Four
“Good morning! I’m Julianne and this is Zumba! Do we have any first-timers here today?” Julianne asked as she began her spiel. Several people raised their hands. “Awesome! I am so glad you decided to join us today! This is a cardio dance class but don’t worry if you don’t have any dance experience – you don’t need any. And don’t worry if you don’t pick up the steps right away because we’ve all been there!”
The class started and Kayla looked around, wondering where Harper was. It was Saturday, right? She had gotten to the gym late and didn’t have time to ask Julianne so she was curious. Beside her, Natalie was doing her thing and dancing to Julianne’s instructions but she seemed a lot more reserved than normal too.
What the hell was going on this morning? Everything just seemed…off.
By this point, she and Harper would begin their cha-cha toward the back, but now Kayla wasn’t sure what to do with herself.
“Where’s Harper?” she whispered to Natalie.
Beside her, Natalie nearly tripped over her own two feet and then replied, “Um…I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”
“Oh. Okay.” So…no new information there.
Maybe she was sick? Or maybe she was running late too?
Kayla had planned on calling in sick this morning – actually, she felt sick ever since she left Adam’s office the other day. And rather than drag her happy friends down with her sad tale of getting dumped, she sat at home and had a pity party.
There were many, many pints of Ben & Jerry’s, pizza, burgers and way too much Starbucks.
So really, she needed this class this morning.
Like really, really…
“You guys are doing great!” Julianne called out. “Put a little extra pop in that hip action! Come on!”
Kayla had no extra pop in her. She was totally dragging ass and if she thought she could get away with it, she’d slink to the back of the room and out the door.
And to the nearest Krispy Kreme.
Okay, that was enough. It wasn’t helpful and it wasn’t going to change anything. So Adam ended their relationship. So what? It wasn’t as if they were in love and planning a future together. They were casual. They were sex buddies. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, she was going to miss him and the time they would spend together, but he wasn’t the only man on the planet. She could totally go out and find someone to hang out with, hook up with and just…be with. People did it all the time.
Glancing over at Natalie, she thought about her and her husband. They obviously met at some point in time and gave it a go. True, they were both of that forever variety – gravitating toward marriage from their first kiss, no doubt.
Just the thought of that was enough to make her break out in a cold sweat.
And then there was Jules and Gavin. They’re making it work. They’re not joined at the hip and they have a great relationship. They were another forever kind of couple but…
Where the hell was Harper?
Harper would be the perfect one to talk to because, in theory, Harper wanted forever but she always walked away before the vows. That had to say something, right? Maybe she got caught up in what other people told her she needed to believe – like women have to get married and have babies – when the reality was that not everyone was cut out for that! Dammit! Of all the days for Harper to bail on Zumba, it had to be today while she was having a complete mental breakdown?
“Are you all right?” Natalie murmured as they twirled to the left.
“I’m fine. Why?” Kayla replied as they twirled to the right.
“You’re kind of mumbling over there and you just seemed like…like you were mad.”
If they weren’t in the middle of transitioning to Kung Fu fighting – wait, what? When did this become a thing in this class? – she would consider talking to Natalie and getting her take on things. But it felt too good to be kicking right now.
“Sorry,” she replied instead. “Just…thinking.”
She braced herself for some kind of lengthy reply from Natalie and was almost disappointed when she didn’t get one.
Something was definitely up with her.
For the remainder of the class, Kayla made a conscious effort not to mumble or speak out loud as she followed Julianne’s lead. By the time the music ended, she thought her legs were going to give out. All around her, people were walking toward the exit, but Kayla just let herself sink to the floor.
And then laid back and stared at the ceiling.
“What’s going on?” Julianne asked a few minutes later as she stood over her. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Too much pizza,” Kayla said, her hands on her stomach. “Just leave me here. Save yourself.”
Julianne laughed and the next thing Kayla knew, Natalie was peering down at her too.
“Are you going to be okay to shop? I called ahead and Hailey’s got a dozen gowns pulled for me. I’m hoping this will be quick and painless and by the time we leave there, I’ll have found my perfect gown.”
“Will there be muffins?” Kayla asked.
“Are you asking because you really want one or because the thought of one makes you sick?” Julianne asked with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t say no to one if that’s what you’re asking…”
“Hailey said there would be refreshments out again so I’m guessing that means muffins.”
“And the mimosas?” Kayla asked, forcing herself up on her elbows.
