One-Off

by Lynn Galli

  The sisters dropped to the couch as the men striped in front of them. Hope reached a hand out to smack one of the stripper’s asses and started squealing as she huddled with Karla. Dallas looked both fascinated and repulsed. It was hard not to appreciate the smooth six pack and muscular pecs, but once they got down to their G-strings, I wasn’t the only one looking away. Dallas seemed pretty embarrassed to have one of the guys grinding in her face and the other practically dry humping her younger sister.

  Surprisingly the guy on Dallas seemed to get that she wasn’t as into it, so he started circulating around to the rest of the women. I stood as he approached me and waved him off. Dallas started laughing and Morgan joined in.

  “You’re not her type,” Dallas called when she recognized that I was not having any of this.

  He gave her a confused look and tried to again wiggle his hips in front of me. I put my hands up and pointed him toward the couch. “Denver needs a little attention.”

  “Not a word to my husband,” she warned everyone and waved pesky red G-string over.

  The other stripper was still giving Savannah most of his attention and Dallas yelled, “Purple’s not so bad now, huh, sis?”

  “It’s excellent.” Savannah giggled, her eyes glued to his purple G-string. She took another large slurp of her fourth glass of champagne. She was going to be hurting tomorrow.

  For another hour, the women worked every dollar out of those strippers. At one point everyone was up dancing with them, and I had a hard time remembering these were all grown women. I was also glad I’d never been to a bachelorette party before. If they’d been female strippers, would I have enjoyed myself more? Likely not. I probably would have wanted to talk them into applying for college or something equally constructive.

  When the real hotel security knocked on the door, Denver paid the strippers and started shutting down. I handed out bottles of water and aspirin, giving everyone instructions to finish it before bed. Dallas and I were the last to leave. I wouldn’t let her out of the room until she’d finished one bottle of water. I forced another down her on the cab ride to her house.

  At her place, I told the cabbie to wait and got Dallas inside. Her mom, stepdad, and grandparents were staying at her house, but only her grandmother was still up. She took one look at the still sloshed Dallas and started chuckling. Her mother probably would have yelled at me for getting her daughter drunk the night before her wedding. Her grandmother thought it was funny.

  I handed over the half full bottle of water and told her grandmother that she’d already had two aspirin. I shuttled Dallas into the bathroom knowing that if I led her to her bedroom she’d crash and not get up. When she surfaced with her makeup still on, I pushed her back inside to wash her face. I grabbed her eye mask from the refrigerator. No puffy eyes for my best friend on her wedding day.

  “I had the best time,” Dallas was saying when I rejoined them in her bedroom. “Skye, you’re the best. Best friend, best person, I love you like a sister.”

  “Love you, too. Get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.” I handed the eye mask to her grandmother and knew she’d be in good hands for the rest of the night.

  As I made my way back outside, I couldn’t help being a little sad that this would be the last time I left Dallas’s house in the middle of the night after spending a fun evening together. I knew it was all part of life. Friends married and had kids or moved away. I’d had to learn to move on or adjust to different relationships in the past. This would be no different.

  Twenty-Nine

  At five a.m. my alarm went off. I groaned and used my fingers to pry my eyes open. I tested the light and when no throbbing pain accompanied the introduction of light, I rolled to my side and checked the clock. Why five a.m.? I was having a hard time remembering. When the memory came back, I eased out of bed.

  A half hour later, I’d showered and had some breakfast, heavy on the coffee. I dried my hair and fluffed it into my usual bob before slapping on the barest hint of makeup. I slipped into my most comfortable shoes and headed out the door.

  The florist shop wasn’t open, but I knew Morgan would already be at work on the wedding flowers. I headed down the alley and knocked on the back door.

  She yelped when she saw me standing there. “Am I dreaming?”

  “I’ve got about two hours to help.”

  “Really?” She bounced up onto her toes. “Really, Skye?”

  “You seemed overwhelmed last night and it wasn’t the strippers. This is a big job for one person.”

  “I will owe you forever.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me into the back room. We were barely able to move with all the flower filled buckets crowding the floor. “We’ll get an assembly line going for the pew decorations first.”

  I spent the next two hours laying out flowers on the stainless steel worktable and cutting ribbons. Morgan would snip, pluck, and arrange the flowers with inhuman speed. The work wasn’t challenging or even creative on my part, but I loved every second of it. It was nice not to have to dread any part of the workday.

  “Thank you so much, Skye.” Morgan glanced back at the completed arrangements and over to the buckets of flowers left to arrange. “It’s a lot of work but I love the creativity. I might have to do one a year just for that.”

  “Happy to oblige.” I gave her shoulder a squeeze before heading out.

