Chapter 2
Present Day
“What do you girls have planned today?” Ezra asks, finishing his mimosa. His eyesight lands on me as I watch him set his flute down.
All four of us came to brunch to eat off last night’s hangover. Zayn ordered a pitcher of mimosas for us and my stomach turned from the thought of drinking more alcohol.
We ended up in Vegas for all our thirtieth birthday celebration.
I wanted to go somewhere tropical and lounge on the beach, drink pina coladas under the sun, and get a sun-kissed tan.
Since it’s the beginning of May and in Utah, the weather is barely getting warm.
So, I’m craving somewhere warm. But Rya had other plans.
She wanted to go to Vegas and get plastered.
We’ve all partied so much in our twenties that I’m ready to slow it down.
Somehow, she still enjoys it. Me, on the other hand, I’m sick of waking up every weekend with a hangover.
But here we are.
She got her way.
Plus, I didn’t want to be such a buzz kill. All our birthdays are weeks apart from one another. We’ve always celebrated together since we were kids. So, I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin that for us.
“Shopping.” Rya squeals as she eyes me across the table to agree.
My shoulders slump slightly as my eyes shoot from Ezra to Rya and then back to Ezra. He rolls his eyes slightly as he pours himself another mimosa. “Let’s lounge by the pool today. We went shopping yesterday.”
Rya’s lips curl into a frown. “I wanted to go look for a perfume.”
“Why didn’t you look yesterday?” I ask, pouring my first glass of mimosa from our bottomless mimosas.
I wasn’t planning on drinking this early.
But if I end up going shopping, I’m going to need some liquor to calm my nerves from the crowds.
It’s not that I get anxious around large crowds, but I have to be in the right mood for it.
Otherwise, I’m going to be irritated bumping shoulders with people and hearing a thousand conversations.
I do love shopping, but we did it all day yesterday and then went out.
I hardly got any sleep, so shopping again doesn’t sound the greatest right now.
She shrugs her shoulders and looks over between Zayn and Ezra, who are sitting across from us. “What do you boys have planned?” she asks, raising her voice a little from the loud chatter happening around us.
Which is not helping the hangover, but neither is this mimosa. Or maybe it will.
I exhale, remembering to let loose and have fun. It’s only a weekend of this and I need to relax and enjoy my time here. You only turn thirty once.
“We’re going golfing, babe. I told you,” Ezra says with knitted brows.
Rya waves her hand up in the air as a dismissal of her question. “Oh, that’s right.” She chuckles.
Zayn catches my uneasiness about shopping again. “Why don’t you girls go shopping and then go lounge by the pool before our last night out?”
I raise my brows, facing Rya, and her lips go tight. “Fine,” she says.
It’s probably best if we don’t shop another whole other day because Rya has a shopping problem.
Her closet is overflowing with so many clothes, shoes, purses, perfumes, and makeup.
She’s such a girly girl. Which I get, so am I, but there has to be some limit to your shopping addiction.
Sometimes I wonder how she liked to do the stuff we did when we were kids since we played outside a lot, getting dirty.
I love all things girly too, but I’m not as bad as her.
“Babe, can you promise not to spend that much today?” Ezra says, his head tilted down, looking at his phone.
I bet you anything he’s looking over their bank account and seeing everything she spent yesterday. Ezra is very good with his finances. Which is the best thing for Rya because, without him, I have a feeling she would be in so much debt.
Rya rolls her eyes. “Fine,” she repeats, frustrated.
After finishing up our brunch, the boys go off to do their golfing and Rya and I are heading into Caesars Palace.
“Do you have a certain perfume you were looking for?” I ask as we walk around window shopping until we find somewhere we want to go.
Inside Caesars Palace is flowing with chatter. Everywhere in Vegas is alive. Everyone shuffles around each other as they head to the next store. The marble floors and the brightness of the chandeliers Illuminate this space.
“No, I just want a new scent,” she says, glancing around at all the stores.
I doubt she needs a new scent. She has four shelves full of perfumes. “Let’s go in there,” I say, pointing at Valentino. There is a scent from them I’ve been wanting to smell.
We walk into the store, and we’re instantly hit with the thick smell of all the aromas of the fragrances mingling in the air.
“Can I help you ladies with anything?” A blonde girl, her low-cut shirt clinging tight across her chest, asks with a wide grin that reveals her pearly white teeth.
“Just looking,” I say.
“Okay, let me know if you need anything.”
I nod with a smile. “Thanks.”
I glance around the store, looking at the perfumes until I catch the green bottle on display and head over there. I grab the bottle and spritz it on my wrist, inhaling the warm amber vanilla scent. It’s better than I expected.
Rya leans in and sniffs the scent around me. “What is that?” She sniffs again. “That smells amazing.”
“It’s the Valentino Born in Roma Donna Green Stravaganza perfume,” I say, almost tongue-tied. She turns her wrist around and I spray a spritz on her.
Her eyes light up brighter as she takes another sniff of the scent from her wrist. “Oh, my God.” She sniffs again. “I’m getting this.”
I grab a one-ounce bottle, and she grabs the bigger one. “Why are you getting the smaller one?” she asks.
I turn to face her. “Because I hardly wear perfume anymore and then they go bad.”
Ever since I quit my corporate job and started my bakery, Violet’s Bakery, out of my home, I hardly wear perfume, makeup or do my hair.
I’m in gym clothes twenty-four seven, and since I’m home all day cooking, there’s no need to do my makeup and hair.
It sounds like I look like a slob. But I do put myself together enough to not look like I just rolled out of bed.
There is no use putting on a full face of makeup, spraying perfume, or dressing all fancy.
Half the time, I smell like bread or sugar and the other half, I get flour on my face and hair.
“This smells so damn good. I’m going to be spraying it all day long,” she says while she sprays herself with more of the tester.
She’s the one who wanted to buy a perfume and here I am the one who found one to buy. “With the million other perfumes you have?” I question.
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t remind me,” she says as we both walk over to smell the other fragrances. “Ezra is sick of all my shit. He says I buy too much.” She grabs another perfume, takes a sniff and her eyes go bright again.
Oh no.
“Don’t you think you have enough stuff?” I say, curling my lips underneath one another. She hates when people mention things to her that she doesn’t think is a problem.
She tilts her head at me and narrows her gaze in a don’t start this shit kind of look.
I shrug my shoulders and raise my hands.
“I’m not stupid. I know I buy a lot of stuff.
It’s an addiction that makes me happy,” she says, grabbing another fragrance and inhaling the scent she spritzes in the air.
Once again, her eyes go wide. “It’s what makes me happy,” she says as she grabs a basket from one table and puts three perfumes in it.
She eyes me with a slight smile. “It could be worse. I could be addicted to drugs.” And then she’s off to another section of the store to smell more perfumes.
I shake my head, watching as she squares her shoulders like she’s on a mission.
“I hope Ezra doesn’t kill her,” I whisper to myself.
But knowing Ezra, he won’t. He’s such a sweet guy. He’s always been quiet and reserved; he’s the opposite of the loud and outgoing Rya. They say opposites attract, and with her wild energy and his calmness, they prove it true.