Page 66 of Gracefully Yours

The thought about going with Gabbi to her home when I hadn’t even been home to see my family in years settled weird in my gut. “Maybe,” I said instead.

Thinking about my family also led me to the very real realization that when I got home from this trip, I’d have less than a week until they were in town for my wedding.

Maybe we should have just eloped,I groaned internally to myself.

But I’d always wanted that magical fairytale wedding. I only had a few final touches left on the dress I was making myself. It was everything I’d dreamed about since I was old enough to dream about my wedding.

“Are you ready for next week?” Angelina asked, looking at me, apparently able to read my train of thoughts. She didn’t have the best relationship with her parents, either, and I knew it was rough after her mom had remarried. Daniel didn’t talk too much about it, but the two of them had each other, and I was glad Daniel was closer with his dad. “I can’t believe how soon the wedding is.”

“Almost. I still have to finish my veil.” I’d almost forgotten until I was picking up my shoes last week, and then I’d gone crazy, trying to make the perfect one. It was glittery, with little pearls spaced throughout, that matched the ones in the middle of the flowers on my dress and hem.

I was just glad we’d ordered the bridesmaid dresses.

Angelina huffed a small laugh. “I remember how jittery I was the week before Benjamin and I’s wedding. I barely got any sleep until he started wearing me out.” She winked.

I blushed. God, that certainly wasn’t happening. I pushed those thoughts out of my head. After we’d slept together in front of the fireplace, we hadn’t mentioned it again. Not that or our conversation about my birth control.

“Happy to say I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow,” I joked instead. “Besides, I’ve been sewing so much tulle when I shut my eyes, all I see is white sparkles. I think they might be embedded in the carpet forever.” And in my skin, but I didn’t really mind that.

Besides pink, glitter was my favorite color. Taylor Swift had said that once, and I wholeheartedly agreed.

“I’m glad we eloped,” Angelina mused. “I can’t imagine how stressed I would have been if we’d gotten married at home.

I was glad we were having a small wedding for the same reason. Our close friends and immediate family would be here, sure, but neither one of us had a bunch of cousins we were close with. So my friends from the dance studio would be there, Daniel’s close engineer friends, and some other college friends we’d kept in touch with. I liked it that way.

“When Hunter and I get married, I just want to have it on the beach,” Gabbi said, leaning her head against the top of the couch and looking up at the ceiling. “Small. Intimate. Beautiful.”

“We’ll be there.” We all agreed with a smile, and I looked around the room at my best friends, the girls I’d spent almost a decade of my life with, and my heart was filled with so much love.

“I love you three,” I said, trying not to let my eyes fill with tears.

“Same,” Gabbi agreed.

Noelle’s smile lit up her face. “I love you too. You’re like the three sisters I always wanted.”

We all piled into a group hug until Angelina rolled her eyes with a smile. “Okay, okay, enough sappiness.” Noelle, Gabbi and I laughed. “But I love you all too.”

There was no place in life I’d rather be as long as they were at my side.

And when the guys came back from the mountain a few hours later, and they settled at our sides, I knew the same went for them, as well.

That we’d built something special here that went beyond just regular friendship.

And maybe… What Daniel and I had was enough.

* * *

A week later,I was wearing a knee length sparkly dress, surrounded by my friends in the fanciest hotel ballroom I could imagine for my bridal shower.

In hindsight, telling my mom that she could plan it since I wouldn’t let her help with the wedding wasn’t the best idea. Especially after Noelle had tried to insist that she could do it, but my mom had signed up for it, anyway.

I should have saidno. We could have done it at one of our houses, a small, casual affair with just my closest friends.

If I’d had my way, I wouldn’t have even had a shower. It wasn’t like I really needed one. Daniel and I had both chosen not to have bachelor or bachelorette parties, besides the night at the bar during the ski trip. What was the point?

We were getting married because we didn’twantto be single, so celebrating one last night of being single was, well… dumb. But I was just glad that no one had protested in the friend group. We’d gone all out for Angelina and Benjamin’s wedding, so it was nice to go more low-key for ours. One big event per year was enough for me.

But, no. And since I’d given my mom such little notice (as she liked to remind me, five times a day), they’d planned it for the week before the wedding. Meaning they were up here in Portland for the entire week. It was the first time my mom and sister were visiting me in years. I’d had enough time to get used to it, to the fact that when I’d chosen to stay here with my best friends, with Daniel, they’d practically written me off.

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