TIFFANY CARBY
Copyright © 2020 by Crazy Ink/Tiffany Carby
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Nik and Noey go together like peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese or better yet, chocolate and vanilla. Upon the announcement of their upcoming marriage, Grandmother Audrey puts a damper on Noey’s wedding bliss when she brings the obvious to light: no white wedding should be had by her hussy of a granddaughter.
Crushed by her grandmother’s stabby words and disapproval, Noey vows to start fresh and purify herself by withholding “the duties of a married woman” from her husband-to-be until their honeymoon. While Nik gains success and is promoted to director of The Mint, Noey continues working diligently to make her internationally award-winning blog, "Say Yes and Noey,” an even bigger success. While planning the wedding of her dreams, starting a new blog tour of candy shops, and fighting the urge to say yes to her fiancé, Noey has her work cut out for her.
Will Nik put up with Noey’s crazy wishes to prove to Grandmother Audrey she is the sweet, innocent granddaughter she remembers from her childhood? Perhaps the real question lies with whether Nik ends up saying yes or Noey.
Dedication
For my Aunt Sissy.
I loved you…
You loved me more…
I loved you most…
You loved me first…
I loved you last.
Chapter One
Noey
“I’m gonna marry you,” I said to my fiancé, Nicklaus Eastwood.
Noey. … Eastwood.
Noey Eastwood.
Noelle Eastwood.
It had a ring to it. And I had a ring on my finger.
Fiancé.
Fiancé.
“You got lost in your thoughts there for a minute,” Nik said, bringing me back to reality.
“I was just thinking about how wonderful it was going to be to call myself Mrs. Eastwood,” I said.
“Indeed it will, soon to be Mrs. Eastwood!” Nik grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles ever so gently. He was the epitome of charming, had this swagger about him that made me melt, and was utterly gorgeous in every way imaginable. That perfect yet imperfect mess of black hair sticking every which direction made me want to run my hands through it all the time. But I would only do that when we were alone.
At nighttime.
In bed.
My last living grandparent and woman I most wanted to make proud would have no hearing of premarital relations. No siree, Bob. So sugar coating that discussion was making me ever so anxious.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about, sweetheart?” Nik asked as the waiter cleared our dinner plates from the table. We had hopped from Nik’s place in D.C. to my place in San Francisco as time allowed and his business moved back and forth between the Mint locations.
“Grandmother Audrey,” I admitted, knowing Nik would know why.
“Still bothering you, eh?”
“Yeah, I can’t pretend to be the virgin bride. I’m just not that good of an actress.”
"Oh come on, honey. This is the twenty-first century. Grandmother Audrey is bound to know how things have evolved. She knows you're an adult."
Nik’s words were going in one ear and out the other. I couldn’t get past looking at my gorgeous fiancé and my thoughts were already at home planning the wonderful pleasures he’d have in store for me.
“She won’t understand. That’s what I need to prepare for,” I told him. “When I lost my mom as a kid, she filled that role for me in so many ways. We bonded over the loss of her daughter and the loss of my mother. I never want to hurt or disappoint her,” I said. “But you are right; I am an adult...an adult who can’t stop thinking about taking you home to bed.”
“Shall we get dessert to go then?” Nik asked with a Cheshire-looking grin on his face.
“Nah, you know that’s my favorite part of a meal.” I smiled back.
“I do indeed,” he said. “And anticipation will make it even more pleasurable when we do get there.”
“Yes, yes it will.”
The waiter came back and freshened our sparkling waters. One thing was certain, Nik was classy and liked to be taken care of. I wasn’t going to argue either.
The Italian crème cake he ordered, he picked it so I could have a bite. He knew I was trying to decide between the homemade ice cream and that particular cake.
True love lets you have a little bit of each.
At least that was something Grandmother Audrey could understand.
“So when do I get to meet this fine lady?” Nik asked as I took a big bite of the homemade butter pecan praline ice cream.
“Gonna have to get it over with soon or she’ll be mad at me for not bringing my fiancé to meet her. I’ll call in the morning and see if we can come by for dinner when we head back to Bay City later this week.”
“Sounds good to me, I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“Your behavior is the least of my worries.” I sighed and sat down my crystal dish of ice cream. “I’ll have to go have coffee or something with her first before you get there. So it’s not so awkward. I don’t want her asking you the heavy questions.”
And I’m fairly sure at that moment my fiancé realized he had no clue what kind of family he was marrying into.
Nik was thrilled about the idea of popping in on my candy shop adventure. He, of course, couldn’t be away from work for long, but we had planned times to have a few getaways along the duration of the trip.
I was still reluctant to go. I had a wedding to plan. I didn’t like the thought of being away from him so much and the upcoming dinner with Grandmother Audrey was stressing me out. Stressing me out!
