“Where in the world is the Gettin’ Hitched bride?”

Lexie sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed at the Harbor Inn. She stared in horror at the Today show and co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. “Lexie Kowalsky left a stunned Peter Dalton at the altar last night,” she added, “leaving a sour taste in the mouths of millions of fans.”

“Millions?” Lexie uttered.

“Cynics speculate it’s part of the storyline, that it was planned from the beginning, but Pete says he’s truly heartbroken.”

Savannah Guthrie? It was a big enough story that the co-anchor was reporting on it? In the first hour? So much for things blowing over.

“No one seems to know what has become of the Seattle native who competed with twenty women to become this season’s Gettin’ Hitched bride.” Savannah continued as NBC cut away to footage of a bewildered-looking Pete standing at the altar, surrounded by white roses and lilies. “The producers of the reality show insist this came as a complete surprise. Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros. Television, released a statement that reads in part, ‘We at Telepictures want to assure fans of Gettin’ Hitched that this was in no way part of the show. Lexie Kowalsky had given us no clue that she wasn’t one-hundred-percent happy with the show and committed to Pete.’” Footage of a director holding the note Lexie had written in the housekeeping room cut to footage of her dad’s black Land Rover. “The would-be bride’s parents, Seattle Chinooks coach John Kowalsky and his wife, Georgeanne, had no comment.”

Most major networks had camped outside the Fairmont, waiting to get videotape of the hitchin’ bride and groom. Instead, they got footage of a KIRO 7 reporter jumping out of the way seconds before getting hit by an SUV speeding away from the Fairmont. The cameraman did manage to get shots through the windshield of her father’s scowl and her mother’s hand over her face.

The reporter turned his microphone to people on the street. Several claimed to have seen her racing away from the scene in a MINI Cooper. Others said a Harley. The footage then cut to photographers camped out in front of her apartment in Belltown and the gates to her parents’ house on Mercer Island.

“Stay tuned to our fourth hour,” Savannah said as the camera came back to her. “Kathie Lee and Hoda will take calls from the thousands of fans who believe they’ve spotted Lexie Kowalsky, the woman that viewers are now calling the ‘Not Gettin’ Hitched bride.’”

“Thousands?” Lexie said weakly and got a little light-headed. “Kathie Lee and Hoda, too?” She kind of hoped that she’d pass out and put herself out of her misery. If only for a few moments. Not that it would matter. When she came to, nothing would have changed. She’d still be the runaway Not Gettin’ Hitched bride.

There was a loud knock on the door, and she jumped like a parolee on the run. Her light head spun a little more and she almost fell on her face when she stood. Her feet moved across the beige carpet and she looked through the peephole. Jimmy stood on the other side, and she quickly let him in before leaning her back against the door. It had been Jimmy who’d seen the news and alerted her to the rapidly growing fiasco. She couldn’t go home or even to her parents’ house. She felt like a Whack-A-Mole, afraid to pop her head outside, and both she and Jimmy had agreed that she had two choices:

1. Stay out of sight.
2. Try and blend with the locals.

“Feeling any better?” he asked over his shoulder. This morning he wore some kind of gnarled-up sweater and worn corduroys. If her life wasn’t such a mess, she might have suggested, in the kindest way possible, that he burn those clothes in order to save himself and those around him the horror. But her life was a mess, and she said, “No! People are going to call Hoda and Kathie Lee if they spot me.” She swallowed hard. “Like that book, Where’s Waldo?”

He shook his head and turned a plastic sack upside down. “Hunted down Pokémon-style.”

A weird little choking sound came from her mouth and she raised a hand to her lips. It was worse than Waldo or Whack-A-Mole. “Pokémaniacs.”

The contents of the bag spilled on her bed. “Well, Pikachu, if it makes you feel better, no one at the Sandspit Mart or the Waffle Hut is talking about anything but the four-hundred-pound halibut someone caught yesterday. I’m going to see if I can get a look at it before I take off.”

“Waffle Hut? You had breakfast?” Lexie didn’t think she could eat at the moment, but her stomach had growled all night due to the fact that she’d been too nervous to eat yesterday, too.

“I got you some Tastykakes and ginger ale.”

Lexie groaned as she moved toward the bed. A bag of cinnamon doughnuts, two cans of Canada Dry, and a prepaid phone lay on the bed, along with shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, and some clothing.

“I’ve been thinking. It’s more than possible that someone saw you board the Sea Hopper last night. The lake was busier than most weekdays, with all the tourists in town to catch your wedding. It’s probably only a matter of time before someone realizes that it wasn’t a big marshmallow they saw getting crammed into a flying tree frog.”

Jimmy had a point but her brain was too scrambled to think beyond the black sweatpants, red “Spirit of Sandspit” T-shirt, and pair of knockoff Uggs.

