Friday Night Brides Read online

  “Good evening, ladies.”

  Hailey turned and smiled. All thoughts of Jack vanished. Standing beside her was Logan Baxter III in all his perfection. Without a word, he held his arm out to Hailey and grinned. She sighed happily before turning to Ella. “I think I’m ready.”

  ****

  Judith James wiped proud tears from her eyes as she looked at the four of them. It wasn’t as if this was something new—since the time the girls were five they had been featured in her bridal fashion shows and showcases. They were her models, her pride and joy.

  “Is it wrong how I look at the four of you and still see four little girls and not grown women?” she asked.

  “Mom…” Hailey whined lovingly. “Every time?”

  Judith sniffed. “I can’t help it. You started out dressing up as flower girls and now look at you. Brides!”

  “Not real ones,” Angie said, fidgeting with her headpiece.

  “Ella will be one before you know it,” Judith said. “Which reminds me, you really need to settle down and decide on your dress, Ella. You know it will take forever to come in and then there are the alterations.”

  Ella nodded. “It’s so hard to choose when they’re all so beautiful!”

  “You’ve worn enough of them over the years that I think you know what style is the most flattering on you and which ones are the most comfortable. All you have to do is narrow it down to your favorite,” Judith said. “Why don’t you come in next week and we’ll have a girls’ night here after hours and work on that?”

  Ella looked at Becca, Hailey and Angie and smiled. “What do you say? You guys up for a mid-week girls’ night?”

  “Will there be wine?” Angie asked.

  Judith clucked her tongue like a mother hen. “Do you think I’d allow wine around these dresses? We’ll have a bottle of champagne to celebrate Ella’s choice—other than that, it’s lemon water. Besides, it’s better for you.”

  All four of them groaned.

  “Way to take the fun out of it, Mom,” Hailey said.

  Judith gave her a disapproving frown. “Anyway…it’s almost show time. You all know the drill.” She clasped her hands together and looked around. “Becca, you’ll go out first and you’ll be escorted by Thomas. Angie you’re next with Ben, Hailey you’ll be with Logan and then Ella is with Jackson.”

  “Wait…Jackson?” Hailey asked. “Who’s Jackson?”

  Ella turned to her with a chuckle. “It’s Jack, Hailey. Remember? Your glaring partner?”

  She blushed. “Oh.” She paused for a moment. “Why is he escorting Ella? He normally does the groomsman stuff.”

  “We were short a groom and he’s the same size as our missing one.”

  “But he’s so…big and next to Ella he’ll look ridiculous,” Hailey said.

  Taking a minute to consider her options, Judith nodded. “I don’t think it will be a problem. Like I said, he’s the same size as Gerard—who’s not here tonight—and he always walks with Ella. We’ll be fine.”

  Hailey mumbled under her breath as her mother walked away.

  “What is the matter with you?” Ella asked quietly. “It’s not like you have to walk with him and I don’t have an issue with him.”

  “I just wish…I wish Mom would find someone else. He’s not a good fit for this. He’s rude and condescending and…”

  “Jack?” Angie asked as she walked over. “You think Jack’s rude and condescending? Are you crazy?”

  Hailey nodded hesitantly. “He is to me.”

  “He’s usually the first one here and helps your mom with anything she needs and he’s the last one to leave. And like Ella said, it’s not like you have to walk with him so…unclench. Geez.”

  When Angie walked away Hailey turned to Ella. “So basically everyone around here is a fan of his except me. Do I have that right?”

  “It would seem so,” Ella said.

  She looked like she was about to say more but Judith called out for everyone to get into place and line up. It was a flurry of activity covered in formal wear. Two by two everyone lined up backstage as music began to play.

  Judith took the stage first and welcomed the crowd of two hundred to the show. When she had first opened her store, there wasn’t room for a dozen people to come in at the same time. But over the years, she had gained a reputation for being the best in the bridal business in North Carolina and as her business grew, she wisely invested in the kind of showroom where she could host large events. Since that time, business had quadrupled and future brides and grooms came from several states away for one of her shows.

  She beamed with pride as she shared her story with the crowd. With a nod of her head toward the group backstage she said, “And now may I present to you, my Friday Night Brides!” The curtains opened and the show began.

  ****

  “Here’s to another twenty years!”

  Everyone in the room raised their glasses and toasted Judith and Enchanted Bridal—including Becca. Looking around she saw people laughing and smiling and drinking and all she wanted to do was go home, curl up in a ball and sleep for a week. Not that it was going to solve anything, but for now it just seemed like a great way to avoid thinking about what had happened earlier with Danny.

  “Okay, you are being a serious buzzkill,” Angie said from beside her. “This is a big night for Mrs. J and you need to snap out of your funk and be social.”

  “I was social all during the show,” Becca said wearily. “I think I’ve done my share.”

  “For crying out loud, Becca…”

  “Hey, what’s going on? You okay?” Ella asked as she approached them, arm in arm with Dylan.

  Becca rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to share her humiliation with even more people right now—particularly the most in-love couple on the planet.