Before heading back to San Francisco from D.C., we had a two-day stop in Fort Knox. I figured that was just enough time to take a couple of personal days to work on wedding planning and cleaning up my calendar. The wedding would take place over Labor Day weekend, and it was currently in early June. By mid-month, I’d be on my candy shop adventure and return to real life with less than a month to spare before we said our “I do’s.”
While Nik was minting, I took the opportunity to hit up a few wedding boutiques in Louisville...alone, unfortunately. My sister Teagan, also my maid of honor, was in California, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to wait until right before the wedding to shop for a dress. So I had to at least try to find something on my own.
“You’d be beautiful if you wore a potato sack,” Nik said that morning before he left.
I was able to get an Uber from the base to go into the city, but before I arrived at my first dress shop, I opted to stop at a coffee shop on Bardstown Road to caffeinate and get my bearings. I knew Louisville pretty well and had been given some suggestions.
Chapter Two
Nik’s parents and family were the coolest, most chill people I’d ever met.
And it wasn’t just because they were in the ice cream business.
I'm sure the fact that Nik had a bit of a falling out with them after he left small-town Iowa for big-city college had something to do with it. He was repairing all those lost years with phone calls, text messages and the occasional FaceTime with his parents and cousin, Gage.
Nik had risen to Deputy Director of the nation’s Mint and as soon as his boss retires he’ll be next
in line. Ryan was grooming him to take over what would be a huge job overlooking all coin Mints in the United States.
Nik, however, was up for the challenge. After he and I started dating, Ryan promoted him to deputy and had offered him some flexibility with his home base. While his home was in D.C., I was from San Francisco. So when we weren’t in either of those places, they were traveling to Denver, Philadelphia, West Point, and Fort Knox.
My internationally acclaimed blog, Say Yes and Noey, took me on an adventure around the USA visiting hidden gem ice cream shops. The blog tour started in Washington, D.C., where I first met Nik, as I was getting permission to blog about an ice cream flavor named after the famous Mint. We hit it off and he needed to take some time off work, so we toured together.
And I’ve not looked back since. We go together like peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, better yet chocolate and vanilla.
So while my dad has met Nik and graciously given his blessing for our wedding, and I met his family while we were on the ice cream tour; I haven’t yet brought him to meet Grandmother Audrey.
A normal day for me is spent scheduling, writing, planning future events, and talking with my agent, who conveniently is based in Washington, D.C., so when I was in town, I tried to meet with her face-to-face as much as possible. We always had the best working lunch dates.
This particular lunch date, however, had my interest piqued when she asked me to meet her at a famous D.C. Chocolatier. Capitol City Chocolates reminded me much of the Ghirardelli shops I was used to back home.
I met up with her outside and was greeted, per usual, with the biggest embrace. Gail not only championed me and my blog ventures but had become a dear friend to me over the years.
“Remember when we were working on your cookbook and you told me how much you loved candies?” Gail said as we locked arms and went inside.
“Of course, that became a whole section of the book after our conversation,” I reminded her.
“Exactly. I knew you’d remember…well, I have not forgotten either and with the huge success of your ice cream shop blog tour-slash-romantic adventure where you met your gorgeous fiancé, I’ve lined up your next road trip…” She paused. “To candy shops all over the nation.”
“Whoa,” I said, not expecting this kind of proposal. “Oh Gail, you do know Nik won’t be able to accompany me this time because of his commitments, and I know that the ice cream tour was more successful because of our budding romance…” My voice trailed off.
“Oh honey, that was just a tiny portion of why it was so successful. My hopes are maybe we can strategically schedule him to meet you in one or two places—even places you guys are normally traveling—so as not to put him out any.”
I smirked.
“I’m still listening…” Gail continued to explain that she had handpicked some spots that would be perfect for me to go alone, look for some treats to potentially have at my wedding, and other more romantic spots I could visit near Nik in our five-city realm.
To say I was excited was an understatement. But being away from Nik for the better part of six weeks wasn't something I looked forward to.
“When does this launch?” I asked Gail.
“Assuming scheduling works once you let me know when and where Nik would be available to meet you, you’ll head out in about two weeks.”
“That sounds good—I’m not saying yes though. I need to talk to my fiancé about this before committing.”
“You sound so happy when you say that word!” Gail beamed at me, and I was happy to spend the afternoon talking candy and planning this trip.
In the back of my mind, I knew one thing had to happen first, though…Nik had to meet Grandmother Audrey.
Chapter Three
Visiting Fort Knox for the first time was interesting. It was true that everything was kept locked down and there was no getting in to see the gold reserves. I just had to imagine what was behind all those soldiers and closed doors.
While Nik was working, I had plans to spend a couple of days updating my blog and working on a bit of wedding planning before we headed back to Bay City. I took an Uber into Louisville and found myself at a quaint coffee shop on Bardstown Road, hoping some wedding shops might be within walking distance after I managed to get a little work done.
