Page 20 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

"Yeah. Let’s do that," I reached into my suitcase and stacked everything as nicely as I could on the bed. Mandi was doing the same, but was obviously trapped in her thoughts. "So, your dad is friends with my dad?" I hoped the question was the right way to go about this. Talking about him in a positive light would possibly change her mood and pull her away from the negative thoughts.

"Yeah, they go way back. Didn't realize it was your dad though until recently. It would have been hilarious to know my classmate was my dad's best friend's daughter. Then again, because of moving with the Navy and my mom fighting over custody, it wasn't like I was in class long enough for us to get that close either.”

“Could you imagine though?” I closed my eyes and imagined how dorky I was back then and how socially backward I had been, Like so many other teenagers at that age. "You might have started dating my brother, and instead of it being Amanda, you would have been the fiancée."

Mandi made what sounded like a combination of a choke, gag, and laugh all at once. "Date your brother? As if. I'm sorry, Kim, but between us, I don't think your brother is all that attractive."

I give a mocking pout, "But he looks so much like me. Are you saying I'm ugly too?"

"No!" she said with a sarcastic tone. "But that's my point. You both look too much alike. I'd feel like I was kissing a scruffy version of you."

I laughed and tossed two shirts into a drawer, "Yeah, he was pretty scruffy back then."

"More like trying to grow as much of a beard as he could muster."

"Hey now, he was proud of those baby hairs."

"All boys were. Didn't make it attractive."

I raised a pretend glass, "I can say amen to that."

We both burst out into laughter. Tears welled at the corners of my eyes and my stomach started to hurt from how hard I was laughing, "Alright, I think it's about time we stop talking shit about the groom-to-be. It's probably bad luck or something."

"Probably," Mandi finished putting her last pair of pants inside her drawer. "Guess you need to take a shower?" she gave a slight knowing smirk. "I'm sure you smell enough like the mystery guy from last night since you were gone all night."

I blushed and turned away, "You're probably right." The idea of smelling like Jared was appealing, but also terrifying at the same time. Especially if she recognized her father's cologne. "Yeah, I'll hop in the shower for a minute. You ok with waiting for me?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

I stoodin the middle of the racks with arms full of different shirts and dresses. Since none of the clothes fit my style, I became everyone else's assistant while they shopped. So much of it was them deciding it wasn't flattering enough or showing off too much skin. The last part didn't make much sense to me until one of the bridesmaids came out screaming that she could practically glow in the dark with how pale her legs were.

"It's not that bad," I tried to reassure her.

She shook her head and ran back into the dressing room and tossed the dress over the door. "No, I'll stick with something a bit longer."

I sighed and shook my head, "I'm glad you chose for us to wear something long, Amanda. Not sure how we would survive everyone glowing at night while taking evening pictures."

Amanda laughed and took some of the clothes out of my hands. She wasn't spending much on the shopping either since she planned to go on an extended honeymoon with Carl later and they needed to save some of their money.

"I would have paid for everyone to get spray tans if it was needed. Don't worry. I'm not going to make anyone uncomfortable during the wedding."

I could respect Amanda for her consideration of our comfort. This was meant to be her big day with Carl, but she had still made time and room for everyone to feel at peace at the wedding. She was the complete opposite of a bridezilla, who hated if someone even had a piece of hair out of place or gained a few extra pounds before the wedding.

"Amanda!" her mom yelled from across the store. "We need to get going."

We all looked at our watches and phones at the same time, as if we needed to confirm with her the time. At that moment, there was a silent acknowledgment between everyone. I tossed the clothes I was still holding, onto a rack by the changing room for the employees to sort through while everyone else hurried to the checkout counter to finish paying for the clothes they had picked out.

I met everyone outside in front of the store, still trying to catch my breath. While most days it would have been ok to take our time leaving the store, the rehearsal wasn't something we could be late for. We had a specific block of time for it, before the area would be opened back up to the public. At that point, it would be easier to just play pretend in the ballroom at the resort instead of outside.

Unlike yesterday when we had the limo, today our rides involved an oversized white van that Amanda's mom drove. It wasn't exactly cost-efficient to spend the entire week going around in a limo with a personal driver. The van was more accommodating, especially when we wanted to be more flexible with our time or go off to other places, or if we wanted to park anywhere. You couldn't exactly park a limo comfortably in smaller parking lots, or places that were over-packed.

I sat toward the back so the others could squeeze in after me. Amanda sat in the front with her mom. Her aviator sunglasses hid almost half her face and gave off a look of royalty despite where we were. I was almost jealous she could present herself that way while I was awkwardly stuffed like a sardine with the other girls.

The drive wasn't too bad. Most of us listened to some older music from the 80’s and 90’s while singing along together. The buildings slowly turned from plain brick buildings to more beach house styles. I stared at them all in wonder, imagining myself staying in one of them, just steps from the beach, and waking up every morning, to almost always sunny weather.

We pulled off into an oversized parking lot and a sigh of relief passed through the van as we realized we were finally there.

"Ok ladies, we don't have much time to rehearse," Amanda's mom turned a little so she could see most of us from the driver's seat. "So we need to get this taken care of so we can leave. I don't need to be attacked by sand from kids running around. Leave that for our beach day." A small smile spread across her face, crinkling the corners of her eyes before she put on her pair of aviators that matched Amanda's.

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