Page 82 of Crazy for You

Emma turned in confusion. “What?”

Gabby held up the dress Emma had been admiring earlier, the one with the pink, beaded flowers across the bodice. “I promise I’ll never tell anyone, least of all Ryan, but will you try it on? For me?”

“Oh no. I really shouldn’t.” Because what if she loved it? A wedding was nowhere on her horizon.

“Just for fun,” Gabby said. “Come on.” She lifted the dress from its hanger and spun it so that the chiffon skirt twirled around her legs.

“All right. Just for fun. No pictures.” She pointed a finger in Gabby’s direction.

Gabby pouted.

Feeling slightly ridiculous, Emma slipped out of her T-shirt and shorts and stepped into the dress. Gabby zipped it up and clipped the back, as Emma had just done for her.

“Open your eyes, silly,” Gabby said from behind her.

Emma hadn’t even realized she’d closed them, but now she peeked through her lashes at the mirror. And gasped.

“Wow,” Gabby said, one hand pressed to her mouth.

Yeah. Wow. It was perfect. The pink flowers added a splash of color, and the chiffon skirt was delicate and feminine, but not too dressy. It would be perfect for a mountaintop wedding.

“When you get engaged,” Gabby said, “you’ve got to come and try on this dress again.”

“Maybe.” Emma resisted the urge to twirl in front of the mirror the way Gabby had. Because she wasn’t getting married, and this was craziness.

“We’ll come back here and pick out a whole room full of dresses for you to try on just like I did today,” Gabby said. “But I bet this is the one.”

Emma let herself fantasize for a moment about the vision Gabby had put in her head, of her walking down the aisle in this dress. Of Ryan waiting for her at the other end, looking so dashing in a tux… She was so busy daydreaming she didn’t even notice Gabby holding up her cell phone until it was too late.

Click.

“I said no pictures!” Emma felt her cheeks flush hot.

“But we need to be able to remember which dress it was,” Gabby said with a shrug and a grin, leaning over to take a picture of the tag. She straightened and snapped several more pictures of Emma in the dress before she could stop her.

“You could have just written it down!” Emma scrambled out of the dress and hung it up before Gabby got any more carried away.

“What fun would that be?” Gabby said, not even trying to hide the smug look on her face. “Okay, lunch. And then to the spa.”

Two hours later—after a sushi lunch and hot stone massages—Emma and Gabby lay soaking side by side in tubs fed by Haven’s famous natural hot springs. Emma sank lower in the water, letting it work out any last kinks in her muscles.

“So great,” she said, eyes closed and totally blissed out.

“Mm-hmm,” Gabby said from beside her. “I do this about once a month.”

“Really?”

“Yep. It sure has been good for my soul.”

Legend said that the natural minerals in Haven’s hot springs could calm your soul. Emma’s soul didn’t generally need calming, but these last few months were a different story. She’d been tied up in knots ever since the night Ryan had given her a ride home from The Drunken Bear. The night her friends had dared her to shake things up, and boy had she ever.

Spring in Haven segued into summer in a frantic rush. Artful Blooms always saw a surge in business once the weather warmed up, and although Lucas and Mary would be retiring in just a few months, business hadn’t yet started to taper off. The memorial had been installed last week, and Emma spent most mornings working on the gardens that would surround it. It would officially be unveiled on July first, just over two weeks away.

She’d barely seen Ryan this week either; he was so busy at Off-the-Grid. Busy was good, though, for both of them. Busy kept her mind off things, including the fact that she’d put a deposit on an apartment outside Atlanta last week. Leaving Haven felt so bittersweet, but she was a believer that everything happened for a reason. Hopefully, in this case, it meant big things were waiting for her in Georgia.

As for Ryan? He couldn’t leave Haven, not now that he had Off-the-Grid. She’d be more than willing to try a long-distance relationship, but only if he was ready to make a commitment. She wasn’t going to let him rip her heart slowly to shreds by coming home to Haven over school vacations so that they could have casual sex.

Nope. She needed a commitment or a clean break.

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