“God I hope so,” Natalie muttered and both Kayla and Julianne looked at each other with surprise.
“I’ll call and ask her when we’re on our way,” Julianne said. “I think we’re all going to need it.”
“I know I do,” Natalie said quietly.
Okay, if Little Miss Sunshine needed alcohol at nine in the morning, something was definitely up and it served as the perfect distraction for Kayla. She slowly got to her feet and stood between her two friends. “I don’t know about you ladies, but I’ve had a shitty week. Let’s go and get cleaned up. The sooner we’re out of here, the sooner we can drink champagne and eat muffins.”
It surprised her that no one corrected her.
A hot guy with an armload of towels and bottles of water walked in and all Kayla could think was…nice. He was attractive and had an amazing body but…that was it. Her brain was yelling “Check out those arms!” while her heart was like, “Meh…”
“Hey, Jules,” the guy said. “How was class?”
“It was good – full as usual,” she said with a smile. “Oh, Brady, these are my friends Kayla and Natalie.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said as they shook hands. Then he looked around. “Your sister doesn’t take your class?”
Julianne frowned. “Normally she does, but she decided to opt out today.”
He nodded. “You want to meet up again on Tuesday night after class?”
Kayla and Natalie exchanged wide-eyed glances.
“Definitely. Thanks, Brady. I’ll see you then.”
It wasn’t until they were out of the room and halfway across the lobby that Kayla playfully shoved Julianne from behind.
“Oof!” Jules muttered as she tried to regain her footing. She turned around. “What the hell was that for?”
“You’re hanging out with a sexy trainer and you haven’t told us?” Kayla asked with a big grin.
“What about Gavin?” Natalie asked, looking like she was ready to cry.
So. Many. Stories.
The thought of dress shopping with an audience meant they weren’t going to get to talk about any of these issues in great length any time soon.
Talk about frustration!
When they were in the locker room, Julianne mentioned how she was learning kickboxing as a way to alleviate some…tension.
“Right…” Kayla said with a wink. “Tension.”
Julianne threw her towel at her. “Yes. Tension. Anger. Rage. All this wedding stuff is getting to me and I was starting to feel like if I didn’t find an outlet, I was going to go crazy.”
“But you work out all the time,” Natalie commented as she grabbed up her shower bag. “Doesn’t that help?”
Julianne shook her head. “No, not the way punching and kicking the bag did. I’m telling you, I may ask Gavin to hang one in the basement because it’s so helpful.”
“Really?” both Kayla and Natalie asked at the same time and then exchanged awkward glances again.
Kayla spoke first. “Do you think Brady would be willing to…maybe…take on a small class of maybe two or three of us?”
“Oh,” Natalie said nervously. “I don’t know if I’d want to do that. I mean…it sounded interesting but…”
“Nat?” Kayla interrupted.
“What?”
“You – more than anyone else I know – would probably benefit the most from punching a bag.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
“It means you’re always so wound up! You run around trying to be so damn perfect all the time. It’s okay to relax once in a while!” Kayla said, amazed at how passionate she felt about this. Normally, she tried to find ways to exclude Natalie and here she was practically demanding she take a class with her.
“I…I guess it could be kind of fun,” Natalie said shyly. “What do you think, Jules? Would Brady be willing to do that?”
“I…have no idea,” Julianne replied slowly. “This was just something I was sort of doing alone. You know…just for me.”
For a minute, Kayla felt bad and then exclaimed, “Screw that! If anything, a group boxing class could be just what our little squad needs!”
“Why?” Julianne asked.
“Look, you’re always getting on us for shit – for me and Harper giving Natalie a hard time or for all of us not being in agreement and stuff like that. Maybe we can come to this boxing thing and for an hour a week, we can take out our aggression on a punching bag while talking about all the things that are keeping us from getting along.”
“Not everything that’s wrong is about the wedding,” Natalie said as she stepped into one of the shower stalls.
Kayla waited for her to turn on the water before she moved in close to Julianne and whispered, “I’m sensing there’s trouble in paradise. We really need to encourage her to punch the bag.”
And much to her surprise, rather than answer, Julianne pulled her in close and hugged her. She had no idea why, but went with it and hugged her back.
****
“Are they going to put that banner up every week until you pick a gown?”
“I hope so. It’s kind of cool,” Julianne said as they walked through the door of Enchanted Bridal. “How often do we get celebrated with a sparkly sign?”