“What if someone asks about it?”

And a fish hat. “Don’t tell the truth.” Not just a regular fish hat, either.

“You want me to lie.”

Lexie picked the cap up and turned it from side to side. “No, prevaricate.”

“Same thing.”

A red salmon head stuck out the front and its tail out the back. “What the heck, Jimmy? I thought we decided that I need to blend. I can’t blend with a fish on my head.”

He shrugged. “It’s a cool hat.” This from the guy who wore an old aviation helmet and goggles. He pulled out a wad of Canadian bills and handed it to her. Jimmy was like an undercover spy and had argued against her using a credit card that could be traced within minutes of use. Instead, he’d paid for the hotel in advance and had taken money from his own card. “Gotta go. I’ll be back in two days to get you and Sean.”

Lexie decided not to argue about his taste in hats. She was grateful for his help, and really, what had she expected from the man who’d always dressed as if he was engaged in a fashion grudge match? “Thank you. I’ll pay you back. Promise. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She hugged her friend, and he wrapped his comforting arms around her. “I owe you big.” She stepped back and looked into his eyes on the same level as hers.

“I know,” he said through a grin. “But what are old friends for?”

“Do you want your coat back?” She pointed to the leather jacket hanging in the small closet.

“No. I’ll get it day after tomorrow.”

“Thanks again.” The pocket in the leather jacket was ripped out, but she was glad to have it.

He took a few steps toward the door and laughed as he opened it. “Don’t get into any more trouble while I’m gone.”

“God no.” She shook her head. “I’m not leaving this room.”

She locked the door behind him and returned to sit in the middle of the bed. A can of ginger ale rolled against her bare knee and she picked it up. She popped it open, then hit the mute button on the television remote control. She wore the flannel shirt she’d borrowed from Sean the night before. Had it really just been the night before that she’d run out on her wedding, hopped into Jimmy’s plane, and ended up in Sandspit, BC? Had it been less than twelve hours ago when she’d looked up into eyes the color of jade and the five o’clock shadow of a man who looked like he’d jumped off the cover of Men’s Health magazine? Had it been less than twelve hours ago that he’d given her his shirt? So much had happened that it felt more like forty-eight hours had passed.

Once they’d landed in Sandspit, they’d all piled into a green Subaru. The keys had been in the ignition, and Lexie had wondered if she was now involved in grand theft or if the car had been left at the docks for Sean. She’d figured the latter, but by that point, she’d been exhausted and freezing and hadn’t cared. He’d dropped her and Jimmy off at the Harbor Inn without even saying good-bye. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d left the smell of burnt rubber in the air.

He didn’t owe her anything. He’d helped her with her dress, given her a drink and his shirt to wear, but . . . it might have been nice if he’d waited until Jimmy checked in before he’d sped away like he was driving a getaway car, leaving her to hide outside in her Louboutins, his flannel shirt, and Jimmy’s bomber jacket.

She took a drink of ginger ale and made a face. Ginger ale always reminded her of being sick as a kid. Not only had she looked like a tacky hooker, she’d felt like a prison escapee hiding in the bushes, but she couldn’t exactly walk into the hotel lobby and request a room.

Instead, she’d waited around one side of the building while Jimmy had rented two rooms. The doors to each faced the parking lot. She didn’t think anyone had seen her enter number seven; at least she hoped not. Especially now that Hoda and Kathie Lee were getting into the hunt for her.

Next to the fish hat lay a pay-as-you-go phone that already had the minutes loaded for her. She stared at it with anxiety and dread, but she couldn’t put off the inevitable and picked it up. Her heart pounded as she dialed, and with every ring it grew louder in her head.

“Hello.”

The corners of her lips trembled and her voice broke. “Hi, Dad.”

“Lexie? Where are you?”

“Sandspit, British Columbia.”

“Where?”

She almost smiled. “It’s a tiny town in the Hecate Strait.”

There was a pause on the line before he said, “That’s damn near Alaska. How in the hell did you get all the way up there?”

“Jimmy Pagnotta and the Sea Hopper.”

“The flying tree frog?”

“Yeah.” Tears fell from her eyes. “I couldn’t marry Pete.”

“Well, you picked a hell of a way to get out of it.” The tone of his voice got deeper with anger. “I imagine Marie helped you with this ridiculous stunt.”

“Yes, but it’s not her fault.”

“It would have been a hell of a lot easier if you’d told me or your mother that you couldn’t marry that pansy ass instead of leaving your whole family to twist in the wind.” She could hear his anger building, and she knew the inevitable was about happen. “There are reporters camped outside the gates and two idiots jumped out from behind cars in the parking lot at the Key Arena! Your mother and I waited up all night to hear from you! We didn’t know if you were in Seattle or Mexico or actually made it to Sweden this time.”

