Runaway Groom
Jessica seemed hesitant and frantic at the same time as she be-
gan to speak. “Sasha, I'm on the phone with my brother right
now. He's saying he called to get the venue’s address cause
he's on his way with my mother and the Maitre d’ said there's
no, he said there's no wedding scheduled for today so I don't
know what's going on, but you need to get on that phone and
call the venue right now.
Everybody was in complete silence as Sasha’s face turned
ashen. “What are you talking about? Maybe your brother's at
the wrong venue. Just a minute ago, she was calm and relaxed.
”Jessica, tell your brother this too. He's probably at the wrong
location. There's two different locations in Long Island that
have the same name. Maybe he's at the other one, the one on
Boulder Avenue so find out if he's at the right one.
Jessica turned to her friend. “Sasha. He isn't at the one on
Boulder Avenue. He is on his way to the right one. You need
to get on the phone and talk to these people right now ‘cause
my brother is on the phone with them and they're saying they
have no idea what he's talking about. There's no wedding to-
day and they don't even know why he's calling to get the ad-
dress to, to come anywhere.”
3
“What?!” Sasha jumps up out, the chair, grabs her phone, and
exits the room while everybody looks on in horrified silence.
Just as she is about to call the venue, Dominique calls back.
“Sasha,” struggling to speak in her calmest voice, “we have a
huge problem. The Maitre d’ is right next to me and he said I
cannot set up. Kevin never paid the venue. He never paid any-
thing. And they're saying, there's no wedding today, Sasha.
What kind of craziness is going on here? I have all my guys
here ready to set up. I have the flowers in the truck and I'm
getting ready to come in and the people are so rude and
they're telling me they don't know what I'm doing here. No-
body's having a wedding today and there's a whole bunch of
people showing up here and they're saying how there's no
wedding. They're telling all the guests to go home. There’s no
wedding today.”
“What are you talking about Miss Dominique? What the heck
is going on?”
Sasha cannot find her words anymore. Numb and in shock.
Not today. Not on her wedding day. Not when she was sup-
posed to marry the love of her life. It had to be—it was, wasn’t
it—a bad, bad dream. Yes, that’s it.
“The Maitre d’s name is Eddie, right?”
It’s not a bad dream. His name really is Eddie.
4
“He's telling me that Kevin never paid anything, not a single
dime. He doesn't know why people and the guests are show-
ing up to the venue for a wedding. He's turning all the people
away at the door.
Now Sasha's phone rings, but she does not answer. It is one of
her guests. She tries to take charge, or at least pretend to be.
“Okay Ms. Dominique, let me find out what's going on. Let
me call Kevin.”
“You need to call Kevin right now Sasha, because I don't
know what's going on, but I'm going to stay here and try to
calm everybody down and I'm trying to tell everybody don't
go and just to relax.”
“Don’t worry everything is going to be fine. Kevin is only five
minutes away.”
“Okay, I'm trying to tell everybody to relax and just to stay
and to support you, but I'm here to support you all the way.
Sasha, you know that, right?”
All of a sudden Sasha feels very, very calm, almost like she’s
on automatic pilot. “Yes, I know Ms. Dominique. Thank you
so much. Thank you very, very much.”
In the meantime, Dominique tries to calm the growing crowd.
She begins gesturing to them amidst their yells of “What’s go-
ing on?” and “Hey, I’m supposed to be here, you can’t throw
5
me out!” and “People, you are going to have to exit the build-
ing” and “Mom, stop making a scene!” As Sasha frantically
calls Kevin’s cell phone number, the girls come outside. Jes-
sica, Rebecca and Martha race down the hallway towards her.
“What's going on, what's going on, what's happening, what's
happening? Are you okay, Sasha? What's going on? What is
going on?” Sasha’s mother follows, trying to follow every-
thing.
Sasha waves them all away as she finally reaches Kevin.
“Hello? Hey Babe.”
“What's up Kevin? Where are you? Why do I have people
calling me? Telling me that there is no wedding. They're tell-
ing me that there was no wedding scheduled for today. You
never paid the venue? Never paid anything? What the hell is
going on here? They're saying how Dominique is trying to set
up and they're telling her she can't set up because you didn't
pay.”