Kayla laughed. “Not nearly enough.”
It wasn’t much, Juliane knew, but it was something that made her smile and this morning had not left her feeling very smiley. Harper hadn’t returned any of her calls and besides not coming to class, she had left word, through their mother, that she wasn’t coming to shop for dresses with them. How was she supposed to do all of this without her sister?
Okay, fine. The whole thing on Tuesday night got a little out of hand. What no one seemed to realize was how much stress she was under. And hitting that bag for an hour had been like eating an entire chocolate truffle cake while having a continuous orgasm.
Yeah. It was that glorious.
Unfortunately, Harper had a point and as soon as Julianne had gotten home, she talked to Gavin about it.
“How was class tonight?” he asked as soon as he walked in the door and kissed her.
“It was good,” she’d said. “Good crowd. Lots of newbies.”
“And you pulled a double? You must be beat.” He was always concerned about her because he knew how vigorous the Zumba classes were. He’d been rummaging around the refrigerator for something to eat when she’d sat down on one of the stools at their kitchen island and told him about Brady and the kickboxing.
With a chicken leg between his teeth, he’d turned and faced her. “So you…you boxed? Like with gloves?”
She nodded.
He took the poultry from his mouth and closed the refrigerator door. “And did it help?”
“Oh God, yes,” she said with a sigh of relief. “Gavin, I’m telling you, I didn’t realize how…how much I was keeping things bottled up until I finally found an outlet! It was…it just felt so good!”
He took another bite of the chicken. “And you don’t think the same thing could have been accomplished by telling your sister and the girls and your mom to just shut the fuck up?”
She couldn’t help but laugh at that. Gavin had a way about him that even when he said something like that, he said it with a smile and still managed to get his point across.
“I’ve been asking the girls to behave and they haven’t. I have yet to have words with my mom but that’s coming soon.”
And then she did something that she rarely did.
She began to cry.
Gavin was instantly there, wrapping her in his arms. “Hey, hey,” he said quietly, combing her hair away from her face. “What’s going on?”
Then she blubbered on for fifteen minutes about her fight with Harper and how she felt bad about it.
“And…and…and I get why she’s upset and why the things my mom says upset her, but she has to know that it doesn’t mean anything, right? Mom’s just not thinking! And now she doesn’t want to talk to me and she doesn’t want to come dress shopping with me and…”
Gavin tucked a finger under her chin and gently forced her to look up at him. “You know who’s at fault here, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“I think we need to have your folks over for dinner and then both of us will talk to them. Together. What do you say?”
She’d said that he was the most wonderful man in the history of the world. She agreed with his suggestion but that wasn’t happening until tomorrow, so it meant she was shopping for wedding gowns without her sister.
They hadn’t even seen the first dress and Julianne already knew she wasn’t going to pick one today. She couldn’t. More than anyone, she looked up to her sister and valued her opinion, and she had a lot of resentment toward their mother right now for ruining this day for her.
For them.
And for what? Why was she being so damn hard on Harper? It wasn’t as if any of her engagements got as far as planning a wedding and putting down deposits so her parents never lost money on anything. Harper usually knew before any money was spent that things weren’t right. Sure she could have maybe figured it out a little sooner, but the way her mother had been sticking it to her, you would think the invitations had been sent or that her sister left the guys at the altar!
That was something she was going to bring up tomorrow when her parents came for dinner.
Thank God for Gavin and his rational thinking.
Honestly, she didn’t know what she’d do without him.
Then he’d asked her to show him some of her new boxing moves and…well…things had taken a very playful turn and they ended up making love on the living room floor.
Yeah. She was a lucky, lucky woman.
Julianne broke out of her reverie when she heard voices approaching. She turned to see her mother, Gavin’s mother, her grandmother and her Aunt Maryann coming through the door. For a moment, Julianne got her hopes up that Harper had changed her mind and was here with them, but after a quick look and a head count, she knew she wasn’t there.
“There’s my beautiful bride-to-be,” her mother said as she walked through the door. At fifty, Melinda Burke did not look her age.
She looked ten years younger, easily, and had the energy level to back it up. She was stylishly dressed in cream-colored wool slacks, matching ankle boots and a navy sweater.
“Look at me,” she said, doing a sassy little spin, “I wore your colors today to show my support!”