“Sorry,” she said just above a whisper, and waited.

“You ran away instead of nutting up and dealing with the colossal fuckup you created!”

“I don’t have nuts, Dad.”

“Jesus Christ, Alexis!” he managed just before the inevitable hit and his words turned into a long stream of mostly incomprehensible swearing. She could practically hear the steam blowing out of his ears.

She hated to make her parents angry. They had such perfect lives. She tried to make hers perfect, too, but she always seemed to fail. Especially when she acted without a thorough plan. “I’m sorry.” Tears stung her eyes and a sob came from deep in her chest next to her heart. “Everything got so-o big so fa-ast. I fe-elt trapped.”

“Don’t cry,” he said, which made her cry even harder. “You didn’t kill anybody.” He paused, then added, “Right?” as if that was a possibility.

“No-o.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “I should ha-ave nutted u-up.”

“Honey, you don’t have nuts.” Her dad’s blowups were inevitable when he was pushed too far. Her latest “colossal fuckup” was definitely in the pushed-him-too-far category. Way too far, but her dad’s blowups always blew over quickly.

“Ho-ow’s Mom?”

“Worried. Scared. Mad, but it isn’t like she’s never run away from a wedding.” She heard a silent little laugh in his voice and relaxed a bit. “She hated that dress.”

“Me too.”

“When are you coming back?”

She let out a hiccupped breath. “Day after tomorrow. Hop-pefully no one will see me flying back in. And the gates to your neighborhood and the front of my apartment will be reporter fr-ree.”

“Your mother will be waiting for you here, but I’ll be in Pittsburgh.”

She breathed deep and let it out slowly. “I’m sure you’ll whoop some Penguin ass,” she managed without a break in her voice.

“I’m not so sure. I’m down a defenseman and my newest hotshot sniper won’t be on the roster. He said he has a family emergency, but he probably took time off to deep condition his flow.”

Lexie laughed for the first time in days. She knew how her dad felt about players concerned with their hair. She also knew that her dad hated showoffs. Apparently, Mr. Hotshot was both and had earned a double dose of disdain.

“Goddamn nancy-pants. I’d love to rearrange his Chiclets and see how arrogant he is without his front teeth.”

She could bring up that several of her father’s teeth were implanted ceramic and titanium. Instead she wanted to know, “How’s my Yum Yum?”

“You and little dogs.” She knew him and knew he was shaking his head as he talked about her Chinese crested. He refused to say her dog’s name and called her “naked nancy-pants” instead.

“You gave me my first little dog,” she reminded him. “Remember Pongo?”

“Of course. He shook and was pathetic and got me into trouble with your mother.”

Pongo had been her first teacup Chihuahua and had loved her dad. Despite her father’s claim to the contrary, his dislike of “nancy-pants” dogs was just a front to hide the soft spot in his heart.

“You should have named him Trouble,” he said about the dog who’d followed him around like a groupie. Despite being called a nancy-pants and worse, Pongo had loved her dad, and the day Pongo died, she didn’t know who had been more torn up, her or Dad. “In fact, you should have named all your dogs Trouble for all the chaos they cause.” He paused, then added, “Look, Lexie, you’re too nice. And you’re impulsive and you have a big heart and that gets you into all sorts of hot water. You get that from your mother.”

She wasn’t impulsive anymore. “Where is Mom?” Well, except for lately.

“You know your mother, no reporter is going to make her hide. She’s taken Jon Jon to school, where I’m sure he’s going to get razzed like crazy. But he’s tough; he can take it.”

Her father had a big heart, too, she knew. He was just really good at hiding it. After several more moments, she ended the call. She needed to call her mother. She could get her on her cell phone, but she wanted a few moments of calm before she undertook another emotional conversation. Of her two parents, her mother would be harder on her. Never mind that she’d also run from her own wedding years earlier.

Lexie deserved it after what she’d just put them through, but that didn’t mean she looked forward to the disappointment that she was sure to hear in her mother’s soft Southern voice. Not disappointment that she hadn’t gotten married, but disappointment that she was in a big mess.

Lexie tossed the phone on the bed and thought about her current situation. Was her dad right? Was she too nice? Well, she did hate to hurt people and sometimes put others’ feelings before her own.

She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. She felt an urge to run even as she wanted to crawl beneath the covers and hide. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She needed to clear her head and calm her nerves, and she stared up at the ceiling. Her gaze focused on what looked like a jellyfish stamped in the texture. Next, she picked out a tailless shark, a cat’s paw, and a deer with seven legs. Her nerves and mind settled enough for her to think about her current situation, what she’d done and how she’d ended up in a hotel room in Sandspit, British Columbia. She didn’t have to think very hard. Most of the time it came down to the same thing.

