock, I can hear the yelling. “Admit it,” Mary Ellen says.
“Fine, I did it to protect her. Does that make you happy?” Beau says, and the words are like a kick to my stomach. I am about to turn and walk away when the door swings open, and I come face-to-face with Beau, who looks at me and his face goes white.
“Hey,” he says softly. “I was looking for you.”
I ignore the pain in my chest, and the burning in my stomach. I ignore it all and smile. “Well, you found me,” I say. When he leans forward and kisses my lips, it takes everything I have not to take a step back.
“Dinner is almost served,” he says, and I see Mary Ellen step up beside him. “We should go and sit.”
“Go easy on the drinking, Savannah.” Mary Ellen walks past us toward the backyard.
“God, that woman,” Beau says, shaking his head. “She just doesn’t get it.”
“Well, she’s your mother, and she has your best interests at heart,” I say, averting my eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asks and puts his hand under my chin to make me look up. “Look at me.”