Chapter 10
Gabrielle
The mattress slumped down as a body crawled onto the bed, waking me from what was probably the most peaceful sleep I’d had in a very long time.
I opened my eyes, but quickly shut them as the glare from the morning sun just about scorched them to a crisp; possibly blinding me for life.
I’d forgotten to close the blinds again.
“Wake up.” I squinted my eyes open to see Lena hunched on her knees beside me. The grin on her face was astronomically large, and most likely had been there from the time she’d first woken up. “We get to go try on dresses today!” she squealed and jumped on her knees, making the bed and me shake.
“Okay, okay. Calm down a bit. My brain needs to process that it’s morning first, then I can get excited,” I complained with a yawn.
“I can’t wait for you to see the dress I picked out for you. You are going to look spectacular.”
“Me? You’re the bride. You’re the one that’s supposed to glow with radiance. Nobody is supposed to outshine you on your big day.”
“Oh, I’ll shine plenty, don’t worry, but you’re going to look so good. I can’t wait to see you in it. So get up and get dressed.”
“I need coffee.”
“Got it right here.” She jumped off the bed and handed me a cup that had been sitting on top of the dresser.
“Thanks.” I closed my eyes, inhaling the robust smell of the caramel-colored brew, then took a sip. Lena knew just how I liked my coffee, a little half and half and a smidgen of sugar. “How soon do we need to leave?”
“As soon as you’re ready. We need to go into the city.”
“The city? As in San Francisco?”
“No, not that city. Redding, where you and Brodie were yesterday.”
“Oh. Good.” I yawned again. “Because I don’t think I’m up for a super long drive.”
Lena giggled. “Me either, girl, but we have an appointment at eleven this morning. We need to get going.”
The drive into Redding went much faster this morning with Lena than it had yesterday with Brodie.
Maybe because we talked the entire time about the wedding and all the plans she had made, and I wasn’t feeling so self-conscious about Brodie’s hot body sitting right next to me for what seemed like an eternity as I had during the previous ride.
Lena talked most of the time about Jackson and how wonderful he was.
This was the first time we’d had the opportunity to talk without Jackson or Brodie being around.
The weird thing was, Lena mentioned that Brodie was hardly ever at home since she’d moved in, and she was surprised that he’d been there for the past couple of nights.
She said he claimed he didn’t want to cramp their style, but she figured it was more Brodie’s style that had become cramped.
That was one of the reasons she and Jackson had put a rush on things for the house; so they could move out as soon as they were married.
The sidewalks weren’t as crowded today as they had been yesterday when Brodie and I were walking around, and the air had a slight chill to it, I noticed.
I tugged the sweater I’d worn a little closer for extra warmth.
On our way to the dress shop, Lena and I stopped in front of a little shop to admire the shoes in the window.
“We should go in here to get your shoes before we try on the dresses. That way, if they need to hem your dress, they’ll be able to get the right length. ”
“What about your shoes?” I asked.
“Got ‘em right here.” She held up the bag she was carrying. “They’ve already done mine. This is supposed to be my last fitting, so keep your fingers crossed that they got it right. If they need to hem yours, we’ll need to come back in a couple of days to pick it up.”
We bought my shoes—or should I say stilts—and headed to the dress shop.
Lena had insisted I get four-inch high heels so I would look taller standing next to everyone else in the pictures.
I was five-foot-five, which in my opinion wasn’t all that short, but I suppose compared to everyone else, I was.
Lena was an easy five-seven, and Jackson and Brodie were both over six feet.
In fact, Brodie was even a bit taller than Jackson.
“Crap, we’re late,” Lena said, glancing at her watch. She grabbed my hand and tugged me along as we hurried down the sidewalk. In the rush, I ran smack into a wall of a guy as he came out of one of the shops we were passing.
The collision had me tilting toward the pavement. “Whoa!” The guy held on to my arms, righting me before I fell all the way onto my backside.
“Sorry,” I managed, and Lena turned back to check on me.
“Are you all right?” he said, still holding on to my arms.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
He looked at Lena. “It’s Lena, right?” He released my arms and took a couple of steps back.
“Yeah. Do I know you?”
“We met once. I’m the new guy on the soccer team. Jeff? I came into Jackson’s bar with the team about a week ago.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“Who is this?” he asked, staring at me. In fact, his beautiful grey eyes never left mine.
“This is…” Lena wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close against her, “my maid of honor, Gabby. We’re on our way to pick up our dresses.”
“Right. The big day is almost here, isn’t it?” He smiled, showing bright teeth. He ran his fingers through his over-the-ear dark blond hair, but the front came right back down over his forehead, landing in an attractive curl right above his eyebrows.
“Yep. You’re coming to the wedding, aren’t you? I think Jackson invited the entire team."
“Yeah, sure, wouldn’t miss seeing my man Jackson get hitched.”
“Well, your man, is going to be my man soon.”
“Nah. You got that wrong.”
“Excuse me?”
“The way I see it, he’s already yours. From what I’ve heard from the guys on the team, he has been since he first laid eyes on you.
We can’t even get the guy to come out and practice anymore.
One of the guys on the team even said he tried to get Jackson back out on the slopes all winter.
He might as well sell that snowboard of his now that he has you.
I hope you won’t keep him from playing soccer this season. ”
“I wouldn’t intentionally keep him from doing anything. He would have gone snowboarding, but he wanted me to go and I just wasn’t quite ready for it. He refused to go without me. Maybe next year.”
Jeff gave Lena a wry look and stuck his hand in the pocket of his jeans. My eyes fell to the muscle protruding from the sleeve of his grey t-shirt. “Yeah, sure. By then you’ll be pregnant and he’ll have another excuse.”
