Always the Designer, Never the Bride Page 3

  Jack, he bowled,

  and Jill rock-n-rolled,

  and all their friends sang badly.

  Join us for a Jack-and-Jill bachelor/bachelorette party

  the night before our wedding.

  There will be bowling, dancing, great food,

  and——YES, FRIENDS——

  there will be karaoke!

  Happy Days in Sandy Springs

  Friday night at 7:00

  It's a 1950s sock-hop theme, folks,

  so everyone should come in costume!

  Dig out your saddle shoes and grease up your pompadours.

  BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

  2

  Before they headed for the door, Sherilyn received a call on her cell phone from someone in the hotel. When she hung up no more than a minute later, she announced that Emma wanted to see her right away, and the group of them headed downstairs.

  "Ooh, I'm so glad you're both here!" Carly cried as she led Audrey through the swinging kitchen door. "I want you to meet my BFF, Audrey Regan. Audrey, this is Emma Rae Travis and Fee Bianchi."

  Emma greeted her with a broad and welcoming smile. "We've heard so much about you, Audrey. Glad to meet you."

  "Dude," the more solemn of the two declared, looking at Audrey over the bridge of square black-rimmed glasses. "The dress you made is smokin'."

  "Is there anyone you haven't shown it to?" she asked Carly with a giggle. "Do you not care in the least about the element of surprise?" She tilted her head and sighed as Emma grinned at her. "So she's modeled it for you both as well?"

  "Twice," Fee divulged.

  Emma chuckled. "Speaking of dresses," she directed at Sherilyn, "you'll never guess in a million years what has arrived."

  Sherilyn grimaced. "I don't know. What?"

  "Wait for it," Fee remarked as she moved a tray holding several unassembled cake layers to the refrigerator. "She'll catch up any minute."

  Sherilyn thought it over for a moment. Then a light began to dawn, and she gasped. "Are you kidding me?"

  "Nope."

  "No way!"

  "Way!" Emma blurted. "It arrived this morning, all packaged up in plastic and folded up like nothing more delicate than a beach towel."

  "How weird is that?" Sherilyn cried.

  Carly looked from one to the other curiously. "What? What's going on?"

  "Sherilyn got married last New Year's Eve." Fee looked like that should explain everything.

  "Oh." Carly and Audrey exchanged quick glances. "Congratulations."

  "In the weeks leading up to the nuptials," Sherilyn chimed in, "I was somewhat . . . bridal gown-challenged."

  "It was freakish," Emma explained. "She had the first dress—"

  "The first?" Audrey clarified with a chuckle.

  "—shipped from Chicago, and it never arrived. So we went shopping for a second dress, which was altered and delivered, supposedly, but—"

  "No!"

  "Yes! And no one could locate it. Pearl finally found it a month later, hanging on the back of the door in the restaurant office!"

  "It took them a month to find it there?" Carly asked.

  "They never close the door, so no one ever saw it hanging there."

  "Why the restaurant?" Audrey inquired. "That's a strange place to hang a bridal gown."

  "That's the question of the year!" Sherilyn chuckled.

  "But Sher wore her mother-in-law's Dior when she and Andy got married," Emma told them, "so—"

  "Bridal serendipity," Audrey said with a grin, and Emma nodded. "I love when that happens."

  Carly moved over to the counter and plucked a flowershaped cookie from where it cooled, plopping it into her mouth. "My dress is one-of-a-kind," she announced, curling slightly as she leaned back against the counter and grinned. "Aud took it straight out of my dreams and made it a reality. The one thing, the only thing really, that I've ever truly wanted is to have a wedding gown that was completely unique to me. No one else ever had or ever would wear that very same dress. And she made it happen for me. It's the best wedding gift I could have gotten, from the best friend I've ever had."

  "Carly is very once-upon-a-time," Audrey told them as her friend beamed at her. "She's been planning her wedding since we were kids. When Devon got his orders and had to ship out, they rushed down to city hall and got married. I seriously couldn't believe it when she told me! This, from the girl who had been planning a royal wedding since the day she could walk in high heels."

