Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
“Holy crap, Laur! Jake’s gonna shit his pants when he sees you!”
Britt scowled at Skye before correcting, “What she means is, you look prettier than a peach, and Jake is going to be thanking his lucky stars when he sees you walking down the aisle in that dress.”
They were at Laurel’s final dress fitting before her wedding in five days.
She was standing on a pedestal in front of a three-way mirror while a seamstress pinned up the hem of her skirt another inch.
Being only five-three, they’d cut six inches off the hem to begin with.
Since she’d decided to wear flats instead of heels, they needed to take it up a little more.
Britt suppressed a grin. When she’d lent Laurel some of her heeled boots for her first date with Jake, part of her had been worried the girl might break her neck trying to walk in them. Luckily, she hadn’t, but not tempting fate was probably a good choice for her. Especially on her wedding day.
“You really think he’ll like it?” Laurel asked, smoothing her hands over the plain satin skirt.
“He’ll love it.”
Britt wasn’t surprised by the dress Laurel had chosen.
It was a clean, timeless silhouette with a sleeveless bodice and boat-style neckline.
Fitted through the waist, it flowed into a full A-line skirt that skimmed her body without clinging.
The back stopped above the bra line and was fastened by a long row of tiny, satin-covered buttons.
She wondered if Jake would have enough patience to undo every little button instead of ripping them all off.
For his sake, she hoped so. Laurel was definitely the type who’d want to save her wedding dress for her daughter, if she ever had one.
The thought had Britt unexpectedly tearing up. She’d always planned to get married in her mother’s wedding dress, which had been passed down from her grandmother. Instead, she’d said “I do” in a lavender mini dress in front of Elvis with playing cards in her bouquet and no memory of the event.
“Britt, you okay?”
“Huh?” Jeez, snap out of it! “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Emery and Jessa had had their final bridesmaid dress fittings yesterday.
Britt and Skye had come with Laurel today.
She’d made them go first because she’d wanted to watch.
Although Skye’s dress had fit perfectly off the rack, she put it on again for Laurel.
Britt’s dress, on the other hand, had needed taking in on the bodice.
It wasn’t unexpected; she’d never been overly busty.
Thankfully, the seamstress had nailed the alterations, so they were able to quickly move on to the dress that really mattered.
“After having to deal with all of the things that go into planning a wedding,” Laurel said as she rotated a quarter, “I almost wish Jake and I had eloped like you and Linc did.”
“No, you don’t,” Britt whispered under her breath, playing with the ring Linc had given her, continually turning it around her finger like worry beads. She still couldn’t believe he’d given her a ring. It was stunning. The most brilliantly stunning sham she’d ever seen.
“What?” Laurel asked.
“What you’re doing is perfect,” Britt told her quickly.
“You want your daddy to walk you down the aisle, don’t you?
” Things used to be super rocky between Laurel and her parents, but ever since Jake had called them out for not taking her wants into consideration, they’d eased up on their judgment and had a healthier relationship with her now.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was getting better.
“You’re right,” Laurel conceded. “I would miss that. How did y?—”
The chair she’d been sitting in squeaked along the floor when Britt abruptly shot to her feet. “Sorry, I’ll be back in a sec.” She excused herself and escaped into the dressing room where she’d changed earlier.
What the hell’s wrong with me?
She pulled a tissue out of a box on the little glass-topped end table and pressed it to the inner corners of her eyes while leaning forward a bit. It was a tip she’d picked up from her pageant coach... catch the tears before they have a chance to ruin your makeup.
She’d wanted her daddy to walk her down the aisle. Of course, she had. If her wedding had been planned, he would’ve. She twisted the delicate band on the ring finger of her left hand for the millionth time. If her marriage was real, it would’ve been planned.
As relieved as she’d been when her momma had flown back to Louisiana last week, right now, she wished she hadn’t. She desperately could use one of her hugs.
There was a soft knock on the door before Skye peeked her head inside the room. “Hey, you okay?”
Britt honestly didn’t have it in her at the moment to lie and say everything was fine. She shook her head instead.
Skye came in and closed the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t tell Laurel,” Britt begged.
“That you’re crying?”
Shit.
She’d stopped concentrating on holding it together for five seconds, and the tears had snuck out. Nodding, she dabbed under her eyes.
“Want to talk about it?”
Yes. But she couldn’t.
“No.”
“Want a hug?”
Skye wasn’t her momma, but she was here and cared about her enough to come check on her. “Yes, please.”
Linc loves it when you say “please.”
Dammit. Why did I have to think of that?
It made her cry harder.
“Hey.” Skye wrapped her arms around her. “Want me to call Linc?”
“No.”
“Are you guys okay?”
I don’t know what we are.
“Yes. I’m just emotional, that’s all.” At least, that was the truth.
“Are you thinking about the fancy wedding you skipped, and now maybe wish you hadn’t? Because your mom’s going to give that to you, you know?”
“I know.” She did wish she’d had a fancy wedding, but more than that… she wished she had a marriage that was real.
With Linc.
After soaking up a little more of Skye’s hug, Britt reluctantly pulled back. “I’m okay. I’m just… Shit. I hate this,” she whined, blinking rapidly to stave off another round of tears. “Just do me a favor and distract Laur for a bit while I pull myself together, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And don’t tell her I was crying. I don’t want to ruin her day.”
“I won’t,” Skye promised. “I’ll tell her you're pregnant.”
“What?”
“Gotcha.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I’ll tell her it’s that time of the month.”
“Oh, my hell!” Britt huffed, even as she suppressed a grin. “Tell her… whatever. Just don’t say I was crying.”
“Promise.” Skye tinkled her fingers. “See you in a few.”
As Britt searched for a powder compact that was hidden somewhere in the black hole of her purse, she checked her phone out of habit. It showed she had a text, so she swiped it open.
Linc
I don’t have anything to say. Just thinking of you.
The stupid little emoji made her smile despite her bad mood because Linc typically never used them.
He never used them, yet he had for her.