That Wedding Read online

  "That's a good idea. Kind of narrow it down. How did you do it? Like plan your wedding? I'm so overwhelmed by choices. How did you know what colors to chose? Did you have a theme?"

  The wedding coordinator brings us glasses of champagne and starts asking me all sorts of questions. When my wedding will be, what my colors are, what style dress I want. Do I want it casual, formal? I'm pretty sure my eyes glazed over, and I just got that deer in the headlights look.

  Katie lowers her voice and says to the coordinator, "She just got engaged. It's her first time."

  "Yes, it is. Please be gentle with me." I turn back to Katie. "Seriously, how did you do it?"

  "Just pick some colors, find your dress, and the rest will all fall into place. I promise."

  Although I secretly hated the dresses we wore for her wedding, I'm now sorta applauding the fact that she had the courage to even chose one.

  She touches my hand and says quietly, "This probably isn't the best time to tell you, but I don't know if Eric and I are going to make it."

  "Make it to the wedding? But I haven't even set a date yet."

  "I mean, make it. Our marriage. I'm not, we're not......I'm not sure. We fight a lot. I just don't know if it's going to last."

  "Oh, Katie!" I hug her. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, this stays between us, but Neil and I have gotten close again. He's really been helping me."

  "Neil's been helping you? Katie, he's had a crush on you since the eighth grade. He's not the person you should be getting marital advice from."

  "I'm not. We're just friends. I mean there's sparks, but we just go to lunch. Talk. He listens to me."

  "They always listen when they want in your pants. And that's a direct quote from YOU! Do you remember telling me that, when I was telling you that Jake wasn't really a jerk because he listened to me?"

  She giggles. "I do remember that! God, he was a jerk."

  Lisa skips back to where we're sitting and pulls me off the couch. She says in a perky voice, "Okay, we're ready for you to start trying on! I'm so excited you asked us to help you pick out your dress!"

  Katie rolls her eyes at me from behind Lisa.

  "I'm not sure I'll find a dress today, but everyone tells me I need to start planning."

  "Have you set a date?" Katie asks.

  "Not yet," I sorta lie. Not really though since we haven't picked an exact date.

  Katie was right. The first dress Lisa has me try on is a huge pouffy hoop-skirted ball gown. This dress looks like something designed by Cinderella, Barbie, and Lady Gaga while they were sitting around getting high on mushrooms, or crack, or whatever drug makes you hallucinate. Not that those people would partake in those activities, but if they did, I'm thinking this is the dress that would be born from it. I have never seen so much satin, tulle, lace, glitter, sequins, and fabric roses, all in one place.

  I look ridiculous.

  You know those bobble head dolls, with the big heads and the little bodies? I look like a bobble head in reverse. A teeny head on top of a big huge body. I walk out to the middle of the store to give the girls a good laugh.

  Katie smiles as Lisa screeches, "OH MY GOD! That's THE most GORGEOUS dress I have EVER seen! Don't you just love it?"

  Could she possibly be serious? It looks like a bedazzler threw up on me.

  "Uh, it's quite gorgeous, but I'm not sure this dress is like the one," I say.

  She disagrees. "I know it's the first one you've tried on, but oh, JJ, that's got to be your dress. It looks amazing on you. Turn around. I'm dying to see the back of it better."

  As I'm trying to turn myself around in this dress, which I'm pretty sure is like trying to maneuver a Hummer into a Mini Cooper-sized parallel parking space, the skirt hits a decorative column with a vase sitting on top of it. The whole thing topples over. If it weren't for Katie's quick reflexes, the vase would've hit Lisa in the head and probably killed her.

  Which probably would have put a damper on the occasion.

  Needless to say, three hours, and God knows how many Cinderella gowns later, I'm a bridal dress failure.

  As in I have no direction, no idea what I want, and no idea when I'm going to figure it out.

  I call Phillip and tell him that it's imperative that he meet me at Hooters. I need some hot wings, beer, and Monday Night Football to erase the trauma of this afternoon.

  Danny texts me.

  Danny :) Heard you were dress shopping. How'd that go?