  “She and Danny broke up,” Angie said, firmly taking the decision out of Becca’s hands.

  “Oh no!” Ella cried. “When?”

  With a sigh, Becca answered. “Right before the show.”

  “What’s going on?” Hailey asked as she joined them. “What are we all huddled together about?”

  “Becca and Danny broke up tonight,” Ella said and Becca prayed for the floor to open up and swallow her.

  “Becs…why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Hailey asked.

  “Can we just not talk about this right now?” Becca asked them. “Seriously, I’m not in the mood to get into it and besides, we’re supposed to be celebrating.” She gave Angie a pointed look.

  They each looked at one another before Hailey spoke again. “Okay, it’s fine. Anyway, I wanted to introduce you guys to our new photographer.” Turning, she motioned for someone to come and join them.

  Becca’s eyes went wide right before she did her best to hide behind Ella and Dylan.

  “This is Max Abrams,” Hailey said with a smile. “He’s going to be doing all of our event and publicity photos this season.”

  Becca was the last one to be introduced and she mentally sighed with relief when Max didn’t acknowledge they had met earlier. “It’s nice to meet you, Becca,” he said with a small smile.

  “You too.”

  Conversation flowed for a few minutes before Max excused himself to take more pictures of the party.

  “I…I didn’t know we were getting a new photographer,” Becca said absently. “What happened to the Hendersons? They’ve been doing all of the pictures for years.”

  “They retired,” Hailey said. “Mom was pretty worried about finding someone new but Max came highly recommended so…”

  “Hey,” Max interrupted. “Would you mind if I got a group shot of the four of you? I took individual shots of you on the runway but I’m sure Judith would love a more casual shot too.”

  The girls instantly lined up as Dylan stepped to the side. Becca was used to posing as a group—they’d been doing it their entire lives—but she was curious about how others saw them. Now that Danny had put it out ther
e that she wasn’t pretty enough or skinny enough to be a model, she couldn’t help but wonder what Max was seeing.

  She smiled even as her mind wandered. They were all different; that was a given. Angie was tall and curvy with naturally curly dark brown hair while Hailey was more of an average height with straight sandy brown hair. Ella was the shortest out of the four of them and probably had the best figure—trim and willowy and perfectly proportioned. Ella’s words, not hers. And then there was Becca—auburn hair which required an entire shelf of products to tame and a short, curvy figure that tended to come off as looking stocky…and big boobs.

  Damn Danny.

  It wasn’t as if he said anything Becca hadn’t thought about herself before, but hearing it come from somebody else really hurt. Her entire life she had thought it was her own insecurity and not based on any real fact. Clearly she had been wrong.

  Double damn Danny.

  “Becs?” Hailey asked a minute later. “You okay? You zoned out there.”

  Looking around, Becca noticed that Max was gone and they were no longer posing. “What? Oh…sorry. Yeah, my mind sort of wandered there for a minute.”

  “He seems nice, doesn’t he?” Hailey asked.

  “Who?”

  “Max! He seems really nice. I’m glad Mom found him. Not that I didn’t love the Hendersons, but they weren’t a whole lot of fun. I think Max would be cool to hang out with.”

  With a shrug, Becca said, “Maybe.”

  For the next thirty minutes, she walked around the room and socialized—all the while counting down the minutes until she could leave. After finishing the drink she had been nursing for far too long, Becca went in search of Judith to congratulate her one more time. When she turned around, however, she ran right into Max. “Oh! Sorry,” she murmured, unable to bring herself to look him in the eye.

  “No problem.” He studied her for a moment. “You having a good time?”

  Nodding, she said, “I guess.”

  Hands in his pockets, he smiled. “You did great out there earlier…you know…during the fashion show. I got some great pictures.”

  She gave him a small smile before tilting her head to study him just as he’d been studying her. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

  “When?”

  “When Hailey was introducing you. Why didn’t you mention how we had met out in the parking lot?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I guess…I figured it would get everyone wondering if I was there when…well…you know.”

  “Oh. Well…thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “Anyway, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you stayed. It seemed like a great show—the audience loved everything that was modeled and Judith is working the room like the belle of the ball. I’m sure you would have hated to miss it.”

  He was right and she told him so. “I’m just ready to call it a night. I was going to go and find Mrs. J and say goodnight to her.”

  “So…do you do all of her shows?” he asked before Becca could walk away.

  “I do. I’ve been doing them ever since I was five. That’s how long I’ve been friends with Hailey, Angie and Ella.”

  “That’s kind of cool. I’m sure she has some great pictures of all of you throughout the years.” He stopped and seemed to consider his next words. “Listen, do you think you could get some of those old photos?”

  “You mean of me and the girls?”

  He nodded.

  “Sure. I don’t see why not. How come?”

  “Well, it sort of just came to me how we could put together a slide show of the history of her fashion shows but have a special segment of you and your friends. I’m guessing if you’ve all been friends for that long that Judith is like a second mom to all of you.”

