CHAPTER 33
“I hope she finds something soon,” Mya bemoaned, waiting for Tanika to come back out of the dressing room. “I think my blood sugar is low.”
Bronwyn looked up from her phone and rolled her eyes. “Mya, we’ve only been in this store for thirty minutes. You’ll be fine! I’m sure she’ll find something here!”
Those were the same words Bronwyn had said at the first two bridal stores they visited, but Tanika had yet to say yes to the dress.
The only reason Tanika had honored Jackie’s desire to take her gown shopping was because PJ finally agreed to the interview with Sara at WWSN.
Although All-Star Weekend was a couple of months away, he was already being swamped with interviews.
WWSN would be the first to talk to the hottest rookie in the league.
A deal was a deal. And Sara, Bronwyn, and Mya were along for the ride.
Unlike Mya, Jackie was grateful for the multi-stop shopping excursion; she could use the distraction.
It had been days since she and Antonio almost kissed in her office.
For the most part, they’d been cordial at work.
But there were lingering glances and thinly veiled innuendos exchanged whenever they were alone.
And it took the strength of Samson for Jackie not to jump the man’s bones again.
It didn’t help that her voice was playing hide-and-seek.
When her voice came back just in time for the phone call with Manny Guzman, she’d thought it was a miracle—but it had left just as quickly the next time she ran into Antonio in the hallway.
She was trying to take Mother Mary’s advice and speak truthfully, but sometimes she just couldn’t.
There were no words in her vocabulary to tell the man that she had once reviled that maybe, just possibly, she was into him.
Or that she forgave him. And that sometimes, she daydreamed about the endless possibilities of a life together.
The ladies quieted when they heard the rustling of fabric, signaling that Tanika was coming around the corner. She walked slowly and stood on the platform in front of them.
“Well, how’s this one?” Tanika asked.
“It’s a choice,” Jackie typed into the app, flabbergasted at the massive amount of fabric she saw before her.
“I’m going to be honest. It’s a bit much,” Bronwyn said.
“Yeah, like Princess Diana and Cinderella had a baby, but not 1997 Brandy Cinderella. Like, the old-school one,” said Sara, her nose scrunched up. “And if we are going for princess as our reference, think more Duchess Meghan, not her mother-in-law. May she rest in peace.”
Tanika puffed out the massive tulle skirt. “Okay! The last dress you all said wasn’t bridal enough! And now you’re saying this is too bridal?”
Jackie shook her head and typed, “This is just over-the-top bridal, babe.”
“We want bridal, but not all the damned brides,” Mya said. “That dress is swallowing you up like a jar of marshmallow fluff. You need to show off those curves, girl!”
Tanika wiped her eyes under her glasses and sighed. “This is useless. I told you, I don’t need a fancy dress! Hell, I don’t even need a wedding.”
Jackie typed quickly. “We know deep down you want a wedding.” Jackie stood next to Tanika and gently squeezed her hand. “And you deserve the perfect dress. Remember your vision board from college? You’ll know when you find it. Trust me.”
“Everyone says you’re supposed to get that feeling, but none of these dresses give me that feeling,” Tanika said. “Let’s just go get mimosas and brunch at Verdure before they close.”
Mya gathered her purse and jacket. “I’m down with that. Let’s go before the after-church crowd gets there.” Bronwyn and Sara began to follow her lead, standing as if to leave the store, until Jackie pointed an angry finger.
SIT! she silently commanded before typing an actual response. “Tanika isn’t leaving until she finds the perfect dress to marry my cousin in!”
“Ugh, such a tiny tyrant,” Sara said as she eased back down in her seat. “Well, at least there’s champagne.” She poured herself another glass and passed the bottle around to the rest of the crew.
Tanika stepped off the platform. “I’m going to take this off. I think the tulle is making me itchy anyway.” She followed the sales associate back to the dressing room to try on another dress.
After Tanika left, Mya turned to Jackie. “Your voice isn’t back. I guess that means you didn’t get more magic stick?”
Jackie gritted her teeth at the mention of Antonio. “Mya, shut up!” she said through her app.
Sara looked confused. “Whose magic stick?”
“Remember Antonio? From the cookout?” asked Mya.
Sara’s face lit up with recognition. “Oh yeah! Dude she threw the beans on! Wait, have they been hooking up?”
“Girl, have they!” Bronwyn exclaimed.
Hello! I’m sitting right here! Jackie motioned to herself. How rude were her friends to talk about her while she was sitting there? But… they wouldn’t really have been her friends if they didn’t.
“Chill.” Sara held up her hand playfully in Jackie’s direction. “And what does Antonio have to do with Jackie’s voice?” she asked, turning back to Mya.