“Yeah, yeah. Mrs. Dominique said she would pay it today so
I'm just gonna reimburse her. Sorry, I didn't want to make you
panic Babe, but I have the money. I have the money and I'm
going to give them the...”
Sasha broke in. “Why didn't you tell me you didn't pay them?
I thought you said you paid them yesterday. Yesterday. I
6
thought you told them you paid them on Saturday. You know
they gave us until Saturday to pay them. I thought you paid
them.”
Kevin continues to explain. “No. The guy was telling me, you
know, that I could give him the money today and stuff like
that.”
“But this is a wedding. What are you talking about? They just
saying that they're turning all the guests away. They're telling
the guests to go away. There's no wedding. What is going on?
What is happening? Are we getting married today? Is there a
wedding today?”
“Yes, of course, Babe,” says Kevin, “of course, there's a wed-
ding scheduled for today. We're getting married. We are get-
ting married today. What are you talking about? Just calm
down. I'll call you back.”
Silence again as Rebecca storms down the hallway. “Sasha,
what is going on? What is happening?”
“I don't know,” says Sasha the desperation rising in her voice.
“People are blowing up my phone. They're telling me that
they're telling them there's no wedding today. The, the
venue’s turning them away and they’re saying they don't
know why people are showing up here. Oh my God. This is
like a nightmare. This cannot be happening, right?”
7
Martha decides that she must take charge. “Okay, everybody
just calm down, we'll figure it out. It's not a big deal. Let's just
try and figure out what's happening. Let's give her some space.
Let her breathe. It's just a lot right now. It's just a lot going on.
Here, let me call Kevin and figure out what's going on.”
Martha calls Kevin and he says the same thing he just said to
Sasha. “So I just spoke to him and he said he's on his way. So
what's the issue? Everybody stay calm, we'll figure everything
out,” she reassures the group as if this were all a simple misun-
derstanding.
Meanwhile, Sasha's mom is just in a corner of the room, in
complete silence and utter shock. The groomsmen decide to
head over to the venue as Martha offers to pick Kevin up or
even pay the balance.
“Kevin?” Sasha calls again. “Where are you exactly?” “Just still waiting here for the Uber.”
“Okay, Martha’s on her way to pick you up.”
“Kevin, pleeease call me back and let me know what's going
Kevin hesitates. “Oh no, that’s okay, here’s the Uber right
now. Don’t worry, I got the money and I’m on my way to the
place.”
on.”
8
“Yeah, don't worry about it. Don't worry. I got the money, I
got the money. We have a wedding, we're getting married to-
day and I'm going straight to the venue.”
“Oh Kevin, come grab this stuff first. Once you get to the
venue, you need to stay put.”
“Don’t worry, reassured Kevin. You want me to resolve this,
right? This is more important. Let me go straight to the venue.
I’ll just have one of the guys come back for the stuff.”
Okay, thinks Sasha to herself, everything will be fine. Every-
thing. Will. Be. Fine. She goes back to the room and looks at
everybody.
“Is everything all right Sasha?” chirps Jessica.
“Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry.” Sasha does a very bad
job of hiding her distress as the entire room trains their eyes
on her, wondering what’s really going on, all the while trying
to save face and make sure no one else panics.
There's no way Kevin could ever do something like this to me,
Sasha thinks. She makes a quick calculation and figures she
can pay until after the wedding when everything will be fine.
Everything is going to be okay, she keeps telling herself, eve-
rything's going to be okay.
9
As Sasha continues to calm herself, Jessica rushed back into
the room. “Sasha, you need to call Kevin right now. Because
my mother and my brother, they just got to the venue and
everybody's in panic mode and they're telling them that
there's no wedding today. No one's getting married at the
venue today. How Kevin didn't make any payments and he's
still not there. And the Maitre d’ told him that he doesn't even
need to bother coming because he missed the deadlines to
make the payment.”
“What?!” said Sasha. And at that very moment, Sasha’s god-
mother walks in and Kevin’s mom’s face turns as ashen as
Sasha’s.
Yet, she persisted. Sasha makes one more phone call to Eddie,
the Maitre d’.
