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Knowing that she decided to keep a piece of my daughter with her during this interview makes me feel even more protective of her. Knowing how important my little girl is to Inez makes me feel like she’s mine to protect.
After watching Inez squirm for a moment, Sabrina speaks again. “Have you spoken to Vance since your wedding night?”
“No,” she responds softly. “I had a brief conversation with him before I left the wedding venue but we haven’t spoken since.”
“So you mean you haven’t taken Vance’s calls…?” Sabrina smirks like she thinks she’s backed Inez into a corner.
“I mean he hasn’t called,” Inez clarifies, holding her shoulders high. I can tell that she’s already tired of letting this woman push her around. “To be fair, I have a new phone number, but my email address is the same. In fact, I reached out to him to offer closure but he never replied. He hasn’t tried contacting me on social media, either.”
Sabrina’s thin eyebrow rises challengingly. “So you’re implying that Vance isn’t as devastated as America thinks he is? You’re saying that he’s faking it?” Damn—this woman is being downright hostile. Every fiber of my being wants to swoop onto that set and get Inez out of there. But I know she wouldn’t appreciate that. In fact, I’d probably only embarrass her, and I don’t want to do that.
“I’m not implying anything,” Inez says firmly. “And I’m not in a position to comment on how Vance feels, because as I’ve previously stated, we haven’t been in communication.”
I spit out an angry grunt. Eyes swing to me where I’m still behind the bar, wiping the counter again and again with my dirty rag. One of those headset guys shoots me a stern look. I glare right back.
Let’s be real here—if that Vance asshole really wanted Inez, if he valued her, he would have made the effort to come after her. Instead, he’s been on every television outlet, crying and trying to gain sympathy. The man is after clout. That’s all there is to it.
Sabrina speaks again. “Inez, what would you say to all the people who are asking why—why did you walk away from the most eligible bachelor in the country?”
Inez sighs and from where I’m standing, I can see her breaking down under the weight of Sabrina’s harsh judgment. “Marrying him didn’t feel right in my heart,” she says weakly.
The interviewer has the nerve to laugh. In fact, the rest of the crew snickers right along with her. “You left Vance Cavendish at the altar because it ‘didn’t feel right in your heart’?” Sabrina makes air-quotes with her long, manicured fingers.
At this point, I’m done standing back here, pretending to mind my business. I walk around the counter and step up to where the filming crew is working, positioning myself where Inez can see me. I want to silently remind her that she’s not alone. At least one person in this room is on her side.
She looks my way. With all the light beaming down in her face, I’m not even sure that she can see me. But then I see the tiny smile that curls the corners of her lips as her eyes linger in my direction. “My gut told me to run, so I ran. And I have no regrets about that now. A wise man once told me that following my intuition is a good enough reason.”
“Your gut?” Sabrina all but spits out.
Inez confidently brings her eyes back to the interviewer. “Yes. My gut. Women are constantly encouraged to grin and bear it. To downplay our discomfort. To suffer in silence even when it’s killing us inside.” She sighs. “Maybe I’m a bit of a people pleaser, like society expects me to be. I didn’t want to let anyone down. But this is marriage we’re talking about. It’s a big deal. I couldn’t enter into a lifelong commitment if it didn’t feel right.”
“And you didn’t realize this until after you accepted Vance’s engagement ring?” Sabrina is implying that Inez went on the show for fame. She doesn’t have to say the words out loud but she’s definitely implying it.
“No, I didn’t realize that until after I accepted Vance’s engagement ring, because I was too busy trying to fit myself into a box that just wasn’t meant for me,” Inez says firmly. “I went on that show, looking for love, and at some point, I came to the harsh realization that Vance wasn’t the one. So out of respect for him and for myself, I walked away. How about we normalize encouraging each other to trust our intuition, even when it doesn’t perfectly align with society’s expectations? How about that?”
Sabrina’s nostrils flare and she rolls her eyes. Talk about journalistic integrity. Neutral and unbiased reporting, my ass.
Bold and confident, Inez continues. “I do want Vance to know that I’m deeply sorry for the pain I caused him. Hurting him was never my intention. But in the long run, calling off the wedding is what was best for us both. End of story.”
On that, she gracefully rises from her seat, removes the microphone clipped to her dress and shakily walks off the set.
One of the producers starts to stomp after her. “Inez! We’re not done here—”
I cut across his path, towering over him and staring him down. “Oh, we’re done here. Time for you to leave.”
27
INEZ
Ican’t get my hands to stop shaking.
I’m sitting on the old couch in Nolan’s office at the back of the bar, subtly rocking back and forth, as adrenaline mercilessly attacks my system. From where I’m hiding out, I can hear the bumps and bangs of the film crew packing down their equipment. I just can’t wait for them to be gone.
That interview was so brutal. Of course I hadn’t been expecting it to be a walk in the park, but Sabrina really came after me tonight. If I thought the world despised me before, the hate train is going to be exponentially worse now.
The only thing that made that experience somewhat bearable was having Nolan standing in the shadows. Even across the distance between us, his presence gave me the strength to get through it without crumbling. Right now, I’m more grateful for him than I can put into words.
After the longest while, there’s a tap at the door.