Lexie Kowalsky was a people pleaser. She’d made bad decisions and stayed in bad relationships out of the fear of disappointing anyone. This time she hadn’t wanted to disappoint the producers of a reality show or Peter Dalton or millions of Gettin’ Hitched fans. Her fear often made her stuff down her own feelings. Marie called her an “emotional cutter.”

Lexie didn’t know if she’d go that far, but she did know that several contradictions fought within her.

1. Responsible.
   1. a. Flighty.
2. Loved an organized plan.
   1. a. Too impulsive.
3. Passive people pleaser.
   1. a. Extremely competitive.
4. Hated to lose.
   1. a. But loved a sportsmanship trophy.

Her competitive side had encouraged her to run faster, play harder, and hip-check the other Gettin’ Hitched brides. Normally she would have felt horrible about “accidentally” bouncing a football off Whitney Sue’s head during the pigskin challenge, but her sights had been set on winning a romantic date with Pete. A date that had been anything but romantic, not with a film crew inches from her face.

Pete. She didn’t want to think about him, and her gaze searched the ceiling until she picked out what looked like an ant jumping off a rock. She hated to think that he’d actually loved her. The thought made her heart pound and her nerves jump, and she needed more than concentrating on random patterns in the texture to keep her brain occupied.

She sat up and grabbed the shampoo off the bed. Her hair was sticky and gross from last night and she moved to the small bathroom. Jimmy had forgotten conditioner, and for a split second she thought about running to the store. She needed good conditioner to keep her hair from going ashy, but the thought of being spotted shoved the thought from her head.

She turned on the shower and unbuttoned the shirt Sean had given her. The soft fabric smelled woodsy with a hint of musk, and slid down her bare shoulders and back to land at her feet. She stepped out of her white panties and took them in the shower with her, washing them with the thin bar of hotel soap before hanging them over the rod. As warm water spilled from the shower and ran through her hair, she thought of everything waiting for her at home, especially the love of her life, Yum Yum. No matter what, she could always count on the love in her little dog’s eyes.

The first time she’d seen the Chinese crested had been two years ago when she’d dropped off food at the Emerald City Pet Rescue. It had been impossible not to notice the bald little dog with black skin and white dots. White hair stuck out of her ears, and her tail and paws were covered in long hair. She shook as if cold, and her black eyes had been filled with pain and sadness.

Lexie was not only a sucker for dogs, she was a complete sap for anything sick and helpless. Yum Yum was both.

The six-month-old puppy yelped when she walked, and rather than deal with her luxating patella, her owners had dropped her off at the shelter instead of paying the two grand to fix her congenital defect. Lexie had gladly scooped up the little dog and paid for the surgery. She helped rehabilitate the puppy and told her repeatedly that she was yummy to give her a much-needed dose of self-esteem. She’d made her clothes to keep her warm and built ramps that looked like fashion runways to help minimize the abuse to her knees.

From those simple beginnings, she’d started Yum Yum’s Closet, her online specialty pet supply business that she operated out of her apartment. Two years later, her business had tripled and her designs were now manufactured by a small-batch company in Marysville. She’d chosen a space for a retail store and was in the process of picking out paint and wallpaper.

Lexie lathered her hair with shampoo and washed her body. It felt good to scrub away the last bit of makeup and mousse left over from the day before. After the shower, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked back into the room. The television continued without sound, water dripped from her hair, and her stomach rumbled, reminding her of how little she’d eaten in the past twenty-four hours. She wasn’t one of those girls who picked at her salad but never really ate. Like her mother, she loved to cook and kept the pounds off her butt and thighs with routine exercise. A frown pulled at the corners of her lips as she looked at the Tastykakes and ginger ale on the bed. She was either going to pass out from hunger or go mental.

Perhaps both. Jimmy had said something about a waffle house, and the thought of blueberry waffles and maple syrup made her feel even more faint with hunger. Bacon and eggs and coffee. Real coffee. Not the weak stuff from the four-cup brewer in the hotel room.

She glanced from the Tastykakes to the television. Maybe while she’d been in the shower, the country had lost interest in her. Maybe she could sneak out of her room and gorge on waffles and bacon. Maybe she wasn’t trapped inside room seven after all.

The intro to the fourth hour of the Today show played across the screen as the camera zoomed in for a tighter shot of Hoda and Kathie Lee sitting behind a glass table. Just below the hosts’ names on the lower third, the ticker read: Where in the world is the Gettin’ Hitched bride?

“Welcome, everyone,” Kathie Lee began. “It’s giveaway Friday, and we’re giving viewers the opportunity to win a trip to Cancun.”

“To enter,” Hoda added, “call the number below and let us know if you’ve had a Lexie Kowalsky sighting.”

Or maybe not.