Chapter 18 #2
I sat on the small white sofa next to Kyla, a sparkling water in hand, waiting for Abi to come out of the dressing room.
Abi asked us all kinds of questions when she picked the styles, and ultimately she grabbed three dresses, one picked by each of us.
Each style was different, yet stunning, and surprisingly, no massive princess dresses were picked.
We each chose a dress that suited Abi. Simple.
Elegant. Timeless. I even pulled experience from my inner rodeo queen from when I was thirteen, picking a dress that I would wear versus what my mom would make me wear.
The first dress she wore was Kyla’s pick, a short skirt with long lace sleeves that flowed down her arms. Her brown cowboy boots went with it nicely, and when she spun in front of the mirror, holding her hair up in a messy bun, I could picture it.
“Cash would love this one.” I smiled, watching as she studied herself in the mirror.
“Cash is going to love anything you pick,” Kyla responded, raising her glass to her lips. “That is one thing I regret about my wedding. I wore jeans.”
Abi chuckled and turned to us, taking a step off the podium to reach for her own glass of sparkling water. “Well, when you get married weeks after meeting the guy.” Abi gave her a knowing smile.
“Wait, what?” I looked at Kyla, my hair falling over my shoulder in curly waves, wanting in on the story. “You didn’t have a wedding ceremony?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Rhett and I got married after two weeks, and it was supposed to be temporary.”
“I still take full credit for that.” Abi raised her glass at Kyla before taking another drink.
“Two. Weeks?” I widened my eyes. “How did you even meet?” I raised a brow in question.
“He was a one-night stand that failed.” Kyla gave a small smile into her glass, her cheeks blushing.
“My ex came to the ranch, and Abi told him I was married. Rhett showed up at the right time, and I asked him to pretend to be my husband, and well…he took the part very seriously. We got married in the courthouse. It’s a fun story if you think about it.
But we didn’t get to do any of this. No dress.
No wedding party. No ceremony. I wish we could. ”
Abi spun again. “Vow renewal. Have an actual wedding this time.” Twisting her torso, she looked at Kyla. “I’ll accept nothing less than matron of honor.”
“Sorry, Abs. That title goes to Grace.”
Abi narrowed her eyes. “Fair. Bridesmaid then.”
“Grace?” I questioned, looking over to Kyla.
Taking a sip of her drink, Kyla nodded. “My best friend. She lives in Arizona.”
“And hasn’t visited since you first moved here,” Abi remarked, glancing over her shoulder at Kyla.
"She came out when Poppy was born." Kyla defended, her voice raising louder, almost echoing. As if she knew how loud she actually was, she bit her lip.
Abi gave a silent chuckle. "For two days. You know I think she's great, I just wish she'd come back. I'd like to think we'd be friends."
“She won’t. Something happened and she won’t tell me what.”
“How do you know something happened then?” I raised a brow, leaning back into the couch.
“Best friend intuition.” Kyla answered.
“She’ll be back,” Abi said certainly, "Especially if you renew your vows. I bet Rhett would be all over marrying you again.”
“We’ve talked about it. Maybe on an anniversary.”
“What’s your wedding going to be like, Abi?” I asked, shifting back to the bride. “Big ceremony, courthouse elopement?”
“Ceremony. In the stables. It’s only fitting.” She ran her hands down her stomach. “I love this, but…sorry, Kyla. It’s not the dress.”
“Agreed, next!” Kyla raised her glass in the air, and Abi disappeared behind the curtain. “Congrats on your rides this past weekend,” Kyla said to me, leaning in and bumping me with her elbow.
“Thanks, it was a great weekend.” I smiled, thinking back on all but the last ride. “One step closer to the NFR.”
“You should be proud. We all are—everyone watched. Wyatt made sure we knew exactly where to catch each ride.”
“Wyatt?” I gave a small laugh. “He was more into it than anyone, I think. Once he got the hat.”
“He needed that. He needed out of the bunkhouse, out of the stables. He needed to be reminded why he loves the rodeo.”
“Amen!” Abi called from behind the curtain.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, and the help he’s doing around the stables has been fantastic, but he’s been”—Abi tossed one of the dresses over the curtain—“happier since you guys got back. Kyla’s right, he needed that.
He’s been”—she scoffed—“not himself after what happened with Archie. I’m honestly starting to get nervous he’s never going to get back in the booth. ”
“What happened with Archie?” I asked, furrowing my brow at the curtain.
“He just…messed up.” I heard Abi’s faint voice. “He needed to get back to rodeos. I think even being near his old friends and people who recognize him has been helping.”
“We ran into my mom in Colorado. She sure knew who he was.” I flinched, not exactly sure why I decided it was a good idea to bring her up. I raised my glass to my lips and widened my eyes. Maybe they didn’t hear me.
“Your mom was Miss Rodeo America, right?” Kyla asked, raising her own glass.
“Yeah, she’s the coach for Miss Rodeo Montana, and she let it slip that Wyatt and Kelly used to date. So yeah, Abi, he’s definitely around his old friends.”
“I wouldn’t call Kelly a friend, and I wouldn’t classify the week they were together as dating,” Abi answered. “An old flame, maybe, but my brother has plenty of those.”
“Like the entire rodeo royalty?” I asked, clamping my lips shut the second the words left my mouth.
I glared at my glass of sparkling water, wondering if there was any trace of alcohol in this thing.
Why the hell was I bringing up the questions I didn’t want to know the answers to?
I couldn’t ask him, but I could gossip to his sister?
My age is showing. I bit my lip and looked at Kyla.