  "From the look of things, she's turned it into a happily-everafter," Sherilyn observed.

  "You gotta love that," Fee commented.

  Audrey watched her friend beam at them until she almost couldn't stand the glare of it and had to look away. Carly almost looked like an excited first-time bride!

  Audrey recalled the giddy phone call she'd received the night before Devon shipped out for his last assignment to the Middle East.

  "Guess what!" Carly had bubbled. "We got married!"

  She could hardly believe it. Carly had been chasing the fairy tale with steel-like focus on the trip down the aisle and the big white dress, for as long as they'd known one another.

  "Caroline! What about the big wedding?"

  "I can't let him go away again without pledging him everything I am, Aud. Really, as long as I have the husband," Carly had said with a sigh, "the wedding can wait until later."

  And wait it had! Carly had channeled all of her energies into planning the festivities. Rather than thinking about where Devon was and what he might be facing, she thought about preparing a home to which he could return, and about living out the dream of the dress, the cake, the flowers, and the guests. It was really the only way she could face the knowledge of him on another extended trip into harm's way. And now it was time for the happy ending Carly had been dreaming about since the first grade.

  Audrey tried not to wonder if there might be a happily-everafter of her own out there somewhere, reminding herself to just be happy for her friend's success, but Audrey had turned thirty years old on her last birthday. Aside from a couple of relationships that survived longer than a few months but never more than a year, she had very little to show for her pursuit of romantic happiness.

  Not that she'd been actually pursuing it so much as just hoping it might stumble upon her while she cemented her design career. Carly, on the other hand, had brushed professional ambition aside ever since college in deference to an organized plan to find Prince Charming. After years of speed dating, online matchmaker sites, basketball games and gym memberships, who knew she would find him sitting next to her at the dentist's office? It was almost simple enough to laugh about.

  "Now we need to find someone for Audrey," Carly remarked, drawing Audrey back into their conversation.

  "How about J. R.?" Sherilyn suggested. "You guys should have seen the way he was checking her out at lunch."

  "Oh, no you don't!" Audrey warned them. "Don't go dragging me into this macabre bridal cult you've got going here."

  "Oh, come on," Fee said seriously, staring at her over the top of her glasses, raising one arched eyebrow under short ebony bangs. "Join us. You know you want to."

  Audrey raised both hands, making a cross out of her index fingers. "Get back, I warn you. I have garlic and a Single & Loving It T-shirt, and I'm not afraid to use them."

  "Join us, join us, join us." Fee led them into a sort of chant, and they all followed, slowly closing the circle around her.

  Audrey covered her head with both arms and shrank away from them, cackling at the absurdity of it all.

  "Join us, join us, join us."

  "So how is it, being back home on American soil?"

  "Better than I have words to tell you," Devon replied. "Hand me the slip-joint pliers."

  J. R. grabbed the tool from the rusty red box on the counter and extended it toward Devon, who lay sprawled under the sink.

  "I appreciate you hanging with me today, J. R. I just want to make sure I get all of these piddly lit
tle things done before the wedding. We've got four days afterward for a honeymoon, and then I'm off to Albany while Carly stays here."

  "What's in Albany?"

  "Logistics Base."

  "No more deployment?" J. R. asked, trying to disguise his hopefulness.

  "Not for a while. Just me and six hundred other Marines working to repair ground combat equipment." Devon emerged from beneath the sink and shot J. R. a smile. "Nice and boring, I hope."

  "I guess you could do with some boredom for a while."

  "You have no idea," he replied, hauling himself to his feet.

  Devon pulled two long-necked bottles from the refrigerator and handed one over to his brother.

  "Red Rock Ginger Ale," J. R. sang as he inspected the label. "I haven't had a bottle of this stuff since I don't know when."

  "Well, that's because you've been off flitting around the country. They don't make this stuff anywhere but good old Hotlanta!"

  "First of all," J. R. said seriously, "I do not flit."

  Devon chuckled and threw back half the bottle before setting it down on the counter.