Julianne couldn’t help but smile as her mother kissed her on the cheek. “You look great, Mom. And the colors look great on you.”
With a little wave, Melinda stepped back and said her hellos to Kayla and Natalie and before the conversation could go any further, Hailey came over to greet them and immediately began ushering them toward the seating area.
It was amazing how she seemed to know exactly when she was needed, Julianne thought.
Maybe she’d invite Hailey to join them for dinner tomorrow night…
Kayla touched her arm to stop her before they followed the rest of the group. “Where’s Harper? I thought she was meeting us here.”
“Why? Did you talk to her? Did she tell you that?”
“No…I just thought since she didn’t come to Zumba this morning that she’d meet us here. What’s going on?”
Julianne sighed and cursed the sting of tears that threatened to fall. “We had a fight the other night and…I don’t know…things just got a little out of hand and she stormed off and told me she wasn’t coming this week.”
“What’d you fight about?”
She snorted. “Everything. It just seemed to snowball and I know I was just being unreasonable – partly because of how frustrated I’ve been and why I was taking the kickboxing lesson – and I took it out on her.”
Kayla hugged her before taking a step back. “I’m sure she poked at you a little too. It’s how you two are. You rarely fight but when you do, it’s a two-way thing. I’m sure she’ll cool down and everything will be fine.”
“I don’t know,” Julianne said. “This whole thing with my mom harping on her about the engagements is really getting to her. And me. Gavin suggested sitting my parents down and talking to them about it.”
“Sounds like a good idea…”
“They’re coming for dinner tomorrow,” Julianne said flatly.
“And that doesn’t make you happy?”
She shook her head.
“But…why? This seems like a good thing. You and Gavin make an excellent tag team. When things get awkward for you, he’ll step in and help out. Plus, your parents love him and normally listen to everything he says. So really, I’d suggest letting him do all the talking!”
Julianne chuckled. She knew Kayla was trying to cheer her up, but she was also right. Her parents did seem to take everything Gavin said as gospel and tended to listen to him more than anyone.
“Feel better?” Kayla asked hopefully.
But she didn’t. “Either way, my sister’s not here. I’m supposed to pick my wedding gown today and Harper’s not here to help. We always talked about this day and she’s given me great advice so far. She has impeccable taste and has steered me away from things I thought looked good but in reality, didn’t…”
“So call her!” Kayla looked over her shoulder. “Hailey’s got everyone entertained at the moment so why don’t you go outside, calm down and call Harper. I’m sure if you just extended the olive branch, she’d hop in her car and come right over.”
She had to think about that for a moment. For the last several days, Julianne knew she really hadn’t put much effort into reaching out to Harper. Partly because she was still mad, but mainly because she was being a brat.
“Come on, Jules. What have you got to lose?”
“She could tell me to fuck off,” Julianne countered.
“Oh, please. When was the last time Harper said that to you?”
“Under her breath on Tuesday night when she stormed off.”
Kayla arched a brow at her as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Really?”
“Well…the look she gave me clearly said that.”
“Jules…”
“Okay, okay. Fine. I’ll try. But…don’t tell anyone I’m doing it. I don’t want…”
“Julianne Marie Burke…”
Uh-oh. Too late.
“These nice ladies have a beautiful assortment of gowns waiting for you. What is the holdup?”
“Um…sorry, Mom. I just needed a minute to talk to Kayla.”
“I raised you to be more respectful than that,” her mother said. “It’s bad enough that your sister didn’t have the decency to show up today. You’d think after all the times we all had to go dress shopping with her…”
“Twice!” Julianne snapped. “We went dress shopping with Harper twice. Why do you do that?”
Her mother blinked at her in confusion. “Do what?”
“Exaggerate? Make it sound worse than it was? Yes, Harper’s been engaged three times but you make it sound like she ran out on the day of the wedding each time! It wasn’t like that and you know it!”
“Maybe wait until tomorrow…” Kayla said under her breath, turning her back on Mrs. Burke.
“Julianne, that is just ridiculous. I do not do that!” her mother said defensively.
“You just did! You just stood here and made it sound as if you’d made dozens of trips to shop for gowns with Harper when, in fact, it was two times! And one of them was when we were looking for prom dresses for me and Harper was with us and they happened to have a bridal section at the boutique!”
“Julianne…”
“And if you’ll remember correctly, Harper didn’t want to try on dresses. You talked her into it! You picked out the dresses! You practically wrestled her into a fitting room!”
