“Whew! Awkward much?” Cass lilted from her seat at the table, causing the tense silence to break.
I pulled Romeo aside. “You okay, baby?”
He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek. “Yeah, I just can’t f**kin’ stand their falseness. And what the hell was that with Shelly?”
“I don’t know. Only a few hours left now, though. We’ll get through it.”
His eyebrows arched. “Famous last words, Shakespeare. Famous. Last. Words.”
* * *
The dinner lacked atmosphere and was predictably ostentatious and for the most part unnecessarily pompous, but we sat with our friends and tried to make the best out of a bad situation.
The speeches were horrendous. When Kathryn Prince talked of her beloved son and how proud she was of his achievements in football and her hope for his NFL career, I practically had to restrain Romeo from overturning the table and losing his shit again. I grasped his arm and leaned in close, convincing him to calm down, and told him how much I loved him over and over with his hand pressed against my stomach. It seemed to work.
The tables were cleared and everyone moved to the centre dance floor, and Romeo, on hearing the opening chords of Lynyrd Skynrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” stood and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go, Shakespeare. Every true citizen of Bama has to dance to this as a rite of passage.”
I giggled as he wrapped his arms around me and moved seductively around the dance floor, singing the lyrics in my ear, badly out of tune. Hundreds of eyes watched as we danced with happy grins, Romeo spinning me in his arms and dipping me down for a dramatic kiss to rapturous applause. Bullet and his good luck charm once again in the spotlight.
I, unfortunately, also saw Kathryn Prince glaring at us, swaying unsteadily as a result of too much alcohol. She grimaced at us parading our relationship in front of all of her guests, and I couldn’t help but smile her way. I knew I was fuelling the fire, but she couldn’t do anything in front of her friends. Rome would make sure of it.
When the song drew to a close, the Tide coach came over, slapping Romeo on his back, asking him to go talk football to some important people.
Rome bent down as he sat me at the table. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stay with someone, okay?”
“I promise.”
“I’ll hurry.” He kissed my hand and walked away into the awaiting group of men.
I stayed with my friends for over an hour and Romeo was still nowhere to be seen. I’d drank more orange juices than I thought was possible and having newly acquired a bladder the size of a pea, needed to go to the washroom again for the umpteenth time that night.
I stood and Jimmy-Don stood too. “Jimmy-Don, I’m only going to the washroom… again. I can manage that on my own. Honestly, just stay here with Cass—dance, be merry, and all that crap.”
“Nope, let’s go, darlin’. You’re stuck with me.”
I squeezed his arm in thanks and shouted to the girls, “Just going to the washroom. Tell Romeo if he comes back.” I turned to go into the house.
I’d just passed the huge central stairwell when Cait came over holding a piece of paper. “Hey, Molly, I’ve been told to give you this.”
A note.
I rolled my eyes and opened it.
Needed to get away for a little while.
Meet me in the library.
Rome.
I quickly used the bathroom and when I came out, showed Jimmy-Don the note. He smiled and shook his head. “What’s with you two? Come on, I’ll see you there and leave you to it.”
I hugged him and gave him a grateful smile and we moved through the packed house to the find the library. Jimmy-Don did as he said and I walked alone into the massive old library, shutting the door.
I was immediately mesmerised by the shelves and shelves of books, floor to ceiling, with several wheeled ladders sprawling along the casing to reach the higher volumes. I was in heaven, bookworm heaven. I could spend hours in a place like this, lost in the pages, transported to other worlds, other lives, forgetting reality for a while. My inner geek began doing back flips of excitement.
I peeked my head around the corner of the room to the large stone hearth and leather sofas, looking for Rome, but the room seemed completely empty. What was he up to?
I smiled excitedly and sang, “Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?”
No answer.
“Romeo?”
Nothing.
“Rome, are you in here?”
I heard the latch of a lock snap behind me and when I turned, Shelly and Kathryn Prince were stood at the entrance, smirking at me with identical bitchy expressions.