AllFreeNovel
Share Us
All I know is, Nolan and I are clearly not on the same page.
I’m ashamed to say that his reaction dug up all kinds of emotions I thought I’d buried years ago. Echoes of rejection and abandonment, of not knowing where I fit in this world.
I putter around the kitchen for a while, feeling bad about myself. A melancholic sort of nostalgia weighs me down like a brick. I scroll through my phone, hoping to distract myself but the contents of my inbox only make my mood worse.
The television studio is requesting a sit-down interview with me. And I use the word ‘requesting’ lightly. I know a thinly-veiled legal threat when I see one. I did breach my contract with them, after all.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I feel myself on the verge of spiraling into a panic attack. So rather than sitting around Nolan’s empty house until my shift later this evening, I call a taxi and head out.
With no real destination in mind, I ask the driver to let me out in the heart of town. There’s just something about Starlight Falls’s infamous farmer’s market that has a way of taking my mind off of things when I’m not quite in the right headspace.
I wander around the booths, checking out the produce and saying hello to familiar faces. But I’m careful not to let the conversations go on too long. I’m still trying to duck all the gossip and prying questions, to be fair.
When I make it to Rainbow’s stand, she’s thrilled that I’ve stopped by. I come see her whenever I’m at the market. Everyone knows she has the best fresh produce in town.Her jams and marmalades are delicious, too. Now and then, she even has a couple different nutritious homemade meals for purchase.
“Oh, my beautiful girl. It’s so good to see you,” the older lady comes out from behind her table to wrap me up in a warm hug. Her wispy multi-colored hair tickles my face. Still, her hug feels so comforting.
“It’s really good to be home.” A sense of relief rises up within me.
“I was worried there for a moment that you might not ever come back,” she adds, holding me at a distance and giving me a soft look.Her metal bangles tinkle and chime with her movements.
“Well, I sort of—” Before I can finish my sentence, another voice cuts me off.
“Inez Machado! Girl, what on earth were you thinking walking away from a man like Vance Cavendish?! You’ve got to be crazy.” I glance over and see the florist lady hanging out the window of her flower booth.
Miss Holly from the antique furniture store approaches, nodding along. “That man is fire!”
“I’d bet he’s fire in bed, too.” Another of Rainbow’s friends chuckles.
The bagel guy leaves his booth behind and elbows his way into the conversation. “And even if he isn’t, I’d be able to over look that. Because he’s Vance Freaking Cavendish!!! I’d definitely let him whisk me away.”
More and more nosy locals close in on me. Then somebody thrusts a magazine in my face and my heart plummets to the ground.
I read the title of the gossip article with my face attached to it. The Bride Who Ran Away From America’s Favorite Bachelor:Who is Inez Machado REALLY?
My head is spinning. A tabloid story? A tabloid story about me?! Oh god.
I’m barely aware of the chatter going on around me now. The crowd continues to discuss my poor decision-making but I’m too disturbed by the magazine article I’m staring at to respond.
“You have no idea how lucky you were that he picked you,” some lady chimes in, shaking her head at me. “You know we love you but someone’s got to say it.”
“Right? When will an opportunity like that ever come around again, Inez? Especially for a girl like you.”
I gasp at that one. A girl like me…? So this woman doesn't think that ‘girls like me’ deserve opportunities, too? What the heck?
“Seriously though, you’re a beautiful woman, but you’re not getting any younger. By this time next year, the bachelor will be hitched to a hot, little 21-year-old. And you’ll just be…here. One year older.”
“Why the long face, honey? We’re only saying this because we care. You had a golden opportunity. We don’t want to see you regret this.”
Everyone has an opinion. I couldn’t get a word in, even if I tried. Thankfully, Rainbow steps up and chases off her nosy friends. “Would the lot of you back the hell up? You’re putting bad vibes on my avocado display.” She gently pries the magazine from my hand and shoos the crowd away with the dirty gossip rag.
But the damage has already been done. And now I’m wishing I’d just hidden under my bed instead of coming out in public today. But I don’t even own a bed. So there’s that.
Ugh. Why can’t these people respect my choices? Hearing all this shit-talk makes me doubt myself again and again.
After that tongue-lashing, I feel so dejected. I can’t help it. It’s bad enough that I already think those ugly thoughts about myself, but hearing it from other people?
