Page 10 of Simply Irresistible
I stepped off the train in Port Jefferson and peered through the crowd, looking for Meredith. We were meeting today to look at wedding dresses. She wasn’t in a rush to get married, didn’t even have a date picked out yet, but she told me she’d always dreamed about her wedding dress and couldn’t wait another second to go try some on. As long as she didn’t make me try on anything hideous, I didn’t mind one bit. I spotted Meredith’s curly red hair just as she saw me and waved. I ran up to her and gave her a big hug. It had been a few months since I’d last seen her, and I’d missed my friend.
“You look amazing,” she said, stepping back and looking me up and down. “Is this one of yours?” she asked, gesturing to my dress. It was a yellow sundress with cap sleeves and some white lacing around the waist and the hemline.
“Yeah. It’s not part of any of the collections I’ve been working on recently, just something I put together.”
“Just something I put together,”she mimicked. “Well, it’s fabulous. You look happy, too.”
“Thanks; so do you. Being engaged seems to agree with you.” Meredith grinned, then fanned herself with her left hand, showing off the huge rock on her ring finger. “Let me see that!” I said, grabbing her hand. Wow, the diamond had to be two carats. Keith, her fiancé, had spared no expense.
“He did good, right?”
“He did good,” I confirmed. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. What is that?”
“Huh?” I looked around for what she was talking about.
“That,” she pointed, “hanging out of your bag.”
“Oh, it’s my Walkman,” I said, tucking it deeper into my bag so it didn’t fall out.
“YourWalkman? You still have one of those? Of course, you do. I can’t believe you still listen to cassette tapes, Mel.” She turned and began walking to the parking lot. I followed behind her as she continued her monologue. “You know they make those old albums of yours on CD. You can even buy them digitally, then you wouldn’t have to worry about storing the tapes. You don’t have a lot of space in your tiny apartment; I’m surprised you would waste space like that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll have you know I don’t have some massive collection of cassette tapes lurking beneath my bed as you seem to think.” I did still have a small handful of cassette tapes but only of the things I hadn’t been able to find on iTunes. They were tucked neatly underneath my bed with my Walkman for easy access when I needed a fix. “I have my Walkman today because Tyler made me a mix tape.”
Meredith stopped in her tracks and spun to face me. “Are you for real right now?”
“What?”
“He made you a mix tape?”
“So what?” I said, starting to feel defensive. “I happened to think it was a very sweet gesture.”
“That might be the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, it wouldn’t be if you two weren’t…well…nerdy like that, but since you are, it’s so cute!”
“I don’t know if I should thank you or be offended.”
Meredith waved off my comment and continued walking. “It was a compliment, Mel. You guys sound like a great match. So what was on the mix tape?”
“Nineties music. Some of his favorites, I guess.”
“Like what?”
“Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys.” Those who were the last two bands I’d heard before getting off the train.
She stopped again. “Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys?”
“There’s some Metallica and Nirvana on it, too.” She started walking again. “I want to make him an eighties mix, but I don’t have a stereo to do it on.”
“Or you can do what all the cool kids are doing these days and make a playlist on Spotify.”
“Or I can do that.”
“So you had a nice date?” she asked once we were settled in the car.
“Yeah. We had a really nice time, and it was casual, which was great. I was comfortable. I didn’t feel like I had to put on a show, you know?”
“I don’t miss that about dating at all. Always feeling like you’re up for a job interview.”
