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Chapter 13
Rachel
“You’re different,” Kinsley whispered across the table. Rachel had come a bit late to the No Bride’s Club meeting. She usually was late thanks to the Thursday show, but she’d been held up by a quick meeting after the performance about some new lighting techniques they were going to be using and a small costume change for the chorus. She’d rushed to get to the Briarwood Tavern as soon as she could, desperate to make it for happy hour and the conversation she knew she would miss if she were late.
“What?” Rachel asked once she’d settled into her seat they’d saved and ordered a margarita.
“You’re different. I don’t know, Rachel. There’s just something about you. You’re glowing. You’re running late, which would usually make you stressed, but you’re smiling. It feels a little… familiar.” Kinsley grinned.
“You do seem very smiley, more than usual. What’s up?” Julie added, and Rachel felt a little paranoid about the fact that all the women were now staring at her. She fiddled with a stray strand of hair that had fallen into her face from her loose bun.
“Nothing. I just had a really good performance today.”
“I don’t know. Georgie, don’t you think she seems extra chipper today?” Kinsley asked, and Georgie just took a sip of her wine.
When she finished taking a long gulp, she shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the yellow shirt she’s wearing. It does make her look extra sunshine-like.”
The women seemed to accept that for an answer, returning to the conversation at hand. The waitress brought out the crab dip Rachel had ordered, and the conversation was mercifully forgotten.
“Thank you,” Rachel mouthed to Georgie when no one was paying attention.
She simply winked at Rachel, making her smile.
Sure, she probably was extra smiley lately. The kiss with Zander had, in fact, changed everything. Suddenly, it felt like everything in her world had shifted. Everything felt just a hint brighter, just a note higher. Life had jolted when his lips met hers, and her views of love had widened just a bit.
But she wasn’t ready to own up to the change just yet. Heck, she’d barely come to accept it herself. She was still uncertain about the new waters she was navigating. She wasn’t completely ready to give in to the feelings and the passion she’d uncovered with Zander.
She still clung to the reservations, to the memories of Seth, and to the fears for what it would all mean for her career with steadfast assurance she needed to be careful.
It was all just confusing right now, and she needed time to sort it out. She needed to be sure she was making the right decision, so she would tread carefully—and she wouldn’t tip off the No Brides Club about what was going on, no way. She wasn’t a woman who liked to break promises.
But then again, she wasn’t a woman who ever expected to meet a man like Zander Riley, a man who just might change her mind about everything.