“Eddie, can you tell me exactly what's going on? Because you
know, I have like guests coming. I'm at the hotel with my
bridesmaids. My groomsmen are on their way and I'm getting
phone calls left and right. Telling me that Kevin never made a
payment and you know, what's going, what's going on?”
Next, Sasha's hears the shock of her life. She almost regrets
putting him on speaker so the entire group can hear. She will
never, as long as she lives, forget those words as he decides to
put the manager on the phone to speak to her instead.
10
“Sasha, your fiancé is a liar.” Liar.
There's no wedding.
“He is a liar. He never gave me a single red cent for the venue.
I don't even know why the people are showing up here.
There's no wedding.”
He repeated: “There's no wedding. There's guests, you know,
they're so dressed up and I hate to turn them around, but I
have to let them know that there's no wedding. It's pure chaos
here, a complete mess. I don't know what's happening, but
Kevin didn't give not one single red cent. I did speak to him. I
told him if he doesn't have the money here by 3:00 p.m. sharp,
then the wedding is canceled.”
Then, he tried to reassure her. “Now we can come up with
some sort of a wedding for you, if he can get the money here,
but I'm giving him 30 minutes. He needs to get here by 2:30,
3:00 at the latest. If he doesn't, I'm sorry, but the wedding is
canceled. I’ve told him this already. This is a mess. We've
never had this happen before.”
Oh my God. Sasha begins to panic and her bridesmaids sur-
round her, in complete shock, not believing what they’re
hearing.
11
“Kevin? Kevin?” Sasha dials the phone one last time. “I'm on the phone with uh, the manager right now.”
He then cuts off Sasha, who listens in on the phone; Kevin has
put the manager on speaker. Sasha hears: “Yes. Hi Kevin. So
you need to tell your fiancé what kind of liar you are. I'm giv-
ing you to 2:30 and then I'm walking out of here. You have
guests showing up. You have people showing up here and I
have to tell them there's no wedding today. Are you on your
way? What's going on? You have the florist outside. She can't
set up. She can't do anything cause no one's touching my ta-
bles unless you come and make those payments. Do you un-
derstand what I'm saying? You have to tell your guys...let your
fianceé, your bride know that you are a liar. You never gave
me not one red cent for the venue. And you have people
showing up here to this venue.”
Kevin: silence. Then: “I'm on my way. I'm coming.”
“Okay,” said the manager, “I’m walking out of here at 3:00
sharp.”
“Thank you so much, I really appreciate it,” says Sasha. But
then Kevin hangs up without a single word.
Sasha drags herself back to the suite. There's no way I’m get-
ting married today. As Kevin's mom comes down the hallway,
12
Sasha chokes up, the tears so stubborn they refuse to come
out, the heart so numb she speaks with no emotion.
“Kevin never paid the venue,” she tells her mother-in-law
with a cold and bitter laugh. “They’re turning people away,
saying there’s no wedding.”
Kevin’s mother lets out a loud howl. “Calm down, Mommy,
calm down,” says Rebecca, “don’t worry, we’re going to figure
it out. “Somebody get her some water.”
Sasha starts pacing the room, walking back and forth. Next to
speak is Jessica; she has just called Kevin.
“Sasha, Sasha, I'm on the phone with Kevin right now. “Oh
my God, girl. I am so sorry Sasha. I am so, so sorry, but my
cousin is fucked up. He is so fucked up, Sasha. He's just, he's
asking me to borrow money and he wants me to go to the
bank, borrow money and go make the payment for the venue
right now.”
“Why? He told me he had the money on him.”
“Oh my God. I cannot believe this. You know what? What a
disaster. I cannot believe this. He's asking for the money. I
told him, I said, Kevin, no I cannot. It’s thousands of dollars.
Sash, I cannot believe this is happening. This is, this is, crazy.”
Sasha sits in the suite for an interminable amount of time as
13
her bridesmaids swirl around her. She gives Martha her
phone; it’s ringing about every 30 seconds. “I can’t. I can’t talk
to anybody right now.” All the while Jessica and the other
bridesmaids who know Kevin are talking: “Tell him the banks
are closed.” “Tell him you can’t borrow anything because of
your credit.” I’m not paying for shit.” “He expects me to pay?”
“What the hell?”
Sasha’s mother cries in disbelief.
“I’ma go down there,” says Ricky. “Let me go down to the
venue.”
