Uh-oh.Hopefully she hadn’t insulted him. She waited as the dots disappeared, reappeared, and then went away for a few minutes altogether. Nuts. She should have just told him to pick her up. Friends picked up friends too. She shouldn’t be overthinking it—
Max: Sorry again. Pizza’s here. Sure, we can meet there. Movie starts at 7. I’ll be outside waiting.
Amy smiled.
Amy: Thanks. See you then.
She set her phone down, continuing to grin. Then she felt a little guilty. Laura had just admitted to feeling lonely, and here Amy was going out with a man when she could take him or leavehim. A friendly outing, but still. She really wished she could fix Laura up with him, but that wouldn’t be fair to her since she wanted romance and he didn’t. Maybe next time he suggested going somewhere she could ask Laura to join them.
Another idea occurred to her. She could ask Britt to go with them. That would get her out again, and she could probably get another ticket. Then she discarded the thought. Britt didn’t like going to movies. They’d always watched them here at home.
Amy rose from the chair, taking her phone with her. She needed to stop worrying and let Britt find her way.Easier said than done.She entered her bedroom and decided to take a hot bath. Her muscles were starting to ache from her war on weeds. And she’d leave her phone on her nightstand, so she wasn’t checking it every five—make that two—minutes.
Britt was fine. She was with Savannah, and Amy was sure they were both having fun.
***
“Wasn’t that so much fun?”
Britt glanced at Savannah, who was driving her back to the first dress shop they’d visited more than four hours ago. Britt had left her car there and they went to three other bridal shops, stopping for a bite to eat in between the last two. It turned out Savannah’s favorite dress was at the first shop, and she intended to go back in the morning and put down a deposit. They didn’t even talk about Britt’s or the bridesmaids’ dresses. Today was all about Savannah.
“It was...” Britt wanted to say okay, which was the truth. Instead, she perked up her tone. “Great. Really great. I’m glad you found your dress.”
“Me too. Thanks for your input, Britt. I wouldn’t have been able to decide without it.”
That made the whole ordeal worth it. While going to bridal shops hadn’t been socially stressful since there weren’t very many people in the stores, she hadn’t realized until now how picky Savannah was. True, it was her wedding and she wanted it to be perfect, but she rejected dresses for the most insignificant reasons—the hem was a quarter inch too short, or the lace pattern was too lacy, or the color wasn’t pure white. Britt’s life revolved around color and even she couldn’t tell the difference between the shades of the dresses. But Savannah could. Britt wondered if part of the “fun” of shopping for her friend was to keep the sales ladies hopping.
The only saving grace was that Savannah had been so singularly focused, she hadn’t noticed that by the time they got to the second store, Britt was only half paying attention. She’d tried to be involved, but Hunter kept popping up in her mind. She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to give him art lessons. But the bigger shock was that he wanted to help her with her anxiety. She was still kicking herself for telling him about that, but not too hard. What if he really could help her?
And she had to be honest—she wanted to spend time with him. That had to be the biggest shock of all. His gorgeous looks aside, he was nice. At least he seemed to be. She was still going to keep her guard up, and if he made one wrong move, she was cutting bait. But she sensed he was trustworthy. He must really be serious about learning how to draw if he was willing to help her with her problem. It seemed like an unbalanced deal in her favor.
“There you go again.” Savannah turned into the store’s parking lot and put her convertible in park. “You’ve had something on your mind all day.”
Oops. She considered denying it, but Savannah wouldn’t believe her. “I’m sorry. I should have been completely focused on you.”
“I had plenty of attention.” Savannah whipped her hair in an exaggerated motion. “I just hope you weren’t too bored.”
“No. I’m just...” Should she tell her about Hunter? Her gut said no. There would be too many questions and she wouldn’t have all the answers. So she told her another truth. “I’m worried about disappointing you.”
“Britt.” She took her hand. “I know I had high expectations for the dress. And the cake and the flowers... Well, the whole thing now that I think about it.”
“You’ll need to keep them low when it comes to me.” Britt’s stomach twisted.
“No, I don’t.” She squeezed her fingers. “You don’t have to worry about disappointing me. I know this is difficult for you and I’m so grateful you’ll be by my side. No matter what happens, I’m going to be happy.”
“Even if the flowers start wilting?”
“Well, that might send me over the edge.” Savannah grinned and let go of her hand. “Thanks again for coming with me.”
“Thanks for asking me. And for being the best friend in the world.” She relaxed some. “Can you send me the list of your bridesmaids? We need to start planning your shower.”
“Yes, I can’t believe I’ve forgotten to do that.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ve got the list here. Texting it to you now before it escapes me again.” When she finished, she said, “Do you need any help?”
“Yes, but not from you.” She smiled and heard her phone in her purse buzz with the notification. “I might ask Mom for a little assistance, though.”
“That would be great.” She hugged Britt’s shoulders. “Next challenge: bridesmaids’ dresses! Are you free next Saturday?”
She was always free. “What time do you need me?”
