Always the Designer, Never the Bride (28 page)

"Audrey, look what I found. For the ruffled strap, they have this with tiny rhinestones hidden in the floral. What do you think?"

"She said she wanted bling," Audrey commented with a weary smile. "Let's see it against the beaded silk."

Kat set it next to the bolt of silk, and they both sighed.

"Perfect."

"Gorgeous."

"Spectacular," the clerk chimed in.

"J. R., are you sure you can't stay until after Devon reports to the base?"

"I'm sorry, Carly. This is a big job, and I need it."

He tried to resist the bitter taste of resentment building in the back of his throat. Didn't she know he would stay if he could? Any time Devon needed him, J. R. had always tried to be there. This kind of thing just cemented his drive to hit the open road and stay out there. The expectations of a significant other—or the wife of a
significant brother!—
could choke the life out of a guy's independence.

"Sweetie, stop nagging him."

Thank you.

"I'm not nagging, baby. I'm just—"

"We know what you're
just.
Give him a break now, all right?"

Carly flipped her hand and sighed before turning away and stalking out of the kitchen.

"Sorry, bro."

"Nah," J. R. replied, smacking his brother's shoulder. "She's just under the delusion that you'd benefit from me hanging around a little longer."

"Oh, that's no delusion," he remarked as he stared out the window.

"Dev, this job in Austin is—"

"I get it," he interrupted, and he turned back to look J. R. directly in the eye. "I get it. This is work, and you've got to follow it. It's just that, in general, I wish you would park it back in Atlanta for a while. It would be a huge relief to know Carly had someone looking after her while I'm gone. Not to mention when I get back, we could spend a little time together. Real time. Not this passing through town twice a year."

J. R. kept the volcanic groan that was building inside to himself.

"Look," Devon said with a sigh, "it's not like I don't already know this about you. Dad felt just like you do, and you're cut from the same cloth."

The two of them made a good pair. Carly made the cut, and Devon rubbed the salt into the wound.

"What a thing to say."

"I don't mean you're like him, J. R. Just in that wandering gene. I remember one time when he came back after one of those long disappearances, and he sat us down on that stone wall behind the house. You remember?"

J. R. nodded. "He said every time he tried to light for a while, things turned to garbage."

"Yeah, like he was some kind of computer and had to reboot on a regular basis so he could work up the gumption to stand being around us for a while."

"Dev. It's not like that with me. Not once have I thought I couldn't stand to be around you."

Devon smirked. "Yeah, I know."

"Do you really?"

His expression melted slightly. "I guess."

"I'm not a nine-to-fiver, Dev. This is what I do. I travel. I move from place to place. It's who I am. It has nothing to do with working up the gumption to be around you for any length of time."

"I get it, man. But what happens when you meet someone?"

"What do you mean? I meet people all the time."

"No. I mean, when you meet somebody special. Somebody you might want to settle down with. You're gonna, what—put her on the back of your bike and hit the road every few weeks? Who is the woman who would want that, bro?"

J. R. sensed the irritation growing. "I'm not looking for anyone, Dev. Maybe down the road."

"Well, that's the thing, J. R. A guy rarely comes across her when he's actually looking. She usually crosses the road right in front of him while he's on his way someplace else."

He sighed. "I'll keep an eye out then because," and he pointed at the door with his thumb, "I'm on my way someplace else right now. So stand down, soldier, and give your brother some love."

Devon stepped into J. R.'s open arms, tugging him into an embrace.

"Watch yourself over there," J. R. told him. "And no matter what else you do, do
NOT
get yourself shot . . . or hurt. Do you hear me?"

"Sir, yessir," he replied softly.

He pulled Devon into another hug and smacked him on the back. "Love you, man."

"Me too," Devon answered.

Audrey found herself wishing Carly had been able to join them as she and Kat strolled up the sidewalk to Sherilyn's house. She wasn't sure how much fun a "slumber party" was going to be when she barely knew anyone in attendance besides Kat. It seemed only fitting that, with Carly living in the next town over, a recapture-your-youth slumber party should be attended alongside the girl with whom she'd shared so many of them during their actual youths.

"This is going to be fun," Kat exclaimed, and the front door whooshed open.

Two unidentifiable women stood before them with hair slicked back from their terrifying faces. One of them opened her turquoise eyes wide as she peered at them from behind a neon green mask and said, "Finally! We thought you'd never get here."

Audrey recognized the timber of her voice and grinned at Sherilyn. "That's a new look for you, isn't it?"

"What do you think?" Emma asked from behind her own bright purple mask. "It's working for us, right?"

Audrey and Kat followed their lead into the sprawling family room where twin-sized air mattresses filled the largest part of the room like puzzle pieces set into perfect place. That huge dog of theirs—she thought she remembered his name to be Henry—lounged on the sofa next to Jackson's sister Norma, her bright green, wide-eyed greeting a perfect match to Sherilyn's. Fee's starker-white-than-usual face stared at them from the kitchen.