Jeffrey comes back. “Jeffrey,” says cousin Jessica, “your brother
is fucked up.” Jeffrey is clueless. “What do you mean? What’s
happening? Where’s Kevin?”
“Somebody went to get him, but there’s no wedding Jeffrey,”
Jessica says just after Ricky leaves for the venue. “Rebecca, call
your dad.” Rebecca's father was the bishop who was supposed
to marry them. I've got to call Peter too. I've gotta go. I gotta
call Rebecca's brother Peter. Sasha was in complete silence.
What's going on? Well, Kevin never paid the venue. He never
paid anything. What? Sasha's godmother started yelling and
crying out anger, sadness and disbelief.
“Oh, Jesus! Oh Jesus!” Sasha’s godmother joins the chorus of
shocked wedding participants. “Oh, Sidney. Oh, Gesse. Oh my
14
God. Oh my God. No, no, no. I told you. I told you. I told
you,” she said, I told you he was no good!” as she cries and
flails her arms uncontrollably.
Sasha sits in the chair. Blank. Unblinking. Unfeeling.
Even bubbly Martha is still going. “Let’s just figure it out, we’ll
figure it out.”
“What’s there to figure out?” says Jessica. “He never paid any-
thing. He is a liar. He just asked me for the money. That
means he doesn’t have any money, never did, never was going
to make a single payment.”
Now Sasha’s mother joins the fray, echoing her godmother’s
statements: “I told you not to marry him.” Then, looking
around the room: “Can you believe she stopped talking to me
for a whole year because of him? Because she loved him so
much. She stopped talking to me because of him and look
what it did to her. Look what he did to her. I knew he was no
good. I knew he was no good. I knew he was no good!”
“Okay,” said Martha, now more measured. “But there has to
be a logical reason. There has too. There has to be a reason
why he's doing this. Maybe he's nervous. Maybe he forgot to
make the payment. Just give him a chance. You need to call
him and talk to him and figure out what's going on. Maybe
he's just nervous.”
15
“You know what?” said Ingrid, one of the bridesmaids. “I also
believe maybe he got nervous, I mean, you know how Kevin
is, if anything, just talk to him, maybe he’s nervous or not
ready, you guys will be married, don’t worry.”
“I don't even know why you're here,” chimed Sasha’s God-
mother. Do you even know what you're saying, don't you see
what he did to her? He supposed to marry her. Broke is no ex-
cuse. Nervous is no excuse. Are you stupid? Are you stupid?”
“Well, it’s not like Sasha was so innocent,” says Ingrid, “you
don’t know what they’ve been through, you were not there, I
know what they been through,” in her best conspiratorial
voice. There's a lot of things that you don't know about, okay?
I'm not saying that she has to marry him today, I mean, you
know, today's bad and everything like that. But you know,
maybe he just didn't have the money. They could get married
another day.”
“Are you crazy? Sasha’s godmother says. “She's not marrying
him, today or any other day. Are you crazy? You don't see
what he did to her!”
“Stop!” Sasha's booming voice drowns out everybody. “It's just
too much. It's too much going on. It's just too much!” The en-
tire room collapses in tears. Ingrid leaves and enters the bath-
room, sobbing uncontrollably and Sasha and Vanessa follows
behind her to calm her down. “Your godmother is soo mean,
16
why does she have to talk like that to me, she doesn’t even
understand, says Ingrid. “I’m sooo sorry Ingrid, don’t worry
about her, she’s just upset, it’s just too much, I’m really sorry,
never mind what she said,” as Sasha tried to reassure her
friend and stop her from crying. “Don’t worry about her, stop
crying, Ingrid,” said Vanessa.
Rrrrring, rrrrring. Martha answers Sasha’s phone. “Now what
happened? Rebecca asks.
“Guys, Martha explains, “Katisha just got into a car accident
and she's in the hospital. The boys are on their way to her
right now. We have to go too.”
Could the day get any worse?
“I'm so sorry Sasha,” Taya says as she packs up her bag. “I'm so
sorry. Is there anything you want me to do?”
“Go ahead Taya,” Sasha answered glumly. “There's nothing
more to do here. I'm really, really, really sorry for wasting
your time.”