  Me: Not so well. But it was my first time. First times always suck, don't they?

  Danny :) Not what I heard ;)

  Me: Yes, I lost my virginity. Again.

  Danny :) That's pretty funny. You need to get Lori to do a naughty dream week for me.

  Me: She's planning a babymoon. Close enough?

  Danny :) Doubtful. I do have another idea for your wedding though.

  Me: Do tell.

  Danny :) Install multiple stripper poles at the reception to encourage (in)appropriate dancing.

  Me: You do know your wife bought our sorority the stripper's aerobic workout DVD and was voted to have the best stripper moves?

  Danny :) I did NOT know that. WHY do I not know that?

  Me: She can show us all her moves at my wedding. On the poles.

  Danny :) I think I'd rather see those moves in private. On my pole. Gotta go;)

  I wake up to Phillip kissing my shoulder. My back is spooned tightly into his chest. I'm still half asleep, half dreaming, but notice his kisses feel rough. The scruff on his face is tickling my shoulder.

  "You need to shave," I whisper.

  He runs his scruff up the side of my face and pulls my hips into a serious case of morning wood.

  "Dang, Phillip, been having some good dreams?"

  "Reliving last week, I think. We should have naughty dream week every week. Starting now."

  After an amazing wake up, Phillip left for work, and I texted Danny.

  Me: You awake?

  Danny :) Yeah.

  Me: Skype me?

  Danny :) Cool.

  I open up my laptop and see just part of Danny. One broad shirtless shoulder, half a muscular pec, an angular jaw, messy blonde hair, and one blue eye. Danny sucks at Skyping.

  "Danny, the computer is your like your center. Line up under the ball."

  He grabs the sides of the computer with both hands, and his whole face comes into view.

  "You need a haircut," I tell him.

  "What are you, my mother now?"

  "No. How come you're up so early?"

  "Lori was craving blueberry muffins."

  "So you had to go get her some?"

  "No, she's baking her mom's recipe. I'm keeping her company."

  Lori yells from nearby. "Jade, why aren't you at work?"

  Shit. She's way too smart for her own good. Who would even think of that?

  "Um, I'm going in later. Working from home this morning," I lie.

  Danny can usually tell when I'm lying. He says I always look up at the sky. He grins at me. His Devil Danny grin. Shit. He knows I'm lying.

  I try to play it cool by saying, "What?"

  "So, I heard the big news." He keeps grinning at me.

  What!? Phillip promised he wouldn't tell. No. Phillip always keeps his promises. Danny must be talking about different news. "Um, what big news is that?"

  "Naughty dream week was a big success."

  I inwardly sigh with relief. "Yeah, it was a lotta fun. Phillip seemed to like it."

  "He did. I talked to him on his way to work this morning. Heard all about how naughty you were."

  "Did he say what he liked best?"

  Danny looks at me confused. "Shouldn't you know that?"

  "Oh, yeah, probably. I think it was the baseball. We almost got caught. Like if Cookie would've shown up a minute later, we would've been doing it."

  Danny shakes his head at me. "Nope, that wasn't his favorite."

  I squish up my nose. "Then it must've be
en the tent."

  "No, don't you know your own fiancee? He liked Cancun."

  "Really? Cancun wasn't that naughty."

  "You attacked him in a beach chair in front of the restaurant where, if it weren't for your long dress hiding things, people could've seen?"

  "Oh, yeah, that. That was kinda naughty. Okay, so I have a question for you. Hang on. I'm gonna get some cereal. I'm starved."

  I quickly pour a bowl of cereal, add some milk, grab a spoon, then sit back in front of the computer. "Okay, so how did you set your wedding date? Did it have any significance?"

  Lori's face comes rushing into the screen. She has a little bit of flour on her cheek. Danny gently wipes it off as she says, "Jade!! Are you setting a date? Did you set one?"

  "Not yet, but we're talking about it."

  Her face looks bright. "That's so exciting! And no, we just had a timeframe of when we wanted to get married. We picked three resorts and called to see if they were available. They all were, so we chose our favorite."