Hailey and Angie came walking out toward them. “Is everything all right out here?” Angie asked nervously.
Kayla looked between mother and daughter and then to Angie and Hailey. “They’re fine. Just a little misunderstanding.” She sighed. “Jules? Why don’t you go and make your call while your mom and I head back over to the sitting room and have some coffee?”
With her heart beating madly, she couldn’t speak. She simply nodded. As they were all walking away, she heard Kayla ask, “So there’s muffins, right? Chocolate chip?”
Julianne rolled her eyes. How it was possible that Kayla was still in such great shape when she ate like a teenage boy going through a growth spurt was beyond her.
Unfortunately, she had more important things to think about, like calling Harper. She knew everyone was waiting for her but until she got things cleared up, it was pointless to try on anything. Pulling her phone from her purse, she pulled up her sister’s number and hit send.
And crossed her fingers that they’d be able to move on from this.
****
“I am a glutton for punishment. I am a glutton for punishment. I am a glutton for punishment.” Harper chanted as she walked across the Enchanted Bridal parking lot. Thirty minutes ago, Juliane called and really, it was the kick in the ass she needed because she had been sitting at home – fully dressed with her hair and makeup done – debating on whether or not to just get in her car and go to the damn shop so she could see her little sister look like a princess.
So she’d take the verbal abuse from her mother, go home later and eat her weight in cheese dip, then call it a day.
Not like that hadn’t happened before.
And not like it won’t happen again.
Although her sister swore to her that she’d had “firm words” – her words, not Harper’s – with their mother right before calling, Harper was kind of curious to see if it would change anything.
Maybe for today.
It would probably be back to the same old, same old by Monday but if she could have even just one snark-free day, she’d take it.
As she walked through the doors of Enchanted Bridal, it was as if Julianne was watching for her. She was still dressed in her casual clothes – well, her black skinny jeans, high leather boots and ivory sweater. Harper’s usual casual clothes meant yoga pants and a hoodie – and she’d look sloppy – but Julianne would still manage to make that ensemble look glamorous.
It was a cross she’d learned to bear.
Harper stood in the lobby and watched as her sister came running toward her and grabbed her in a fierce hug. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered fiercely. “Thank you.”
And…shit. Now she was going to cry. They both were. It was what they did and then they’d get reprimanded for ruining their makeup. Not that she was going to mention it right now – not with the promise of a well-behaved shopping endeavor. There was no way she was going to be the one to start throwing negative comments around.
“I was sitting at home hating myself,” Harper said quietly when they pulled apart. “I hated the thought of you finding your gown and me not being there to see it on you first.”
“Okay, then,” Julianne said, wiping away her tears. “Let’s go find me a gown.”
“Deal.” They walked back to where the rest of the group was and as Harper said her hellos and kissed her grandmother, aunt and Gavin’s mother, she felt the tell-tale dread building up as she got closer to her mother.
Just say hello, she silently willed. Just smile and say hello and leave it at that. Please.
“Hi, Mom,” she said cheerily as she bent down to kiss her mother on the cheek.
“So glad you could make it, Harper,” her mother said and to the casual observer, it was a perfectly fine comment, but Harper heard the backhanded endearment for what it was.
“Do you need help with the first dress?” she asked her sister rather than respond to her mother.
“Why don’t you have a mimosa?” Hailey asked with a serene smile, almost as if she knew why Harper was ready to flee the room. “There’s a tray of them over next to Kayla. We’ve got everything ready for you, Julianne. Penny and I will help you get into the gowns.” Then she addressed the group. “You each have a notepad and pen by you. Please make notes on each of the gowns because if Julianne can’t decide and she needs your input, you’ll remember which dress was which, okay?”
Everyone nodded and Harper made her way over to the sofa where Kayla and Natalie were sitting.
Oh, yeah.
Natalie.
That was going to be an interesting conversation.
Harper had been so consumed with her argument with her sister that she hadn’t paid too much attention to the half-naked picture of Natalie she’d received. She knew immediately that it was a wrong text and chose to ignore it. Judging by the way Natalie was biting her lip and trying not to look like in Harper’s direction, she knew they weren’t going to just ignore it and let it go. She almost wanted to bang her head against the wall and ask why – why did they even have to discuss it? So Natalie likes to send her husband sexy texts. So what? Good for them that they do that! And really, kudos to Natalie for looking so great. If anything, Harper had a newfound admiration for her – she had a great body, impressive confidence and she clearly wasn’t as uptight as Harper thought she was.