As Sasha sits down in the makeup chair and everybody's try-
ing to gather their things, Claudia comes in and knocks on the
door. “Hi guys, wha’ts going on?” Sasha just looks and shakes
her head as Ingrid tells her, “Claudia, Claudia, there is no
wedding today.”
17
“What the hell do you mean there's no wedding today?” said
Claudia. What is going on?” And Ingrid explains the whole
sordid story. Claudia just storms away angry as she calls her
husband on the phone. “You're never going to believe this...”
and her voice trails off.
“Okay guys,” Rebecca says, figuring someone has to take
charge, “let's just, let's just go grab our stuff and just put every-
thing in the car. Let's just help Sash get through this.
Ricky comes back to the hotel. “Um, what do you want me to
do, Sasha? Is there anything I could do for you?”
Jessica announces, “I'm going to the venue and talk to my
mother and brother. Martha grabbed Sasha by the shoulders.
“Are you okay? Can I talk to you?”
“Yeah, I'm fine with that. I'm just numb. I feel like I'm in a
nightmare and that I'm going to wake up any minute. Rebecca
is hugging her around the waist: “I'm so sorry, Sash. I'm so
sorry. Honestly, this is crazy. I never thought Kevin would do
something like this. He loves you so much. You know, maybe
you should just call him and make sure he's not out there
somewhere, and he doesn't want to kill himself or something
like that, you know, cause I know he's probably so upset right
now, but let me try to find out where he is because every-
body's calling him and nobody can reach him.”
18
“Don't do it in front of your mom,” warns Martha. “Don't let
her know that you’re calling him.” “Sasha,” continues Re-
becca, “I know this is very, very hard for you and you don't
want to talk. He's the last person you want to speak with. But
Sasha, it’s going to be worse if something was to happen to
him. Imagine Sasha, if something happens to him or if he
takes his life. You're going to feel much worse than we all do
now. All you need to do is call him. He'll answer your call. He
won't answer me. He won't answer anybody, but he will an-
swer you. Just do it. Sash, please just pretend. Just pretend that
you're not upset. Tell him how much you love him just to find
out where he is so the boys could go get him.”
Sasha obeys meekly. She calls Kevin and in the sweetest voice
possible tells him how much she loves him and where he is
and he says that he's fine and how he's sorry and that he loves
her. He says that he's with his best man right now.
“Okay, goodbye.” Sasha hangs up the phone and glares at Re-
becca. “Are you happy? He's fine. He's with Umut right now
at a bar. Martha tries to reassure her, as she always does: “Eve-
rything happens for a reason and God is good. Honey, you
weren’t supposed to marry him and that's it. Who knows what
would happen if you were to marry him? It just wasn't sup-
posed to be. And I'm here if you ever, ever need anything at
all, I'm here for you. Just know that God is good and you
know, take care of yourself and don’t worry about it. You are
not supposed to marry him, honey. That's right. He was not
19
the one because if it was meant to be, if you guys were sup-
posed to get married today, you guys would have gotten mar-
ried today. Okay, I love you sis.”
“We love you,” Sasha’s girls chime in along with her mother.
Sasha’s mom adds, “Look at your family. Look at your friends.
Everybody is here with you, you know?”
“Yeah. All right guys. Let's just pack our stuff and go,” Sasha
says, and she walks out with them feeling like she’s in her
own horror movie, in a daze. She cannot imagine her life. She
walks downstairs in a trance and she hugs everybody: Ingrid,
Jessica, mom and mother-in-law (almost), godmother (hers
and Kevin’s), Martha, Rebecca. Kevin's godmother—she had
met Sasha when she was a little girl—took her outside. “This
card is for you. I was going to give it to the two of you, but
now it’s yours and yours alone.” She continued, “You'll always
be my baby girl. I remember the first time you came to my
house years ago. You know I love you so much. And remem-
ber I'm your godmother too. You could always call me. You
know I'm here for you. I cannot believe Kevin. He has shamed
the family. Just don't feel bad, don't feel bad. But know that
you are loved. We love you, and we're here for you and, and
that's it. Okay. Keep your head up. You're so beautiful. Just re-
member that you can have any guy you want. Don’t cry after
the one who is not for you, okay? He was not for you. And
you can come to my house anytime. We love you.”
