Chocolate for Two (26 page)

I laughed. “Fair enough. Okay…to be completely honest…I thought you were going to say something like…you love Nick, but just not the way I love Jake, or the way Mackie loves Hunter. Or something about how you didn’t want to let us down because you know how much we like Nick.”

She laughed. “You think I’ve been dating Nick for a year and a half because you and McKenna
like
him?”

I blushed. “Okay, now that I’ve said that out loud, I realize how self-centered it sounds.”

She gave me a look. “Good. Because that was pretty bad.”

“Let’s just forget I said that. So you’ve thought about life without Nick, and it makes you sick.”

She nodded.

“But the idea of marrying him…is still scary to you.”

She nodded. “Crazy scary.”

“So essentially, you love him, but you’re just not there yet.”

Another nod. “Essentially.”

“Hmm.”

She took a sip of her wine. “Why does everything have to happen so fast?

“Everyone is always trying to get to the next rung in the ladder. Why can’t we just enjoy things the way they are once in a while?”

For a moment I felt like I was looking in a mirror. I’d had those exact same thoughts last year when I was trying to figure things out with Jake. At the time, I’d thought Andie and Nick were so far ahead of us because they were living together, while Jake and I weren’t even living in the same city.

Clearly I’d been wrong.

I picked up my wineglass. “What you just said makes perfect sense, Andie. Why don’t you just tell Nick that?”

“Tell him what, exactly?”

“That you’re just not there yet and would like things to stay the way they are.”

“Because he wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why not?”

She rolled her eyes. “Waverly, if you asked Jake to
marry you
, and he told you that he
just wasn’t there yet,
what would you think?”

I flinched. “Oh gosh, you’re right. I’d think he wasn’t into me.”

She nodded and lifted a forkful of pasta. “Exactly.”

“But then again, guys are different. Maybe he won’t react the way a girl would?”

She shrugged. “Maybe not.”

“Well you have to tell him
something
. I mean, you can’t just never talk to him again, right?”

“I know, I know I do. I’ve just been using this New York thing as a hiatus from dealing with it.”

“And Morgan. You’ve been using him too.”

“Yes, and Morgan.”

“He
is
cute, though.”

She nodded. “Isn’t he? Serious eye candy. Doesn’t have half Nick’s sense of humor, though. Or his brain.”

“So you really never hooked up with him? Like not even a little? He seems like he’d be hard to resist.”

She shook her head. “There were a couple times I could have, and part of me was tempted out of some twisted impulse for self-sabotage, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to even kiss him.”

“Why not?”

“Because each time it would have been easy to take the flirting one step further, I’d find myself thinking…about Nick.” A smile crept onto her face as her mind drifted back to San Francisco. It was the first time I’d seen her smile like that since she’d been in New York.

“It’s going to be okay, Andie.” I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Just be honest with him.”

“You really think so?”

I nodded. “If you’re completely honest with him, then yes, I really do.”

“But what if he won’t wait for me?”

“I think he’ll wait.”

“And if he doesn’t?” She looked nervous, which was so unlike her.

“
If
that happens, we’ll deal with it then. Just talk to him, okay? Tell him you love him, but that you need to go at your own pace right now.” I parroted what Paige and Davey had both recently told me. “If you start living your life to make other people happy, you’re not being true to yourself.”

She laughed. “You’re one to talk.”

“What?”

She gestured to our surroundings. “Please. Look at us, Waverly. It’s your birthday weekend, and we’re in
Florida
, having
a dinner at a fancy hotel that probably costs more for a weekend than your rent. You’re getting married in front of a bunch of people you don’t know, in a dress you didn’t pick, all to please a woman who you’re pretty sure wishes her son had chosen someone else. Maybe you should take your own advice.”

I gasped.

Before I could speak, Andie reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Waverly. That was mean. That was
so
mean. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t respond.

She squeezed my hand. “Can I take that back? Please, can I take that back?”

Slowly I began to shake my head. “No, it’s okay. I deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t. That was below the belt. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, really. You’re right. I
am
living my life to make her happy right now.”

“I know you’re just trying to keep the peace, Waverly. I get it.”

I smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

She leaned back in her chair. “Damn, I really
can
be a huge bitch sometimes, can’t I?”

I laughed. “That’s why I love you.”

“I’m lucky that you love me. I do realize that, you know. I’m well aware that I’m a handful.”

I smiled. “You’re a handful and a half, but well worth the trouble. Thanks for coming down this weekend to help. You’ve been a lifesaver.”

She held up her wineglass. “Anything for you. And for being such a bitch just now, I’ll happily wear whatever monstrosity Jake’s mom and her tipsy friend Bee pick out for me tomorrow.”

I laughed and clinked my glass against hers. “You noticed that about Bee too? She did seem a little…happy.”

“Definitely happy. But not unexpected.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “At pretty much every shower I’ve ever been to, especially the super swank ones for my cousins up in Marin, someone’s mom or aunt or grandma has overindulged a bit, and usually on champagne. It comes with the territory, like how the poor maid of honor has to make that stupid bouquet out of the ribbons from the presents.”

I winced at the memory of the awful bouquet from this afternoon. “Thanks for making that, by the way. I know it pained you to do it.”

She shrugged. “I pretended I was making a voodoo doll.”

I laughed. “A voodoo doll?”

“Yep.”

“Of whom?”

“My mom.”

I held my glass to hers. “Nick is lucky to have you, Andie.”

She clinked her glass against mine. “Thanks. And I’m sure your wedding is going to be beautiful, Waverly.”

“I’m sure it will be too.” The
It’s just not the wedding I wanted
went unspoken, but we both heard it.