There was definitely going to be a conversation.
Hopefully much later and after a few more mimosas.
Julianne and Hailey left the room to try on the first gown and Harper sat back with her glass and relaxed. Turning to Kayla, she smiled. “How was class this morning?”
“I can’t believe you skipped out on it,” Kayla replied with a pout.
“It’s the first time I’ve done that. Hell, I even came that time when I had the flu.”
“Sure, that one you refused to miss…”
Something was on Kayla’s mind and it hit Harper how this was not just going to be a fun, carefree time watching her sister model dresses. It seemed some serious conversations and therapy were going to go down today too.
Before she asked Kayla anything else, she reached for a muffin, shifted in her seat to get comfortable and took a sip of her drink. “Okay, what’s going on? Did you get a new assignment?”
Kayla nodded. “Nevada for a week. I leave on Tuesday.”
“Oh. Okay. And you don’t want to go to Nevada?” she asked curiously. Could that really be why Kayla was…off?
She shook her head. “I don’t mind going to Nevada – normally – but this assignment is something any photographer can do. Not to be a snob but…it’s a little beneath me.”
Ah. Okay, now she knew where this was going. “So you’re upset because Adam gave you a crappy assignment.”
Another nod.
“Did you tell him that? Did you say no way or that you’d do this as a favor to him but you wanted the next big thing to come up?”
This time Kayla shook her head and Harper saw the tears in her eyes.
Oh. Shit.
“This isn’t really just about the assignment, is it?” she asked softly.
“Dammit,” Kayla whispered as she wiped her eyes. “I thought I’d be cried out by now.”
This time Natalie turned toward them and silently handed Kayla a tissue.
With a murmured thanks, Kayla blotted her face, let out a weary sigh and then told them about her meeting with Adam. When she was done, both Harper and Natalie let out a similar sigh as they sat back.
“Damn,” Harper said. “A crappy assignment and a break up.”
“You should have taken the phone from his hand and smashed it against the wall right before kneeing him in the balls,” Natalie said as she reached for a fresh mimosa.
Harper didn’t need to look at Kayla to know her expression was just as shocked as her own. “I think we may need to watch how many of those she has,” she whispered to Kayla, who nodded in agreement.
“I was too shocked to react,” Kayla began. “I mean, my head was spinning from all of it. It’s not that Adam and I were so in love or anything, but I kind of expected…I don’t know…I didn’t expect it to end this way.”
“No one knows how a relationship is going to end,” Natalie said sadly. “One minute you think everything’s fine and everyone’s happy, and the next…it’s just done. No explanation. No reason for why feelings change.”
Another exchanged glance between Harper and Kayla silently conveyed that while Kayla’s issue was hard on her, whatever was going on with Natalie needed an immediate intervention.
“Nat, what happened? Are things okay between you and Jayce?” Kayla asked.
“Okay, everyone!” Hailey called out excitedly. “Get your notepads and pens ready because here comes Julianne with gown number one!”
All three of them on the sofa groaned because the timing sucked.
“We’re not done with this,” Harper whispered hastily as she put down the muffin and grabbed the pen. “As soon as Jules goes back to change, we’ll come back to this. Natalie? You’re up first so be prepared to share a condensed version of what’s going on at home!”
And then Julianne stepped into the middle of the room wearing a strapless gown that had the biggest skirt Harper had ever seen – very Cinderella-ish. It wasn’t the dress – she knew that immediately – but she caught her sister’s eye in the mirror and smiled.
At least someone here today was happy and settled and on her way to a happily ever after.
****
By the time Julianne came out in her twelfth gown, Harper already knew which one was her favorite – the third one. It was so unlike anything she ever would have envisioned for her sister and yet when she’d walked out in it, Harper just knew it was the one.
She’d secretly given Julianne the thumbs up in the mirror and she knew by her smile that she felt the same way too.
The gown was more pink than white – which Harper heard her mother negatively comment on because, “Wedding gowns should be white…”
Yeah, well…and Harper used to think that way too, but something about this gown just screamed Julianne’s name and it looked amazing on her. As Hailey had described it, the gown had illusion sleeves, floral appliqués and a tiered blush-hued ball gown skirt. The neckline was a plunging V-neck – another thing that had their mother shaking her head and making tsking sounds – but it didn’t seem to faze Julianne. Hailey finished up her description of the gown as if she knew it was the one and was trying to build excitement up for it – “A simple A-line wedding dress meets whimsical shimmering embellishments. And if the pretty-in-pink hologram sheath doesn't make you break into a smile, we don't know what will!”