20
“Yeah, we love you Sasha,” says Jessica. Kevin's mom contin-
ued sobbing as she made her way to the car. Pretty much
everyone had decided they were going to the hospital to
check on Katisha.
“Sasha, you're not driving,” said her mom. “No way. I’ll drive
you home.”
“No, no, no mom,” replied Sasha, “ we have to go to the hospi-
tal, okay?”
Just before they were about to take off, her friend Janet from
high school and other great friend Kwasi walked into the ho-
tel lobby. “We just had to come,” she said, “to see if you were
okay.”
“Sasha, we got your back,” said Janet. “We love you so much!
Keep your head up and don't worry about anything. Listen,
today is still yours and you can do anything you want. We're
going to enjoy our day. Let's go out to eat. Hey, better yet, let's
get some drinks ’cause I know you could use a drink. I also
spoke to Karen, Berlin and Monica and they are down too,
they said whatever you want to do.” The group agreed.
“Okay. Um, yeah guys. Yes, sure. Whatever. Yes, I would,
come on, please let’s just go.”
“Our treat,” said Rebecca. “Everybody's like, you know what?
Let's take you out. Let's go out to eat. Cause you know at the
21
end of day we're all hungry. You still hungry? You got to eat
right? You got to eat. So let's all go out to eat together. Okay?
When they all got to the hospital, 10 minutes later, the guys
all hugged Sasha first. Kenny and Peter had already arrived.
“Katisha’s in ER,” explained Kenny, “but she’s okay. She has a
neck brace, but she's in a lot of pain. She doesn't look good
guys. And her car and the other car are both totaled. But you
guys could go see her. She's in room nine.”
The crew makes its way down to Katisha and take turns
speaking to her, shocked but happy that she's alive. And [in-
audible] her mom was just crying, crying, crying in the cor-
ner.
“I'm so sorry Sasha. I'm so sorry,” Katisha kept saying over and
over again.
“You're sorry!” Sasha was dumbfounded at her graciousness.
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish you
had never gone to get him. He's such a liar. I'm so sorry this
happened to you. I can't believe this.”
The girls say their goodbyes to Katisha and make their way to
the restaurant while the guys decide to go back to Brooklyn
and try to locate Kevin. Sasha and Rebecca drove together in
complete silence. When they walked into the restaurant,
Sasha looked at her friends, dressed to the nines, smiling at
22
her, pitying her, and with tears in her eyes spoke. “I'm so
sorry. You guys wasted your time. You guys all look so beauti-
ful.”
lin.
“No, are you kidding me?” said Karen. We're here for you
Sasha. “Don’t worry,” said Monica. “Yes, come on,” said Ber-
“I wish you could have seen my dress,” Sasha said, tearing up
again. “But it’s okay. Let's just eat. Let's talk and let's, let's just
have a good time. Okay?”
As Sasha looked around the table, she saw all the people who
loved her and were there for her and she couldn't believe the
madness of the day. Ten minutes later, she would not be able
to believe that the madness was not ever over yet.
Should I tell her? thinks Rebecca to herself as a call came
through her cell phone. “Hey, Sasha,” Rebecca says reluc-
tantly, “it’s Kevin and he wants to talk to you.”
“No.” Sasha was resolute. “I don’t want to talk to him ever
again.”
“I’m sure he wants to apologize, explain what happened.”
“I’m good,” Sasha said, folding her arms.
Finally the dinner and drinks wound down and Rebecca de-
posited Sasha back at the family home. Everyone was asleep,
23
but the sadness and anger lingered in the atmosphere. Sasha
could feel it.
She walked slowly up the stairs to her room and looked in the
mirror at her beautiful face. This is the face that didn't get
married today, she thought. She took a mirror selfie so she
could remember this day and what she looked like, and she
vowed to be ten times more beautiful than today when she re-
ally found the man of her dreams. As she lay down and pulled
the covers over her head and turned off the light, she imag-
ined that this was all a nightmare and when she woke up, it
would actually be her wedding day. She imagined that it was
all just a dream.
But she knew it wasn’t. No wedding. No Kevin. No honey-
moon tomorrow.
And she fell into a fitful sleep, separated from the world.