Alina chewed at her lips. "Would you consider it? Still marrying him, I mean?"
"Are you suggesting I forgive him for leaving me at the altar---" she quietly laughed maniacally, then stopped to continue. " Not showing up at all, and just go ahead and reschedule the wedding?" She went into full sarcasm mode. "Oh, yes, dear wedding guests, dress up again in your fancy clothes, bring a second freshly wrapped gift, drive through horrendous traffic, practice new mockery words and insults, and watch me stand at the altar all over again---while we madly hope the groom shows up this time. Forget the blog, let's just do a reality TV show!" Her face flushed red with frustration.
Alina's face filled with empathy as she slammed the vehicle door shut. Opening the rear door, she helped unload the suit-cases and boxes Iva had brought with her.
A moment later, she looked up and put a finger on the shutter of her camera. "Let's call Hollywood and have them send up some hot hunks and sleazy blondes. We'll make it into the funniest reality show Canada has ever seen."
"I know you're trying to get me to smile, but the wedding cost me and my parent's our life savings. All the vendors still need to be paid. Flowers won't last---and I don't need flowers on every single table in my house making me sneeze. The catered food is in all the neighbor's freezers. It was a pain fitting everything into my car as well as my parent's vehicle, but my mother couldn't bear to throw away good food. It's so damn expensive. And you know that."
"You must have had to purchase a few coolers to transport all that way."
Iva nodded, pressing her lips together. "My father isn't happy about any of it, but he doesn't say much. He would never make me feel guilty."
"Make Noah pay for it. Send him the friggin' bill. It's his fault."
"Believe me, he's getting a certified letter with an itemized bill. And if he thinks I'll pretend three days ago never happened and just call up the minister to find out when his next available Saturday is, he
needs his head examined." Her arms fell to her sides like limp noodles as she leaned against the side of the car, fighting tears again. "Do you know that Noah never even called me with any sort of explanation until four hours later? I'm not a doormat! I was supposed to be the most important person in his life."
Alina kissed Iva on the cheek, and then hugged her hard. "Just assessing your true feelings, honey."
That finally got a laugh out of her.
"You don't want to know my true feelings. I think my father was ready to get his shot-gun and hunt the man down."
"In Toronto?" Alina choked out. "Rii-ght."
Iva hefted a small box into the crook of her arm, pulling one of the rolling suit-cases behind her. "I can just see the headlines now. Father found waving a sawed off shotgun at the man who jilted his daughter at the altar. You want to know the most infuriating part?" she added, as they hauled her stuff into the house.