Every gown did look good on Julianne – she just had the perfect figure for modeling wedding gowns. But it was the third one that really seemed to make her shine. So with her job done, Harper put her pad and pen down, finished her third mimosa and sat back to relax. They didn’t have much time to talk in between gowns like she’d hoped. Every time Jules went to change, Angie came out to talk to them as a group about the gown and gave examples of helpful comments versus what they should all keep to themselves.
God, she really wanted this woman to come to a family dinner with the Burkes!
The most they’d managed to get out of Natalie was how Jayce was taking her for granted because he opted to watch some sort of game on TV instead of having a romantic dinner with her. And as sympathetic as Harper was, she had a feeling this may be a slight exaggeration on Natalie’s part. There had to be more to the story.
Julianne had stepped down and went back to the dressing room to put her own clothes back on and they were all advised to come up with their favorite, which Harper had already done. Then when Julianne came out, they’d discuss all of the gowns.
It was all very diplomatic.
Julianne wasn’t going to say what her pick was until after they had all discussed each of the dresses individually. The theory behind this plan was so the group wasn’t swayed by what Julianne wanted. Hailey was confident that Julianne wouldn’t be swayed too much by the comments her friends and family made.
Seemed like a great plan.
And when Julianne came out and Hailey started directing the conversation – surprise, surprise – their mother was the most vocal.
“The first dress was the one, Julianne,” she said. “It was the perfect princess gown and I can see you in a tiara and veil along with your grandmother’s pearl choker. You’re going to look beautiful in it!”
But her sister had merely smiled and helped herself to a mimosa, listening as everyone explained their pros and cons for that particular gown. She caught Harper’s eye at one point and winked.
She’s missed her all week and was so relieved that they were okay now and that she wasn’t missing this. Julianne wasn’t the kind of person who let anyone make her decisions for her. She rarely let anyone sway her decisions. But Harper had a feeling that if it came down to it and she wasn’t here and their mother was, their mother would almost bully Julianne into agreeing with her.
Well not today!
It wasn’t easy to contain her excitement when they discussed the third gown – the gown – but Harper liked to hold her cards close to her chest and not give anything away.
Mainly because she knew if her mother even sniffed that this was the dress she was voting for, she would have done her best to shoot it down.
On and on and on it went until they went through them all. Everyone was on their best behavior and part of her had hoped for at least some drama – other than her mother’s exuberant declaration over the first dress – and that Natalie would chime in with some wedding knowledge as “someone who was most recently a bride.” But she didn’t.
And that’s when Harper really, really knew that something was wrong with her. Maybe it wasn’t just her exaggerating about Jayce choosing television over date night. And now she kind of felt bad for all the times she picked on her.
And mocked her.
And tripped her that one time at Zumba.
Damn. Way to load up on guilt when she was feeling so good!
“Julianne,” Hailey began, “we’ve gone through all of the gowns you tried on and you’ve heard what everyone here thinks. Do you feel like you found your gown today or do we need to keep looking?”
“Oh, Lord…please let her have found her dress today!” their grandmother called out and everyone laughed.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think it was going to happen today,” Julianne said. “I figured I’d come and try the gowns on and have to think about it a bunch before I knew what I wanted. But somehow, you managed to find my perfect gown!”
They all cheered and Harper had to laugh as Kayla gripped her arm while waiting for Julianne’s decision. It was very un-Kayla-like and yet that only made it better. She squeezed her back as they leaned forward and waited for Julianne to say which one she picked.
Not that Harper had any doubt in her mind.
She just hoped she could refrain from jumping up and high-fiving her sister while shouting something like “In your face!” to their mother.
That image almost made her laugh out loud.
“For me, I knew as soon as I slipped it on and did that first turn in the dressing room,” Julianne went on. “It’s the third one with the illusion sleeves. It was just…it was so different and so unique that I immediately fell in love!”
And then Harper did stand up and go over to hug her. She couldn’t help it. And when she felt the urge to turn and taunt their mom, she opted to squeeze her sister a little tighter instead.
And that was just as satisfying.