I helped cut and hand out cake slices, Sarina, handing me an empty plate as soon as I needed it. Alyssa's parents helped pass out the plates until everyone who came up was served. We left a few pieces out on plates before taking one for ourselves. Sarina was whisked off by some friends of hers and David's she hadn't seen in years while I ate my slice and talked with Lance and Lirael who came to help celebrate. I spotted Dass and Amanda out dancing together, making a smile form on my face watching Dass genuinely smile for the first time in quite a while.
"Whoo! I need to cool off! Mind if I sit here?" A red haired woman that looks familiar takes one of the empty seats at the table. She smiles widely, catching her breath as she sweeps her gaze at the three of us.
"I'm Hannah."
"Hello. I'm Lirael, this is my husband Lance, and this is Brian." Lirael politely introduces us.
"Hello, so how do y'all know the bride and groom?" Hannah keeps everything polite.
"We know each other through Sarina and Brian, here." Lirael nods to me.
"Oh? Are you friends with Sarina then?" She asks, inquisitively.
"We're dating." I finish off my cake with that answer out of my mouth. I recall why she's familiar now. She's John's ex that he was so adamant to avoid.
"Oh really?! I thought she was engaged to Marcus? That explains why I haven't seen him." She says absently.
Lirael see's me trying to swallow my cake that suddenly became difficult to chew. So she hops in, "They've been broken up for quite a while now. So how do you know them?"
Her smile falls a little bit but quickly goes back up, more forced now, "I used to date a friend of theirs. I was invited by happenstance through one of Alyssa's coworkers." She gives a tight lipped smile at that information.
"You're the same Hannah that dated John, right?" I ask curious.
She grimaces, but nods, "Yes, unfortunately. I'm not as crazy as the stories you've heard, by the way. I realized after the fact that he was not good for me. He brought out a side of me, I did not like."
That's interesting... That sentence makes me wonder what kind of man, John actually is.
Lirael nods, rolling her eyes, "I've known people that can do things like that."
Hannah gives her a more genuine smile, one side of her cheeks rising higher than the other. Curiosity gets the better of me though, so I have to ask.
"Well if it makes you feel any better, I haven't heard any of the stories, just that you two used to date." I lean forward and let her know, "I don't really like the asshole anyways."
Hannah laughs at that, "Well that makes two of us. What did he say or do to you, if I may ask?"
"He's just been full of himself, condescending, and rude in some way or another, every time I've seen him. What about you?" I sit back, giving her my full attention.
"Other than him talking shit about me to everyone we know and making me out to be a drama queen?" She scoffs, "Let's see, he cheated on me... gaslighted me when I tried to talk to him when I thought something was going on, then played the victim in all of it..." She looks up as she recalls other things, before returning her attention to me, "Let's not forget all the verbal abuse throughout, and every time we'd try to 'work it out'" she lifts her hands and does the air quotations, "it's like he was setting us up for failure. I would tell him that it was over and leave. Then a few days later... Bam! He's at my door, on his knees, begging for forgiveness and making promises that he never kept. Of course I was the dumbass for believing him one too many times."
She huffs out, "He told everyone, I cheated on him and played the victim, so 'our friends' became 'his friends'. He's an asshole and .." She stops herself, eyes going wide and stops, looking down at her hands, "Sorry, y'all are not here to hear me ramble about his dumbass."
Lirael waves her hand, dismissing her apology, "Trust me, we get it. We've all dated one of those types before, darlin. Besides, we asked, remember?"
She gives Lirael a slight smile, even with her head lowered a bit, "Yes, but y'all are here to have a good time, not listen to me rant as a form of therapy."
I could tell that she needed to talk to someone and let it out. I reach into my back pocket to pull out my wallet and grab her a card. I set it on the table and slide it over to her. "If you feel that he's still having an effect on your new relationships, you can call this number and set up an appointment. Relationships like that can have a bigger effect on us that we don't always realize at first."