  "Second of all, it's what I do. Just like you soldier up and go where the Marines send you, I go where bike dollars take me."

  Devon tilted into a shrug. "How's business anyway?"

  "Russell set me up with a guy in L.A. Restored Harley- Davidsons are big business for the guy. I've sold twelve bikes to him, with another six on the horizon."

  Devon nodded as he considered it. "I guess you're rolling in the dough then. Good for you, big bro."

  "Not rolling in it," he corrected. "Still, I'm not complaining."

  As Devon began replacing the tools on the counter into the box, J. R. spun one of the chrome chairs around backwards and sat down. The taste of ginger blended with pure cane sugar packed a spicy punch as he chugged back several swallows from the icy cold bottle.

  "So tell me about this shindig tomorrow night," he said as Devon clamped shut the toolbox. "Carly says everyone has to go in costume. What's up with that?"

  "Yeah, but not you."

  "Why not me?"

  "Look atcha!" Devon exclaimed. "Faded out jeans, black T-shirt, and a leather jacket—that shaggy hair of yours and a couple days' growth of beard. You already look like a character straight outta Easy Rider, man. You live the costume."

  J. R. brushed him off with the wave of his hand before drinking down the rest of the ginger ale.

  "It's fine for a night of burgers, bowling, and sock-hopping," Devon continued, "but afterward maybe you wanna think about a shave and a haircut. My treat."

  "What, you want me to look like you, Marine?"

  "You should be so lucky."

  "Ha!" J. R. popped with laughter.

  "Hey, I'm a stud, Dennis Hopper. Ask anybody. I'm adorable."

  "You? Adorable? Please. That crew cut doesn't make you adorable, Dev. It makes you a soldier."

  Devon got up and smacked J. R.'s shoulder as he passed him. "Carly's got my truck today so I can change the oil in her car. Gimme a hand?"

  "Yeah, all right."

  J. R. stayed planted for another couple of beats, thinking about how great it felt to exchange barbs with his little brother again. He'd spent a lot of months worrying—and praying, truth be told—wishing for an afternoon just like this one.

  "C'mon, old man. Get it in gear!"

  He chuckled and pushed off from the chair. "Yeah, yeah. On my way. Man, the Marines sure have made you bossy."

  "Well, yeah. They're the Marines!"

  J. R. smacked the doorjamb with a laugh as he headed for the garage. "Semper fi."

  "You know it. Salute when you say that, bro."

  Audrey stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Carly had moved into this house the very next day after the city hall wedding, and she'd converted it into a real family home for her and Devon since then.

  Both walls of the wide hallway displayed framed photographs arranged in a synchronized pattern. On one side were childhood memories and family photos, Devon's interspersed with Carly's. Several black and white photographs matted in identical brushed nickel frames chronicled the many Barbie and Ken weddings the twosome had coordinated over the years; one of them in particular stopped Audrey in her tracks as she locked into the smiling eyes of her grandmother, standing over a small two-layer wedding cake with paper doll bride and groom as the topper.

  "She was so beautiful," Carly said softly as she slipped her arm around Audrey's shoulders. "It seems like just yesterday, doesn't it?"

  "No," she replied in a whisper. "A million years ago to me."

  Carly squeezed her closer and kissed Audrey's cheek.

  With their arms locked, they strolled the length of the hall, pausing at each grouping of photographs.

  "When do your folks arrive?" Audrey asked when they stopped in front of the family photo of Carly and her parents.

  "Dad arrives the afternoon of the wedding, and he leaves the very next morning."

  "And your mom?"

  "She's not coming."

  Audrey turned toward her and frowned. "She's not coming?"

  "She and my dad have been divorced for five years, and the two of them haven't been in the same vicinity one time since."

  "But her daughter's wedding? I'm sorry, Caroline."

  "She doesn't see it as my real wedding anyway. You know my mom. She says this is just my big after-the-fact waste of money and energy."

  "Has she met you?"

  Carly chuckled, and they inched down the hall a bit farther to another grouping of photographs. "Devon's so handsome in his dress blues, isn't he? He's going to wear them at the wedding. Did I tell you that?"

