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I nod and give him one last pre-wedding kiss. “It’ll be good practice for parenthood.”
He holds me for a moment longer when I try to pull back and murmurs against my lips, “I guess I’ll do it, but I don’t have to like it.”
I roll my eyes at him and give him one last kiss, then I shoo him out the door.
Once my groom has been banished from the bridal suite, I head back over to Aubrey. She’s talking to one of the other girls about a photo they should pose me for. The photographer will be here in a few minutes to get shots of me getting ready for Melanie’s photo album.
“We’re sure this fits, right? We don’t need to send anyone out for emergency shapewear?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t gained any weight yet. We should be good.”
Aubrey and I aren’t friends, exactly, but it’s not because we don’t like each other. It’s because both of our boyfriends are god-awful at giving up time with us.
When we got back from New Hampshire and Silvan was leaving me home one night so he could go meet Dare, I asked if I could tag along.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You want to hang out with Dare?”
“God, no. No, the Joker’s all yours, but maybe I could keep Harley company,” I suggested, remembering our almost friendship before Silvan intervened the night of the Halloween party.
Well, it was an almost friendship in my head anyway.
I’d save her from Batman, she’d thank me for the save, and we’d be sipping lattes in a coffee shop together at some point later when I felt like socializing.
Instead, we both wound up pinned to walls by our respective troublemakers.
Literallyandfiguratively.
Silvan told me she wouldn’t be there that night and I couldn’t come because he had to introduce Dare to a couple of his dad’s guys, and that wasn’t anything he wanted me around for. When I told him he should set something up another time so we could meet formally instead of just waving at each other when our boyfriends were doing crime together, he said Dare didn’t really let her have friends.
“Sounds healthy,” I snarked, not realizing I was in the same position until he leaned in to steal a kiss and murmured wryly, “Some people might think the same about us.”
I guess friends from a distance are good, too.
More my style, really.
Having limited access to a whole girl team lends the feeling—and illusion—that I have friends, even if I know the only person I ever really hang out with is Silvan. At least on a day like today, I have a ready supply of bridesmaids.
Thanks to the girls and the stylists, I’m gussied up and ready to go when I should be. Silvan knows I have a tendency not to be on time, so he tasked Aubrey with keeping things moving.
He must have also told her I’m an introvert and that today would be challenging for me because she makes sure there’s enough time for me to have a moment alone to recharge before we have to head down the aisle. She chases all the other girls out of the room so I can have a moment of peace and quiet.
She grabs her bouquet. “Do you need anything else before I go?”
I shake my head. “No. Thank you for all your help.”
“Of course.” She sees me standing in the mirror, so she grabs the only bouquet that’s left and brings it over to me. “Don’t forget this.”
I smile and take the bouquet, then I look at my reflection in the mirror.
“I feel pretty.”
She smiles. “You look radiant. Silvan won’t know what hit him.”
My smile widens. “I hope so.”
I do love my bridal look.
Silvan isn’t as in the dark about it as grooms are supposed to be. He hasn’t seen it all put together, but I showed him my dress. He even picked out part of it.
