Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 52813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“I’ve got you.”
Claire walks over to her pile of luggage in a corner of the room we’re sharing until the wedding night. She grabs a large, hard black suitcase and lugs it to bed, where she sets it down and opens it.
It’s all cosmetics, the suitcase specially designed with compartments to keep everything separate and secure. I shake my head, because it has to be several thousand dollars’ worth of makeup, serums, brushes, and other items.
“So this is what it’s like to work full time,” I mutter.
“I’m getting you into pharmaceutical sales, girl. We’ll be on the same team so we can travel together. It’ll be like a never-ending slumber party. With cock pumps.”
I smile half-heartedly, because of what she isn’t saying. After your mom dies.
There’s a knock on the door and Claire closes the suitcase as I walk over to answer it.
My four other bridesmaids are standing there. Kira and Lori are both holding boxes, Jo’s balancing two carriers loaded with Starbucks drinks, and Audra has her hands full with two value-size boxes of condoms.
“Is this a joke about my wedding night?” I ask.
She looks down at the boxes and then back up at me. “Oh. No. I thought they’d be a nice addition to the gift bags for the out of towners. You know like, if they meet somebody at the rehearsal dinner and want to get it on.”
My mouth drops open. Audra is super smart, but this...? Is a horrible idea.
“You want me to give Owen’s grandparents a condom? And all the lawyers from his firm who are coming to the rehearsal dinner?”
I step aside so they can come in.
“We told her,” Jo says.
Audra rolls her eyes. “I’m not sure how to break this to you guys, but old people still have sex.”
“Really?” Claire’s brows hit her hairline as she accepts her drink from Jo. “You think Owen’s grandpa is rolling on a Trojan before he hits it?”
“Fine.” Audra raises her hands in surrender. “No condoms.”
Kira takes a gift bag out of one of the boxes. “Each bag has a gift card to the coffee shop in the hotel lobby, some chocolates, a bag of mixed nuts, a tin of Owen and Stella mints with the wedding date, and a bag of popcorn.”
I frown. “And lip balms.”
She pauses before answering. “No lip balms.”
I have twenty-four Owe + Stella lip balms at home that will take me years to get through because the supplier messed up the labels on the first shipment. The right ones arrived less than a week before the wedding. After all that hassle, they’re going in the bags.
“Shit, they’re in Owen’s room,” I say. “I packed them in his carload.”
“Is it weird that his co-workers are coming to the rehearsal dinner?” Jo asks.
“It’s definitely weird,” Lori says.
I sigh heavily. “I know. But he works like fourteen hours a day and he’s trying really hard to make a good impression, so...I caved.”
“Is he going to be working on the honeymoon?” Claire asks. “You know what, don’t let him bring his laptop.”
“I was lucky I even convinced him to take the time off.”
Owen has only been at his firm for seven months, and he’s always buried in work. He told me bankruptcy law was tough, but I had no idea just how tough until he started working fourteen hour days. It’s worked out, though, because I don’t have to feel guilty about all the time I want to be with my mom. She needs me.
“So these people from his law firm, are they like, the partners?” Jo asks. “Are they responsible for promoting him?”
“Some of them. It’s a mix. Some partners, a couple of associates. One of them is the assistant to the associates, Cara.”
“Should we be on our best behavior?”
Claire bursts out laughing. We all look at her and she tries to compose herself, but instead bursts out laughing again.
“Sorry, I uh...had a gummy earlier. The best behavior thing just struck me as funny.”
I can’t help laughing, too. Even with the doomsday countdown in my head of how much time I have left with my mom, these four women brighten my day.
“Let’s have some champagne before we go pick up the lip balms and drop off these bags for the rehearsal dinner,” I say.
Jo walks over to the mini fridge and takes out a bottle of chilled champagne. “And then I say we stop at a bar before our salon appointments, then come back to get dressed for the rehearsal and snag some more champagne. I want to have a good buzz going before we do the ceremony dry run.”
“What could go wrong?” I ask, heavy on the sarcasm.
Jo’s been my friend since we played volleyball together in junior high. She’s not a fan of Owen, though she hasn’t said so in front of me in years to preserve our friendship.