CHAPTER SIX

Dead or Alive

Travis

The limo door slammed hard behind me. “Oh, shit. Sorry. I’m nervous.”

The driver waved me away. “No problem. Twenty-two dollars, please. I’ll come back with the limo.”

The limo was new. White. Abby would like it. I handed him thirty. “So you’ll be right back here in an hour and a half, right?”

“Yes, sir! Never late!”

He drove away, and I turned around. The chapel was lit up, glowing against the early morning sky. It was maybe a half hour before sunrise. I smiled. Abby was going to love it.

The front door opened, and a couple came out. They were middle-aged, but he was in a tux, and she was in a huge wedding dress. A short woman in a light pink suit dress was waving them good-bye, and then she noticed me.

“Travis?”

“Yes,” I said, buttoning my jacket.

“I could just eat you up! I hope your bride appreciates what a looker you are!”

“She’s prettier than me.”

The woman cackled. “I’m Chantilly. Pretty much run things around here.” She put her fists at her side, somewhere in the area of her hips. She was as wide as she was tall, and her eyes were nearly hidden under thick, fake lashes. “Come on in, sugar! Come in! Come in!” she said, rushing me inside.

The receptionist at the desk offered a smile and a small stack of paperwork. Yes, we want a DVD. Yes, we want flowers. Yes, we want Elvis. I checked all of the appropriate boxes, filled in our names and information, and then handed the paper back.

“Thank you, Mr. Maddox,” the receptionist said.

My hands were sweating. I couldn’t believe I was here.

Chantilly patted my arm, well, more like my wrist, because that’s the highest she could reach. “This way, honey. You can freshen up and wait for your bride in here. What was her name?”

“Uh . . . Abby . . .” I said, walking through the door Chantilly had opened. I looked around, noting the couch and mirror surrounded by a thousand huge lightbulbs. The wallpaper was busy but nice, and everything seemed clean and classy, just like Abby wanted.

“I’ll let you know when she arrives,” Chantilly said with a wink. “You need anything? A water?”

“Yes, that would be great,” I said, sitting down.

“Be right back,” she lilted as she backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. I could hear her humming down the hall.

I leaned back against the couch, trying to process what had just happened, and wondering if Chantilly had just chugged a 5-hour ENERGY, or if she was just naturally that chipper. Even though I was just sitting, my heart was pounding against my chest. This is why people had witnesses: to help them keep calm before the wedding. For the first time since we’d landed, I wished Shepley and my brothers were there with me. They would have been giving me all kinds of shit, helping to keep my mind off the fact that my stomach was begging to throw up.