“I know for a fact that it was Sam going after the royalty, not Wyatt.” Abi gave a slight grunt. “Wyatt wanted to have fun, sure, but he wasn’t about checking names off a list. I bet you he’s slept with fewer people than you think.”
“But he was with Kelly?” I mumbled, looking down at my drink again. “My mom seemed to think that mentioning her name to him would have him spinning.”
“There could have been more with her, but it didn’t last long. I think he caught her with a—hey—Kyla—can I get your help with this.”
Kyla shot up, handing me her drink before she peeked into the curtain. Seconds later, she stepped back out and gave me a sweet smile. “Zipper got stuck.”
“He wasn’t about checking names off a list?” I asked softly once Kyla got back to me, taking her drink back.
I heard Abi bark a laugh. “No, my brother may be a playboy, but he’s not that promiscuous.
He wants to have fun, fewer responsibilities when it comes to certain things, and to feel free in a way.
But it’s not a different girl every single night.
In fact…now that I think about it, he hasn’t been out or brought anyone home in a while.
I think the last hook-up I saw was Melanie, and before her…
I honestly can’t remember. He’s too busy looking at someone else. ”
I opened my jaw to say something, but once Abi stepped out of the dressing room, I was stunned into silence, not even registering anything she said about Wyatt. She stepped out into the light of the shop and up on the small pedestal, still facing us. She was absolutely radiant.
She was wearing my pick. A cream satin gown with spaghetti straps, a V-neck, with the fabric cascading down her body, flowing down her legs over her boots.
There were no pearls or beads. There was no lace.
There were no designs to draw you away from the woman wearing the dress.
Just her beauty, her elegance. Her blue eyes moved back and forth between us.
“What? Is it that bad?” Abi asked, her hands running down her hips.
“No Abs…” Kyla set her glass down on the table in front of us and stood, closing the gap between her and Abi. “This is...” She lightly touched Abi’s shoulders and spun her to the mirror, and the entire room glowed once Abi saw herself. “Oh my God.”
Abi studied herself in the mirror, her hand moving down her body, her breath completely gone. Just like us, she was stunned to silence.
She lifted the skirt, popping her toe up to show her boot, giggling a little once she saw that yes, they still worked perfectly with the dress. She bent slightly at the waist, her cheeks turning full on pink once she turned to us.
“I’m not trying my pick on.” Her voice cracked. “This…this…”
“Is perfect,” Kyla whispered. “I know there are probably a million other words I could use to describe it, but perfect fits. Quinn”—she turned to me—“isn’t it?”
I smiled at Abi. “It is,” I whispered back.
“I’m never taking it off.” Abi declared, wrapping her arms around her torso.
“Well.” I stood. “Eventually you have to.”
“Cash will take it off for you.” Kyla joked.
Abi cut her a look but then blushed. She let out a breath and held back her emotions, turning back to us. “Okay, okay. Enough about me—”
“But you’re the bride?” I narrowed my brow. “This is literally about you.”
“It’s your guys’ turn.” Abi spun, the skirt flowing over her boots. “I’m thinking purple with brown hats?”
Our turn.
“Abi, I don’t need—” I started, waving a hand in front of me, wiping away what she was just implying.
“Quinn.” Abi turned, her hands finding my shoulders at the same time her blue eyes found mine. I never noticed they were exactly the same as Wyatt’s. And suddenly, she had my full attention. “Do you know how important you are to Cash?”
I gave a small nod. He was important to me, too, so of course I hoped I was important to him.
“So, you know how important you are to me. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I’d love for you to be next to Cash and me on our wedding day. I’d love for you to be a part of the wedding party.”
The love in her voice carried through to me, and I felt my heart begin to swell.
How was I supposed to react to this? Obviously, my answer was yes.
Abi had entered my life a little over a year ago, and even though most of that year was spent with me on the road or training, Abi had managed to become someone I could look up to.
She had a way of making you feel loved, making you feel wanted—part of her family—and now, her hands on my shoulders, I couldn’t help but feel exactly that. Loved. Wanted. A part of her family.
I took a deep breath and let my body move on its own. I wrapped my arms around Abi’s neck and buried my face in her hair. She gave a small laugh, her arms squeezing me tight.
“I take it that’s a yes?” Her voice rose with her laughter.
“Of course. I’d be honored.” I pulled away and held her at arm’s length, locking onto her blue eyes. “But purple?” I raised a brow.
She dropped her chin, her shoulders shaking in a silent laugh. “Okay, I’ll admit, I have no clue how to pick colors for a wedding. All I knew was my dress had to be white.” She looked down at her body. “And it’s not even that.”
Kyla and I shared a quick glance, and a new affection filtered between us.
We mirrored a smile, and at the same time, grabbed Abi’s hands to pull her towards the rows of colorful dresses that Kyla and I could try.
We tried pink, purple, navy, black, brown…
but ultimately settled on a brown hat, brown boots, and a turquoise light flowy dress.
“The men won’t know what hit them.” Kyla spun, the skirt flowing around her knees. “Imagine Poppy in this color. She is the flower girl, right?”
Abi chuckled, now sitting on the same couch Kyla and I were, back in her jeans and sweater. “Stetson will carry her and the rings. It’s going to be perfect. Maybe we’ll all be on horses!”
“In your dress?” I looked at Abi in the mirror. “My mother would have a heart attack.”
“I’m getting on a damn horse in my wedding dress.” She pointed at me, her cheeks blushing as the smile grew across her face, nothing but pure joy radiating from her. I had no doubt I’d see both her and Cash on a horse that day.