“I don’t think so. We want to wait a year or two to start a family. I’m sure Jackson will be playing soccer this fall though. He’s already told me about the team. I think he’s really excited for me to watch.”
“Maybe you’ll play, too.”
“Maybe I will.” Lena smiled. “Though, I’ve never played.”
“We’re not that competitive. You’d be fine, and maybe your friend here would be interested in playing.
” His gaze swept slowly over me and I suddenly felt naked, though I was far from it in the blue sundress and white cropped sweater I had on.
“We always need women,” he added, his eyes fixed on mine.
“I don’t know if I’ll be here in the fall. I’m supposed to go to Chico for school. I’m transferring there from San Diego. But if I am still here, I’d love to play. I played in high school,” I added cheerfully.
“What do you mean? Are you considering not going to Chico?” Lena asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, maybe I’ll see you around this summer,” Jeff said. Then quickly added, “We could practice … you know, kick the ball around?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
Lena glanced at her watch. “Oh, we really need to get going. See you at the wedding, Jeff.”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you, Gabby.” He waved his hand and headed in the opposite direction we were going.
I glanced back at him, saw him turn his head and look back at me.
He smiled and my stomach did a little fluttery dance.
He was so very gorgeous, and way out of my league, but it was nice having someone else to think about instead of Brodie.
Not that I was actually in Brodie’s league either. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be.
Lena tugged me along and we hurried to the dress shop.
Upon entering the store, my eyes immediately fell upon the four mannequins all decked out in what I presumed were their top of the line and very expensive, but gorgeous wedding dresses.
Turning to the left, I saw rack after rack of dresses hanging, arranged by color, style, and size.
A woman who appeared to be in her early forties approached us immediately, greeting Lena with an over abundant amount of exuberance and gushing over Lena like she was her long lost cousin.
“Lena, darling, you’re so beautiful. But thin. Too thin. I hope we won’t need to make any adjustments on that gown. We are running out of time.”
“I’m the same size as I was when you took my measurements. Tanya, this is my maid of honor, Gabby.”
“Ah, good. I have both of your dresses right here. Go into the dressing room and I’ll bring them to you.”
After Tonya brought in the dresses, she excused herself and said she’d be back in a few minutes to check.
“You are so going to tell me what is going on. Right now. What’s all this about you not wanting to go to Chico?” Lena demanded as she stepped into the white gown I held open for her.
I looked up at her no-nonsense eyes and sighed. “I don’t know, exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know what I want to do.”
“I thought you wanted to be a writer.”
“I do. I just don’t know if I want to continue on with school right now.” I’d been thinking about it for some time, but now that I’d actually spoken the words out loud, I decided that I liked them.
“But don’t you need your degree in English to be a writer?”
“No. It would certainly help, but it’s not required.
To get a job as a journalist with a large news group I’m sure it would be required, but not to write books.
And that’s what I want to do. I can continue my education, but I also want to spend more time writing.
In fact, I’ve been writing, and… well, I’ve written several short stories and recently submitted a novel to several publishers.
One actually responded and offered me a contract last week.
I wasn’t going to say anything because I haven’t decided whether I want to use my real name or not, and I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone to know. ”
“You mean like a pen name?”
“Yeah, exactly like a pen name.” Lena turned her back to me and I laced up the dress.
It had so many loops to go through I didn’t think I’d ever finish.
“Jackson is gonna have a heck of a time getting you out of this.” I laughed.
When she turned back around after I’d finished, my mouth fell open.
“Oh my! Lena, you’re stunning. Forget about him taking it off. He might not want to.”
“You like?” She smiled as she admired herself in the three-way full-length mirror.
“Very much. It’s just so exquisite. The way the sheer white mesh lays against your collarbone and flows down revealing just a peek of your cleavage is so elegant.
The tiny pearls along the edges are so pretty and dainty, and I love the way they interspersed more pearls throughout the bodice and the skirt. You look simply radiant.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
“What about the sleeves? Do you think I’ll be too hot?”
“Hmmm… probably not. They don’t really cover much of your arm, just the top of your shoulders. I love the scalloped edge with more pearls.”
“Thanks.” Lena smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here. Now, tell me why you don’t want to use your real name?”
“Huh?”
“For the book. Why don’t you want to use your real name?” I’d been so caught up in the beauty of her dress I had almost forgotten I’d even told her about my book.
“Oh. I don’t know. It has some weird stuff in it, you know, like sex and some bad language. I’m not sure I want my mom to read it.” That explanation was only partly true. There were other things in the story that could be incriminating if a certain person were to read it.
“I think you should use your real name. Who cares about a little bad language? A lot of books have the F word in them. Wow! I can’t believe you wrote a book. That is so utterly fantastic. I don’t think I could ever do that. What’s it about?”
“It’s about a college-age girl who finds a strange book in the dorm room she just moved into. Weird things begin to happen to her after she begins reading it. She’d grown up in a … troubled home, and the magic in the book helps her cope with things. It’s a little dark, and edgy.”
“Sounds fun. I can’t wait to read it.”
It did sound fun the way I explained it.
Using parts of my real-life experience hadn’t been fun, but the therapy it provided was tremendously helpful.
I didn’t go into much more of the plot with Lena.
Mainly because, even though I could write it, it didn’t mean I was ready to talk about it.
I’d never told anyone about that time in my life. I didn’t think I ever would.
“What’s it called?”
“Giving Everything.”
“Well, we should celebrate. That’s fantastic!”
“Let’s wait a week. Until I decide whether or not I want people to know, okay?”
“Sure. Mum’s the word.”