“Well,” Mya said, leaning toward Sara. “You know how Jackie’s voice has been MIA for the past few weeks? Well, seems like the only time she can talk is when she gets some magic peen from Antonio.”
“You’re lying!” Sara gasped. “I thought the thing with Tanika and the auras was wild. This is wilder.”
Jackie typed furiously into the app. “It really isn’t like that. I just needed to relax, that’s all.”
“Is that why you’re having sex with that man? To relax?” said Sara, her perfectly arched brow raised in amusement.
“It must be,” Mya continued, ignoring Jackie, “Because Antonio gave her the dick de-stressor.” She and Sara cackled and high-fived each other.
“Jesus, you all gotta chill,” Jackie pleaded via her voice assistant, trying to keep the peace in the very posh bridal salon.
Tanika came back from around the partition. “What did I miss? I can hear you all cackling all the way in the back. Let me guess, it was about Antonio’s magic peen.”
“Oh no,” whispered Mya, covering her mouth in horror.
Jackie’s eyes widened at the monstrosity before her. Tanika was in a black mermaid-style dress with heavy beading at the bodice. And was that a visible corset back? Yuck. This was not the early 2000s.
Tanika did a twirl. “What’s wrong with it? Black is elegant.”
Jackie tilted her neck with an attitude as she typed. “You must want to fight in this shop! Didn’t I say no black? You are not marrying my cousin in a black dress, Nik!” The app mispronounced Tanika’s nickname as “Nike,” making Jackie even more irritated.
“Black at a wedding is depressing,” Sara agreed as she sipped her champagne. “You look like Elvira.”
Tanika sucked her teeth. “Whatever. I can wear some custom panda dunks with it! Or maybe some Forces.” She lifted the bottom of the dress to show off her purple Air Force Ones.
“Dunks!” Jackie clutched her chest while she let the app yell on her behalf. She was going to have a heart attack. “Sneakers with a $8000 dress? You cannot be serious!”
“I won’t compromise on the sneakers,” Tanika said, hands on her hips.
Jackie rubbed her temples. She typed, “Fine. But this dress is horrendous. Makes me want to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“Your boobs look good, though,” Mya said, taking a positive spin. “I mean, if you find something with that cut of bodice in white, but with less beads, that would be fly.”
Tanika stomped off the platform and back into the dressing room, followed by the sales associate.
Mya turned back to the group. “Okay, while Tanika goes and tries on something else butt-ugly, Jackie, what’s the tea? Are you and Antonio a thing now?”
Jackie waved her hands before typing in the app. “It was just a hookup. Well, a few hookups. In Mexico.” She swallowed. She couldn’t lie to her girls.
“On the work trip?!” Sara laughed. “I didn’t know you got down like that, girl.”
“I don’t!” Jackie’s app blared. “Something came over me. It’s like I couldn’t resist the man; I’m drawn to him. Like a magnet.” She felt that pull every time she was near him, which was why she’d been avoiding him like the plague.
“A cosmic connection,” Bronwyn said for the tenth time. “You don’t believe in soulmates or soul ties, but something is going on.”
Jackie rolled her eyes as she typed. “You sound like that ridiculous woman I ran into at the pet boutique! She was the same lady who said all that nonsense to me at the animal hospital, the one with the unruly hair. I finally got her name.” She opened her handbag, fished out the business card, and handed it to Bronwyn.
Bronwyn gasped as she read the card. “Don’t you know who that is?” She grabbed Jackie by the shoulders, startling her.
Jackie shook her head no. She shrugged out of Bronwyn’s hold and adjusted her sweater. Psychics, mediums, and all things paranormal were Bronwyn’s jam. Made sense she would be familiar with Mother Mary.
“She’s the psychic that Tanika and Gideon went to after their first date. The lady that was scary accurate about their situation.”
Jackie’s jaw was on the floor. No way.
“Yes, girl!” Bronwyn nodded. “Mother Mary is no fake or fraud. The woman has a gift! And apparently, she knew exactly what was going on with you! She knows you and Antonio are meant to be!”
“Oh no.” Jackie waved her finger as the app spoke. “The woman is a witch! She made me lose my voice!”
“Clairvoyant isn’t the same as witch,” Bronwyn sighed. “And witch doesn’t mean evil. I mean, she could be both, but she’d never do harm to anyone. That isn’t her style.”
Jackie typed her response with shaky hands. “How do you know? Maybe she put a love spell on me!”
“Girl,” Mya laughed. “Didn’t you fall for that man ten years ago? You didn’t know Mother Mary then.”
“Exactly,” said Bronwyn. “Just face it, Jackie. Accept the truth. You and this man were meant to cross paths. It’s kismet.”