Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 70607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
"Not dying." Presley leans in, and I have to laugh as I wipe the corner of my eye.
"Yes, he's not dying," Ace assures me. "He's out buying you a gift."
Clarabella snaps her fingers and then points. "Yessss," she says as if she solved the whole thing. "He's getting you a bride's gift."
"That has to be it." Travis smiles at me.
"You know men," Presley says as she leers at Travis. "They always wait until the last minute to do everything." And then at Ace.
"What is that look even for?" He glares back at her. "Why am I getting that look?" He shakes his head and looks back at me. "We were talking about it today," he says. "That's why he is late."
I nod my head, not sure I can say anything. "You know what we need?" Clarabella says, looking around and holding up her finger toward Mallory, who just nods at her. Clarabella turns and looks back at me. "You are going to grab a glass of champagne, and then you are going to go out there and mingle with your guests." She motions with her hand. "I mean, we aren't even starting anything until six thirty, so he has enough time to get here."
"Yes," Ace agrees. "Besides, you know he's always late." He tries to comfort me, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. "It's a good thing he'll be sleeping at my house tonight."
"Yes." I smile and push away the nagging feeling that I'm getting now. "I'm sure he's fine," I say and look over at Mallory, who walks over with the same silver tray that she had when she came to greet me at my office door.
"Here you go," she offers, handing me the glass of champagne, and Ace drops his hands from my arms and stands next to me.
"Okay," I say, taking a sip. The sweet cold bubbly champagne hits my tongue. "We need to go out there and pretend that everything is okay." I look at them as they all nod at me. "We take sections of the place and work our way around. If anyone hears from Joseph . . ."
"We'll come and get you," Clarabella says, smiling at me and nodding as I walk away from them.
"He's going to be here," Travis reassures me, turning and walking toward Harlow, who stands talking to one of my aunts.
I look around the room, spotting my mother standing by the front door greeting people. She smiles at the man who walks in and then turns to look at me. Her eyes meet mine, and her smile starts to fade, but then she turns it back on as she makes her way to me. She's wearing a baby-blue off-the-shoulder dress that goes down to the floor. Her blond hair is in a perfect bob with a string of pearls around her neck. She's been without my father for a while now, and all she does is make sure that we are all right. "Hi," she says, leaning toward me to kiss my cheeks. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying." I don't look back at her. Instead, I take another drink of my champagne.
"You forget who you are talking to." She side-eyes me and smiles, nodding her head at someone who just waved at her.
"It's nothing. Might be nerves," I share, not ready to admit that something might be wrong because I don't know. "Did my dress arrive?" I ask, and she nods. "What about the headpiece? Did it finally come in?" She smiles and nods. I'm going through the checklist in my head to keep my mind off what is really going on. "Did my pjs for tomorrow morning get steamed?"
She's about to say something when I see Presley running toward us. "It's Joseph." She hands me the phone, and my shoulders slump just a touch.
"Hello." I put the phone to my ear and hear that he's in the car.
"Hey, honey," he says. "I'm so sorry I'm late. I’m around the corner."
"That's okay," I reply, but inside, I know it's not okay, and if it was any other time, I would probably freak out more if there weren't so many people around me. "Just get here when you can," I say and disconnect, putting away the anger I have in me.
"He's fine," I inform Presley. "He's on his way. Will be here in a couple of minutes."
"I'll go and tell the valet to keep a lookout for him," she tells me and squeezes my hand when she takes the phone. "It's almost showtime."
"Almost." I smile at her, trying to pretend I'm okay. I take another sip of my champagne when I look up and see Sheila walking into the venue. Ace spots her right away and walks to her with a smile on his face.
I can't help but smile when I look at them. They started dating a couple of months after Joseph and I did. We had so many double dates that I've grown very close to her and consider her one of my best friends.