An uncomfortable yet somehow unavoidable silence followed, and we both let it pass. Then Andie rubbed her hands together. “Okay, bride, let’s have some outrageously priced cheesecake on Mrs. McIntyre, and then I’ll go call Nick and ask him to come visit as soon as he can. Sound like a plan?”

I smiled. “Sounds like a
great
plan. I’d love to see him. Have I ever told you how much I love that guy?”

She laughed. “Shut up.”

“You think Bee’s going to show up wearing dark sunglasses?”

I coughed a laugh. “Andie!”

She shrugged. “It’s a legitimate question. So where are we going anyway?” We were standing outside the hotel the next morning, waiting for Jake’s mom to pick us up.

“I have no idea. Somewhere expensive, I suppose.”

“Ya think?”

I laughed. “Be nice. Hey, there she is.”

Mrs. McIntyre drove up with Bee in the passenger seat.

She was wearing dark sunglasses.

“Well, look at that,” Andie said under her breath.

I squeezed her arm. “I’m going to kill you if you make me laugh in front of them.”

“Waverly, Andie, good morning.” Mrs. McIntyre emerged from the car wearing a bright smile to go with her designer pantsuit. “Happy birthday, Waverly.”

“Thanks.”
I can’t believe this is how I’m spending it, but thanks.

“How was your evening last night?”

“Delicious,” Andie said.

I nodded a bit too enthusiastically as we got in the backseat. “It was wonderful, Mrs. McIntyre. Thanks so much for treating us.”

“It’s our pleasure. Consider it a birthday gift from Jake’s father and me. Isn’t that restaurant just lovely? I hope Phillip took care of you.”

“Yes, definitely. He was great.”

Andie reached over the passenger seat and squeezed Bee’s shoulder. “Good morning, Bee, how are you?”

“Hello, ladies. I’m not feeling all that great this morning, to be honest.”

Andie and I exchanged glances, and I wondered what excuse she would give.
Husband was snoring all night? Leg cramps kept her up?
She had to be embarrassed.

“That’s too bad, Bee,” Andie said. “What’s wrong?”

I tried not to laugh at Andie’s temerity. She and I were clearly thinking the same thing, but I didn’t share her nerve.

Bee turned around to face us and pushed her sunglasses on top of her head. “To be quite honest, my dears, I have a touch of the Irish flu.”

We both laughed.
The Irish flu?
I hadn’t heard that since college.

“Nice, Bee.” Andie gave her a proud nod. “Way to own it.”

Mrs. McIntyre looked over at Bee. “Why, how about that? And you’re not even Irish,” she said with a little smirk.

Bee turned to face the front again and put her sunglasses back on. “Hell, if a lady can’t have a few drinks to celebrate the marriage of her best friend’s son, then…hell.”

Andie and I looked at each other and laughed. Who knew Bee had such a good sense of humor?

“Bee, I like your attitude,” Andie said.

I smiled and leaned back into the plush leather seat.

Maybe this birthday won’t be so painful after all.

Before I knew it we were sitting in the back room of an elegant boutique I’d already forgotten the name of, facing a mountain of elaborate dresses made by designers I’d never heard of.

I didn’t have to try anything on this time, so I didn’t actually mind all that much. The plush couch was super comfortable, and they even served us coffee and bagels.

Andie, however, was not happy. But true to her word, she put on her game face and became the perfect bridesmaid. I could hardly believe my eyes as I watched her in action. The girl could really turn it on when she wanted to.

She sifted through the enormous rack of gowns. “Wow, they’re all so beautiful. How will we ever decide?”

I tried not to laugh.

“Won’t this be fun?” Mrs. McIntyre clasped her hands together. “It will be like a fashion show.”

I laughed and smiled at her. “Well put.” Then I looked at Andie. “Ms. Barnett, looks like you’re a runway model today.”

Andie put her hands on her hips. “Just what I’ve always dreamed about.”

Bee held up her coffee cup. “Here’s to models under five three. Now let’s get this show on the road so I can go back to Ava’s place and lie down.”

One hundred dresses later, give or take a few, Andie tried on one that Jake’s mom loved. It was a navy blue, floor-length, one-shoulder number made out of some wildly extravagant fabric I’d never heard of.

Mrs. McIntyre beamed at us. “Oh, it’s gorgeous, just gorgeous, don’t you think?”

I did not share her enthusiasm.

I looked up at Andie from the couch. She was doing her best to grin and bear it, even though I knew her patience had worn threadbare about ninety dresses earlier.
What do you think?
I asked with my eyes.

She gave me a look back that said,
I don’t care anymore
.

“It’s not my favorite, but I think it’s quite lovely,” Bee said from her chair.

The dress was objectively pretty, but it wasn’t anything close to something Andie or I would ever wear of our own free will. Then again, none of the dresses at this shop were. They all screamed,
I am expensive yet forgettable!
which wasn’t something Andie or I would ever scream. I realized I was doing just that with my wedding dress, which was hard enough to stomach.

“Waverly, don’t you think it’s just exquisite?” Mrs. McIntyre turned toward me on the couch. “Just perfect for an elegant evening wedding, don’t you think?”

I hesitated.

How am I supposed to answer that?

Yes, it’s exquisite, but it’s your taste, not mine.

I would never want that for my wedding, but I clearly have no say in this.

Yes, it’s perfect for an elegant evening wedding, but I wanted a casual afternoon wedding.

I bit my lip.

Maybe it was finally time to speak my mind?

“Plus that color will look lovely with the freesias,” she said.

I gave her a confused look. “What are freesias?”

“They’re flowers, dear.” She looked slightly embarrassed for me. “For the bridal bouquets and centerpieces.”

She’s already picked out my flowers?

But what about our casablancas? The casablancas that your
son
wants?

I glanced at Andie, whose incredulous look now said it all.