She takes the card and looks at it shyly, her eyes widening a little, "You're a therapist. Oh... Thank you, I'll think about it." She smiles and stands, "Well, thank you for this. I'm going to join my date, it was nice meeting all of you." She waves and leaves heading back to the dance floor.
"I think you made her uncomfortable there Brian." Lance purses his lips as he smiles.
I shrug, "Wasn't my intention, but after her saying all that, how could I not offer some help? Just in case she needed it?" I sigh, "But, no wonder I don't like the prick.... If he is who she says he is... Tomorrow is not going to be easy."
"Record it." Lance nods at his words, "Seriously. Audio, visual, anything. Record it. If anything for mom to hear and help you guys out."
I agree with Lance silently, thinking of how I could set that up at Sarina's and make sure she would be okay with it. Dass and Amanda joined us after a little bit, needing a respite themselves from the good time everyone was having. Our attention was pulled when someone announced the tossing of the bouquet for all the ladies.
Molly, Alyssa and Amanda's mother, came rushing over to the table, "Come on girl!" She grabs Amanda's hand to pull her up, "Go catch that bouquet! Who knows it might be the luck you need to find a man!"
Amanda's face turns to stone. She wrenches her hand from her mother's grasp, making Molly look back at her confused.
"Mother, stop! Just stop it." Amanda turns and takes off from the area, leaving her mom looking sadly at her.
Dass stands up and excuses herself, going after Amanda. Molly raises her gaze to meet all of ours, embarrassed over how Amanda took off. She starts to say something before her eyes widen and her mouth pops open.
"Brian, you're a doctor... Can you tell me what is wrong with my daughter? What's wrong with wanting her to find a man?"
I share a glance with Lance and Lirael, who quickly excuse themselves from the table.
I let out the breath I had been holding, groaning with the truth. "Yes, but I don't think you're going to like what you hear, ma'am."
She sits down and clutches her necklace, "If I can find a way to help her, I will do anything."
Taking a sip of my drink, I decide to be honest. "You really want to help her?"
She nods.
"The problem is not your daughter. It's you."
Her mouth drops open in offense and I raise my hand, "Let me finish."
When she closes her mouth with a grunt I continue, "Stop pressuring her to meet a man, let your ADULT daughter make her own decisions and if she's happy, let her be happy with who ever it may be. The only problem I see is that you can not accept your daughter for who she is and that's driving a deep wedge between you two. It's not her slinging the hammer either. It's YOU trying to force what YOU think will make her happy. Accept her for who she is, leave the topic alone, let her find her happiness on her own."
I sigh, knowing that was not what she wanted to hear and probably doesn't like me anymore, but oh well. "That's my advice and I told you, you wouldn't like it. Now, if you'll excuse me, Molly, I need to go find Sarina. Try to enjoy the rest of the night."
I leave the table and go searching for Sarina out among the people. I find her, talking with a bunch of other women that had formed this circular seating pattern out on chairs by the horse stalls. I walk up behind her and as I walk over someone says something that makes them all giggle and Sarina turn around. With a smug smirk she turns back to them all and says something that has them giggling even more.
"Evening ladies. You seemed to have commandeered my beautiful lady long enough I believe. She owes me another dance before the night is over."
One woman giggles and says quietly, but intentionally loud enough to hear, "God... where can I get me one of those?"
Sarina stands up and waves to them, "I must pay my dues. It was nice catching up with you guys!"
They start cat calling her and shouting out innuendos to her, cheering her on as she laughs and waves as I take her to the dance area that's not nearly as full of people as it once was. I pull her close to my body as a slower song comes on and we sway with the music. She's giggling, smiling brighter than lights around the place. There's something heavenly and peaceful about this moment. She's beautiful, flushed from alcohol and joy, giggling with laughter and the twinkle in her eyes from the lighting is perfect.
I wish I had brought the ring David had given me. If I had it, I would have dropped to one knee right now.