Say Yes and Noey was my internationally acclaimed, award-winning blog—as Gail described it. For me, it was just a little slice of myself, an outlet, and a place to share what's happening in my little life with the big old world.
"Noey said YES," I typed. Sparkly diamond on my left hand, a huge smile stretched across my face. I was going to marry Niklaus Eastwood. The barista brought over a warm, caffeinated beverage and mentioned my smile.
“Something has you in a good mood this morning,” she said.
"Indeed," I took the coffee from her and held up my ring finger. "Just got engaged...still enjoying the silly happiness that goes along with it." The coffee shop wasn't really busy. Their morning rush had come and gone, and Cindy appeared to have a minute to sit down and chat with me.
“There’s something about the sparkle in the eye of a bride-to-be, I just love it,” she said genuinely. “Are you from Louisville?”
“I’m not...I’m actually from San Francisco. My husband has some business at Fort Knox this week, and I came along for the ride. Figured why not see Louisville?” I explained.
“Definitely, we have some amazing things in this big, little city!” She pointed out the large bay window at the front of the shop. “There are a couple of wedding boutiques right around here too if you're up for a stroll.
“That’s exactly what I was hoping. I have a little work to do for about an hour, and then I plan to do some exploring.” I asked Cindy to point me in the right direction, and as soon as my blog about our engagement was live, I was out the door with coffee number two in hand.
This wedding planning was going to be easy. I just wanted a simple ceremony, a few friends and a nice dinner reception. Maybe some dancing… A skirt, maybe some twirling…of course fresh flowers. Maybe we could have the wedding where there was a view of the bay?
All these wants and wishes started flooding my thoughts, and I became overwhelmed on the sidewalk outside of a classy wedding boutique.
“Focus, Noey,” I said out loud, thankful nobody was around to see my silliness talking to herself. “You’re just going in this place to look at wedding dresses. If you feel so inclined to try one or two on, maybe you’ll find a style you like.”
I walked up to the porch of the boutique and stepped inside. Classy chandeliers adorned the ceilings, a large platform surrounded by mirrors caught my eye first and an adorable lady in red cat-eye glasses came out when she heard the jingle from the door.
"Well, good mornin' to you, honey bun...How may I help you today?" She was not only cute as a peach, but she was also as sweet as southern tea.
“I’m not gonna lie, I just about had a panic attack on your front sidewalk. I think I might need to sit down for a second before seriously considering eloping…” I practically collapsed in Peach’s arms.
“There will be no eloping if I have anything to do with it!” Peach was the real deal and I was about to let her just hold me through the process.
“My name is Noey,” I said reaching out both hands to her, which she promptly took, “And I feel like I’ve known you my whole life!”
Chapter Four
“Blaire Astin, wedding planner, this is who you need to call,” Peach told me as we sat down on a large round ottoman. Peach was not her name, of course, her name was Lana, but she was as sweet as they came. “No need to be overwhelmed, honey. Blaire is a pro, does a helluva job, is affordable and will make this easy on you. I send all my overwhelmed brides to her to take care of and she never disappoints.”
“I appreciate this so much, but I’m from San Francisco...and honestly I don’t even know where the wedding is going to be yet, but it’s probably not going to be here in Louisville�
�”
Lana chuckled. “She’ll travel if she needs to, sweetheart, just take her card and call her later.”
And that’s what I did.
“But while you’re here, let’s have mimosas and try on some wedding gowns, shall we?” she asked.
My stomach knotted up again. “Why am I so nervous about this?”
“Nervous brides tend to either be having second thoughts or just want the day to be perfect, which direction do you think you’re leaning?” Had to hand it to Lana for being straight to the point.
“More toward the perfect part...I’m really concerned about what my grandma is gonna think,” I said and filled her in on the Audrey situation and my worries.
Lana gathered dresses while I unloaded my concerns and sipped her tasty mimosas.
“One thing you need to keep in mind, Noey. You said yes to the man of your dreams. Your wedding only needs to be what the two of you want and not anybody else. You’ll feel better after you talk to your granny and she meets your stud muffin." Lord, I hoped she was right.
Lana brought out four dresses, all in my size and hung them around the mirrors.
"This is my favorite part of a bride's dress adventure," she explained. "There are lots of different 'silhouettes' for wedding dresses, but these four are pretty classic and will help steer you toward the shape of the dress that you like and looks good on you. Let's try the ball gown on first."
I did as instructed. She had a strapless slip for me and everything. I was happy that I was there during the week, so she also wasn’t as busy and could help me get into the dress. She zipped and helped me onto the platform surrounded by mirrors.
“Hang on, gotta grab one thing that will make a difference...what size shoe do you wear, honey?”
I told her and she went and grabbed a pair of classic white pumps.
“Gotta see what the dress looks like when it’s not dragging the floor!” she said and helped me with the shoes.
White Wedding Mints Page 1
