Hitched

30

At the cavernous Club Zee, Brianne and her friends were having a great night-the music was loud and the drinks were flowing. They’d had dinner at Carmine’s on West 44th Street, a family-style Italian restaurant that attracted large parties of rambunctious diners. The portions were enormous, the atmosphere energetic. Brianne had opened her gag gifts, and they’d made jokes about wedding gowns. Before she and her buddies moved on to Club Zee, Brianne was introduced by the bartender as one of the April Brides whose gown was stolen. Brianne stood on a bar stool and took her bows. She was a celebrity for the evening and was loving every minute of it.

Now they had procured a special spot on the Zee balcony overlooking the crowded dance floor. A banquette and several leather chairs surrounded a low glass table. The whole scene was very hip.

You had to scream to be heard.

The crowd Joyce was traveling with gained admittance to the club and joined the group on the balcony. Two squeezed into the banquette and two stole chairs from other tables.

Cindy’s friend Beth made the introductions.

“And the guest of honor is my friend Brianne whose bloody wedding gown is making headlines!” she shouted, barely audible above the deejay.

Brianne beamed as though she didn’t have a care in the world. She was with her best friends. Life was good. She had Pauly and she was going on national television in the morning.

Joyce, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling so great. She’d had a couple of shots of tequila, then wine with dinner. Her head was spinning, and she felt depressed.

Club Zee had a policy of playing a popular song from different eras every half hour. Julio Iglesias’s song “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” came over the speakers at exactly eleven o’clock. The whole crowd started to sing. Cindy ran down to the dance floor. When the song was over and the thumping music started up again, Beth proposed a toast.

“To all the men Brianne loved before.”

“There have been some real winners!” Brianne said, rolling her eyes. “I’m so blessed to have found Pauly! To think that I used to let Bill the Pill leave me alone on all those Saturday nights. How did I put up with that for so long?”

Joyce got up from the table, hurried to the bathroom, and threw up. Her life was miserable. She should never have let Francis talk her into letting Marco stay for so long. Joyce came out of the stall and rinsed her mouth with water from the sink. I need air, she thought. I’ll go outside for a little walk.

When Cindy returned to the table from the dance floor, she looked around. “Where’s Joyce?” she asked.

“I think she went to the bathroom,” Brianne answered.

Fifteen minutes later Cindy went to look for her.

But she was nowhere to be found.