  "No. But that sounds like a nice idea."

  "Sherilyn has been researching military weddings, and she's got things planned down to the tip of the swords."

  "Swords?"

  "Yeah." Carly shrugged. "It's a tradition."

  "I guess I hadn't realized how 100 percent military he is," Audrey admitted.

  "Oh, yeah! He's United States Marine, through and through," Carly confirmed. "But then I think every Marine is. Devon says he bleeds scarlet and gold." She paused before tilting her head to Audrey's shoulder with a sigh. "I just hope he never proves it. With the bleeding, I mean."

  "Me too." Audrey ruffled Carly's hair, leaving her friend's head where it rested. "You must go out of your mind when he's over there."

  "I hold my breath the minute he leaves, and I don't breathe again until he's back in my arms."

  "You know," Audrey said, and Carly lifted her head and leaned against the wall, looking at her with misty eyes. "You and I talk all the time, but you never really told me how you felt when he went to Afghanistan. It must have been horrible. Why is that, Caroline? Why have we never talked about it?"

  Several seconds ticked past while Carly thought it over. Finally, she said, "It's a private fear, I guess."

  "It doesn't have to be."

  They shared gentle, quiet smiles.

  "You're always so pressed for time, Aud. Your life is nonstop. Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, shaking with fear that I'll never see the man I love again—well, that just doesn't seem like something I can ask you to drop everything for and talk me through. Especially when it happens as often as it does."

  "Oh, Carly."

  Audrey's heart ached as she realized how tunnel-visioned she had become since moving to New York.

  "I wish you were closer."

  Audrey stopped herself from telling her friend that she may just get her wish. She wasn't going to be able to afford Soho much longer unless something drastic happened.

  A sudden jingle drew their attention, and the two of them locked eyes for a moment.

  "What is that?" they asked each other in unison.

  "It sounds like—"

  "Ohh!" Audrey exclaimed, and she pulled the cell phone from the pocket of her trousers.

  "Wait just a minute. You have a . . . cell p
hone?"

  "I know. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?"

  "Well, yeah. A little bit."

  The green light blinked beneath the screen.

  Kat calling.

  "Sorry. I have to take this."

  "It's okay. Step into the office if you want to. I'll finish getting dinner on the table."

  Audrey leaned into the doorway and pressed the green button, pointing the phone toward her mouth. "Hey, Kat. Did you hear from Kim?"

  "Hold it like a telephone, Audrey."

  "What?" She examined the cell for a moment before plunking it against her ear. "Are you there?"

  "I'm here."

  "Did you hear from Kim?"

  The silence that followed screamed.

  "Oh, no."

  "I'm sorry, Audrey. She doesn't feel like you heard her. She says the sketches don't reflect her personality at all."

  Audrey groaned slightly and closed her eyes, leaning back against the doorjamb.

  "She did say she'd be willing to meet with you one more time, but I told her you were at your friend's wedding in Atlanta."

  Audrey's heart throbbed in her chest. The sensation felt almost painful.

  "She said she wanted to see more of your work, and I showed her some photos of last year's show." Kat laughed as she added, "I mentioned what a beautiful job you did on Carly's dress, and she asked to see it. I showed her the sketches and photos, and even though she loved the classic concept, she said it wasn't three-dimensional enough."

  "Great."

  "She actually offered to fly there to see it in person. Can you believe that? Uninvited, to a total stranger's wedding, just to get an eyeful of her gown?"

  Audrey perked. "She did?"

  "Audrey, no. Do not let Kim Renfroe interfere with your time there. Anyway, I said you'd be back in three days, but she doesn't want to—"

  "I'll need you here too, Kat."

  "What? You want me to come to Atlanta?"

  "Yes. I want you to take the first plane out tomorrow, and make sure Kim doesn't come in until the morning of the wedding. That way, we can brainstorm, and you can free me up to do some sketches. I can be really prepared to wow her this time. You said she responded to the classic concept? She didn't communicate that to me at all, but—"