"What's your pleasure?" Fee asked, setting several thick plastic tubes on the counter before them. "The white is coconut milk for dry skin. The purple is lavender, for sensitive skin. And the green is mint julep," she added, grabbing the tube and reading the side of it, "for tired skin in need of refreshment."

"I want the purple," Kat said, snatching up the tube.

"Wait. Grab a headband from the basket," Fee directed her.

"There's a mirror and some makeup remover on the table over there," Emma added, and she followed Kat toward it.

"I guess I'll go for the green," Audrey said with a shrug. "I could use some refreshing."

And fifteen minutes later, the six of them (plus Henry) formed a colorful and jagged little circle in the center of the room, several snack bowls between them, and cans of soda placed in foam holders on the coffee table. Emma held one of the bowls with one arm like a basketball while she picked M&Ms out of the popcorn and peanuts and placed each of them on Sherilyn's knee. The moment a mound formed, Sherilyn scooped up the candies and popped them into her mouth while she waited for the next rejects to reach her.

"This reminds me so much of the slumber parties Carly and I used to have," Audrey shared with them.

"I wish she could have come," Sherilyn commented.

"My granny used to make pizza for us. They were way better than anything we could have ordered. And afterward, we'd make gooey pretzels."

"Gooey pretzels!" Kat chuckled. "That doesn't sound too appetizing."

"You have no idea!" she exclaimed. "They were the best. A slumber party tradition."

"Sweet, right?" Emma chimed in, her face twisted into a mop of disappointment and amusement.

"Of course," Audrey said with a tilt of her head.

"Of course."

"How did you make them?" Norma asked.

"You take pretzel sticks, the thick ones. And you dip them in chocolate and roll them in toppings."

"Like chocolate sprinkles?" Sherilyn asked, excited. "I could totally get behind that!"

"Sprinkles. Or coconut. Or chopped up nuts. Whatever you like."

"I nominate Audrey to bring the gooeys for our next slumber party!" Norma cried.

"I second that," Emma said.

"Done deal," Fee announced. "Gooeys it is!"

"We usually have a bigger group than this," Sherilyn said over a mouth full of chocolate candies. "But Pearl had to fill in for someone, and Susannah and Madeline had a charity thing." She looked to Emma and asked, "Is that what Georgiann is doing too?"

Emma and Norma exchanged glances before they both cracked up.

"What?" Sherilyn urged.

"George is over sleeping on an air mattress," Norma revealed. "She's not coming anymore."

"But she might stop by for breakfast," Emma added.

"Ohhhh, no!" Sherilyn cried. "There's no eggs and bacon without some slumber party shakin'!"

With that, she hopped to her feet and flicked on the stereo. In bare feet, she slid across the floor to the first few notes, just like Tom Cruise in
Risky Business.

"It's Seger time!" Sherilyn called out, and she began doing her version of the Twist to "Old Time Rock & Roll." "C'mon, ladies!"

Emma filled her mouth with popcorn and peanuts before getting to her feet. "She's a Seger freak," she said to Audrey. "But it's her house, so we indulge her."

Sherilyn grabbed Emma's hand, and the two of them morphed into a strange and sort of spastic jitterbug. Norma popped up and joined in with a comical Watusi while Fee surrendered to an uninspired version of The Freddy.

"Come on, you two," Sherilyn said, tugging on Audrey's arm. "Show us whatcha got."

One corner of her mouth lifted in a tilt of a smile, and Kat beamed at her. Before you could say, "Today's music ain't got the same soul," Audrey and Kat were doing The Jerk.

Audrey tiptoed down the hall from the bathroom and stood at the edge of the family room, suppressing laughter as she surveyed the damage from the night before. Empty soda cans and water bottles and near-empty bowls littered the coffee table and the floor beside the couch where Sherilyn laid sprawled out, obviously ousted from the comfy sofa by the massive dog now sleeping there with his head on what was once her pillow.

Rumbling snores emanated from someone, and Audrey moved a little closer to discover that it was Norma. Fee lay flat on her back, her arms folded across her chest like a corpse, while Emma, curled into a semi-circle with her oversized Falcons jersey bunched up around her waist, occupied the mattress beside her. Face-down, Kat's arms and legs all extended into four different directions.

What a group,
she thought, turning toward the kitchen, and she jumped when Andy unexpectedly appeared right in front of her. Henry flew from the sofa in an arch over Sherilyn and raced to Andy's side.

"Shh!" He grinned at Audrey as he scratched the dog's head. "Is my wife sleeping on the floor?"

"In deference to your dog," she whispered. "You scared me. Have you been here all night?"

He shook his head. "Spent the night at my mother's," he mouthed with only a breath of sound to accompany it. "Once a month, like clockwork. You ladies party, and I am fed like the prodigal son returned."

Audrey chuckled. "I was going to make coffee."

"I'll do it. I know where everything is."

She grinned at him, climbing up on one of the counter stools as he stealthily moved about the kitchen.