  "It was a really pretty resort. We had a fun weekend. Not that your wedding wasn't great, but Phillip was pissed at me, which sort of made it seem not as pretty."

  "You look tanner," Danny says.

  "A little. We laid out in the sun a lot. You should see Phillip. He's way darker than I am."

  "He always gets tanner than us."

  "I know. It's sexy."

  Lori sighs, "At least you don't burn like I do. So what do you think you want? Maybe you should start by picking a season. Which sounds best? Winter, spring, summer, or fall?"

  I go out on a little limb when I say, "I was thinking a winter wedding might be pretty."

  Danny and Lori's eyes both get big. Lori says, "Like this winter? That'd be so great! I won't be huge."

  "I don't know when. I just thought winter might be cool. It might be next winter."

  "Why would you wanna wait that long?" Danny asks. "I couldn't wait to marry Lori. I'm glad we had a short engagement."

  "Did people give you crap about that?" I'm a bit concerned about this part.

  Lori says, "My parents were sure I was pregnant. That pissed my dad off a bit. I assured them that I wasn't, and they got over it. They love Danny. I mean, who wouldn't?" She plants a sweet kiss on the side of his neck.

  Danny says, "My mom thought we might be rushing things a bit."

  "She did?" I pause and let out a sigh. "I have been dragging my feet a bit on the wedding planning."

  Lori says, "I've noticed that, but why? You love Phillip."

  "It's just hard without my parents. Like my mom would've helped me find the most amazing dress. I went shopping with Katie and Lisa, and I have no idea what I want. Well, I guess I know what I don't want. I don't wanna look like Cinderella."

  "Jay..." Danny starts to say, but I keep going.

  "And the Macs are great, but Phillip's mom is so like.....she's..." I struggle for the right word.

  "She's a steamroller," Lori says.

  I nod my head at her. "Yes. And I don't wanna get smooshed. Danny, I have a really big favor to ask."

  Danny nods his head at me.

  "You know your dad's been there for me through like everything."

  "I know, Jay."

  "I wanna know if it's okay with you if I borrow him."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I wanna ask him to walk me down the aisle."

  Danny stares at me solemnly. He knows all the emotions wrapped up in what I'm asking. "Jay, you know he'll be honored."

  "I feel bad though. I feel like all I ever do is go out there, eat your mom's cinnamon rolls, whine, beg for advice, or ask them to do something for me."

  Danny smiles a soft smile. "My mom said you were out there the other day. She said she always prayed for a daughter, now, with you and Lori, she has two. They adore you."

  Lori's face pops back onto the screen. "Jade, I'm so sorry. I didn't know that's why you've been dragging your feet. I've been pushing you on planning and stuff, and I never even thought about how hard it must be. I'm such a bad friend."

  Danny pulls her onto his lap.

  "Oh...uh...hang on," she says. She quickly runs off the screen.

  "Where's she going?" I ask as I take a bite of my cereal.

  Danny grins at me. "To puke."

  I drop the spoon back in my bowl. "Nice. I think on that note, I'll say goodbye."

  My phone buzzes with a text.

  Phillipbaby
  And that motivates me. I pop on a popular wedding planning website. I look at all the pictures of things to choose for your wedding and click on the one choice that I'm sure will be easy.

  Cake.

  I love cake, specifically white wedding cake.

  And what's the deal with brides lately? They get all creative on this part. The last two weddings I went to had all these flavors of cake, and not one of them was white!! Another wedding we went to had white cake, but they ruined it by adding a gross lemon filling.

  Don't brides know that white wedding cake and an open bar are the only two reasons people go to weddings?

  I know that's one tradition I'm not going to mess with.

  My cake will be white. Plain white cake with chocolate frosting. That's the cake my mom made me every year for my birthday.

  I also want fluffy frosting, not the stuff that looks like cardboard.

  I start clicking through photos of cakes. There are over two thousand cakes to choose from. They're all really beautiful. I've saved photos of some that are really pretty. I'm not sure if I've found the dream one yet, but I know this.