  Becca chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”

  “So what do you think? I know it probably would have been even more meaningful if we’d had something like that for tonight, but if you can get me some photos maybe by next week, I can put it together and present it to her after the next big show next month.”

  “I’m sure I can get Hailey to help out and she’ll be able to do it while her mom is at work.” The wheels began to turn in her head. “Do you do all of that yourself? The video and music and all that?”

  He nodded again. “You tell me what you think she’ll like and I’ll put it on there—favorite songs or quotes. And I’ll include the pictures from tonight to sort of end the whole thing.”

  For the first time that night, Becca actually felt excited about something. “She is going to love it! It’s so sweet of you to think of doing this. But…how much is it going to cost?”

  Max waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I wanted to put something together to show potential clients about all of the services I’m going to be offering and what better way than to have a bridal video? Who knows? Someday I can be the one referring clients to Judith instead of the other way around.”

  “She doesn’t expect that,” Becca assured him. “I think she just likes knowing she has a quality team working with her. She wouldn’t have hired you for the season if she didn’t love your work.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Well, I should go. I guess I’ll see you next weekend, right?”

  “It’s a small showcase, right?”

  Becca nodded. “Definitely smaller than this—probably only a quarter of the crowd but Mrs. J still pulls out all the stops. It will be a great way for you to network though.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for. I need to get my name out there a little more. I’m hoping if I can get the photography business going, I can quit my day job.”

  “Oh? What do you do?”

  “Promise not to laugh.”

  That just made her chuckle. “Sorry. Okay, I promise.”

  “I’m an accountant.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Wow. Seriously? That is so completely opposite of this!”

  “Yeah, I know. I caved to parental pressure and took on a career that would always pay the bills but my artistic side is begging to be let out to play.”

  “I can totally relate. I desperately wanted to be a chef but my parents pushed me to go to business school. I’m hoping to combine the two someday and open my own café.”

  “So what do you do now?”

  “Right now I’m doing data systems analysis and it’s sucking my will to live. I sit at a desk for eight hours and think about all the ways my soul is dying.”

  He chuckled. “Come on, it can’t be that bad.”

  “It’s that and worse!”

  “Becca! There you are!” Judith walked over and hugged her before turning and hugging Max. “You were absolutely stunning out there tonight!” she gushed. “I had four different brides come up and ask about the second gown you modeled. They raved about how lovely you looked in it. I may have to pay you commission!”

  Becca wasn’t so sure it was all entirely true, but she appreciated the enthusiasm behind the words. “Thanks, Mrs. J. Just doing my job.”

  Judith hugged her again. “Thank you for being one of my brides.” She gave Becca’s cheek a gentle pat. “You looked like you were getting ready to go so I wanted to make sure I came over to thank you. And don’t forget about next week with Ella’s dress. I think we’re going to do it on Wednesday night. Are you going to be able to make it?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

  “Okay then.” Turning to Max, Judith smiled. “I hope you got some great shots for me tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing them!” And before Max could reply, Judith had gone on to socialize with another group of guests.

  “She’s like a whirlwind,” he said.

  “You have no idea,” Becca chuckled. “But this is a big night so she’s even more revved up. She loves this sort of thing—she throws the best parties.”

  “So I’ve heard,” he said with a smile.

  They stoo
d in companionable silence for another minute before Becca broke the spell. “Thanks again. For everything.”

  Max simply nodded.

  “And I’ll see you next weekend and hopefully have enough pictures and information for you to use for the slide show.”

  Reaching into his back pocket, Max pulled out his wallet and then one of his business cards and handed it to Becca. “If you have any questions or…anything, just give me a call. That’s my cell number on the bottom.”

  Taking the card, Becca smiled and waved, then turned and walked away.

  Two

  Ella sighed as she rested her head on Dylan’s bare shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her close.

  “You were beautiful up there tonight.”

  She smiled against his skin. “How do you know? You showed up after the show.”

  Dylan shook his head. “I actually got there right before the finale. The dress you were wearing…the one that looked like a silvery-blue? It was awesome.”

  “The train weighed a ton. I don’t know how some brides do it. There was no way to move around easily in that thing.”

  “Well, either way, you looked great.”

  Placing a small kiss on his chest, she quietly said, “Thank you.”

  They lay there together in silence for several minutes. “You okay, El?” Dylan asked. “You’re kind of quiet tonight.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know…so much is going on with the girls and…” She sighed. “I just can’t relate to any of it.”

  Sitting up, Dylan looked down at her, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  Ella moved away and sat up, tugging the blanket with her. “Tonight Danny broke up with Becca right before the show. She didn’t want to talk about it, but after she left Angie told me and Hailey about it. He basically told her she wasn’t pretty enough to be modeling for Mrs. J!”

  Shaking his head, Dylan continued to frown. “Not for nothing, but she should be thankful he did it.”

  “What?” she cried. “How could you…?”

  “Look, I think Becca’s great—pretty, too. But Danny’s always been a jackass. I never understood what the hell she saw in him. I’m glad he made such a colossally bad move. It should guarantee she won’t take him back.”