  I want some cake. Badly.

  I run to the store, buy a cake mix, bake some cupcakes, and make my mom's chocolate buttercream frosting.

  Phillip comes home for lunch while I'm frosting. As he walks in the front door, he says, "Yum. What smells so good?"

  I hold up a freshly frosted cupcake. "Cupcakes."

  "I thought you were supposed to be planning our wedding?"

  "I was looking at cakes."

  He laughs. "Let me guess, made you crave cake?" He grabs a cupcake and puts half of it in his mouth.

  "Yes, I've decided one thing. I'd like to have white cake with chocolate frosting. Sound good?"

  He shoves the last half of his second cupcake into his mouth. "You can have anything you want. Especially if I can have what I want."

  "What do you want?"

  He sticks his finger into the bowl of frosting, smears chocolate down the side of my neck, and then licks it off.

  "Phillip!" I scream playfully.

  While he's licking my neck, I shove my whole hand into the frosting bowl. I attempt to smoosh it onto his face. He's too strong though. He grabs my arm, so I only manage to get a little bit on his cheek.

  "Want me to lick it off?" I ask with a laugh.

  He grabs more frosting and smears it down my arm.

  I still have frosting all over my hand, so I try again to get his face.

  He grabs me, spins me around so my back is to him, and then grabs my hand and rubs it across my face. "Ha! You're putting it on yourself!"

  Pretty soon, we're in the midst of a full-fledged frosting war.

  I throw a chunk of frosting at him. It hits his shirt. "Oh, you're in trouble now. You got it on my shirt!"

  He pulls his shirt off, grins sexily, takes a step closer to me, and pulls mine off too. He smears frosting down the front of me then slowly licks it off. He says, "This is an awfully pretty bra. It'd be a shame to ruin it with chocolate."

  "Well, it wasn't your mother's kitchen island, but it wasn't too bad."

  He laughs at me.

  "What?"

  "You should see yourself. You have chocolate all, like everywhere. You need a shower."

  "Shut up. You have chocolate all over you too. You need a shower," I say back.

  "Exactly my thought. I'm also thinking I don't really need to go back to work t
oday."

  Lori calls me and asks how the wedding planning is going.

  "I feel like I'm drowning in options. I don't think you understand. You just got on the phone, said I want to get married on the beach at sunset, and you did."

  "I still had to make choices when we got to the resort. They showed us three cakes, and we picked one."

  "I looked at thousands of cakes online. Then I got hungry for cake, so I made white cupcakes with chocolate frosting."

  "Oh, that sounds really good."

  "It was good, especially when Phillip came home for lunch. We got in a frosting fight and ended up doing it on the kitchen counter."

  Lori screams, "Jade! You and Phillip are naughty. Then what happened?"

  "He told me I was dirty, needed a shower. We did it again in the shower. Then he decided he didn't really need to go back to work, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. I didn't get much planning done."

  "That still sounds fun. You and Phillip seem like you have a lot of fun together. I'm so happy for you. Hey, why aren't you at work?"

  "I'm really happy too. If I tell you something, will you promise me you won't tell a soul? Not even Danny? Like we're going to tell everyone soonish, but just not yet."

  "Are you pregnant? Is that possible? It's only been a few weeks, I guess it's possib...."

  "Lori, I'm not pregnant."

  "Oh, what is it then?"

  I can't hold it in any longer. "Phillip got a promotion. He's going to be running the new Kansas City branch of their business. Which means that we're going to MOVE to Kansas City!!! We can see each other all the time!"

  "OH MY GOSH! That's the best news ever!! I know we talk a lot, but it's not the same. I miss you. I have no one to shop with. When are you going to move? What about your job?"

  "I miss you too. A lot. I quit my job on Monday. I'm going to work for Phillip, if you can believe that. I'm going to help him find temporary offices, design them, and then design and oversee the building of their headquarters."

  "Oh, Jade! I'm so excited for you. That's what you want to do."

  "I know, and there's more."

  "More? Wait. I have to pee. Hang on, I'm taking you in the bathroom with me."