  My phone buzzed with a text. Gary checking to see that I was up and on my way to the bakery. He was going to check in with the caterers, decorators, and the musicians. Other than getting us appointments, I wasn’t sure what all he’d done to get us to this point. I had to hope that his fee would be earned by coordinating everything tonight because I certainly couldn’t do it.

  The phone buzzed again. I rolled my eyes before checking it, but this time the text was from Ainsley. I felt my step lighten as I read it. I’d been looking forward to finding out how the bachelor party went last night. I hadn’t expected to hear from her before the wedding.

  YOU UP?

  I texted back right away. YEP. GARY TEXTED.

  NEED HELP?

  Did I? As much as it would be nice to go through these tasks with someone, she had her own duties today. Keep the groom alive and bring him to the church.

  GOT IT COVERED.

  K. CHAT LATER.

  I slipped my phone back into my bag and dodged a few early morning joggers and dog walkers on my way to the bakery. Through the door, my stomach started grumbling at the onslaught of enticing aromas. The proprietor called out hello as if thrilled to see me and waved me into the back. His niece was hard at work on the decorations. She looked up and tipped her head at me.

  “Everything is under control. My niece is making a masterpiece.”

  “Don’t oversell, Unc.”

  “That reminds me.” I handed over the check Dallas gave me representing the balance of their fee. This was the other reason I was visiting each of the vendors this morning. They needed final payment today or they hold this crap hostage. “Any chance I could get a dozen of your best scones and any coffeecake you might have?”

  “You betcha.” He pulled fresh scones off a rack and chose a coffeecake just out of the oven.

  Back outside, I grabbed a cab and got out in front of Colin’s loft complex. I shouldn’t be doing this. It might seem like I was checking up on him, but Ainsley’s text brought me here. I set the bakery boxes on a bench outside and pulled out my phone to text her again.

  Three minutes later, the stairwell door opened and Ainsley appeared. Her hair was pulled back into a braid. She was wearing yoga pants and a form fitting t-shirt. She looked just as good this morning as she had in those sexy-ass over-the-calf boots a few weeks ago.

  “Changed your mind?” Ainsley stepped up to me.

  “Hmm?” My mind was stuck on the complimentary adjectives her appearance sparked.

  “You do need help?”

  I shook my head to clear the unprovoked thoughts. Sexy-ass boots were one thing, but yog
a pants and a t-shirt shouldn’t elicit this kind of reaction. “I was at the bakery dropping off the check and watched him pull a batch of scones from one of the ovens. I thought of you.”

  She pointed at herself and gave me a wide smile. “You thought of me?”

  Her tease didn’t get me hotheaded at all. It made me swallow hard and think about what I said. I had thought of her. I couldn’t say I’d ever thought of her other than when she’d gotten me so angry I couldn’t think of anything else. This time I’d thought of her, wondered what she was up to, wondered how her night had gone, wondered if she wanted any of those scones that practically made her moan when she’d tasted them before.

  I realized I hadn’t responded to her tease. I brushed my hand through the air. “Your parents, really. They probably haven’t had time to explore their breakfast options yet. Thought I’d drop some of those scones by.”

  “Sure you did. You were thinking of me,” she teased again but her nose went over to the bakery boxes. Her fingers flipped up the scone box and her eyes widened. She moved it to the side and checked the other. “Goodness, this looks delicious. Mum and Dad will love it.”

  “That was the point.”

  “You’re just going to make her adore you more.”

  “That was really the point,” I joked.

  “What did you lot do for the hen night?” She pulled out a scone and bit into it, gesturing for me to do the same. I stood by mesmerized at the look of ecstasy that came over her face again. She waved her hand in front of my face when I didn’t answer.

  “Oh, um, dinner, bar, scavenger hunt, and strippers. You?”

  “The scavenger hunt sounds—did you say strippers?” Her blue eyes danced in amusement.

  “Not my idea. Savannah and Denver wanted to own part of the night. I guess I should have asked what they had in mind. I’m not sure Dallas was entirely comfortable with it.”

  “Male strippers?”

  “No. A bunch of female strippers for a room full of straight chicks.”

  She started laughing and had to put down the scone so she could use both hands to grip her stomach. “You had male strippers at a party you organized?”

  “It wasn’t my idea.” I huffed, my hand flipping up in protest. “At least they were good looking.”

  “No doubt,” she teased.

  “Well, what did you guys do? You and all those men?”

  “Sports bar, lots of fried foods, darts, arcade, and strippers.”

  “No, come on.”

  “Not joshing. One of the guys had the password for an exclusive strip club upstairs from a posh restaurant. So there we are going into a dim, velvet lined club with strategically placed brass poles and lots of chairs without arms to facilitate the lap dances.”

  My mind raced. At least with the male strippers it was in a private place. Not one picture of Dallas with a male stripper would show up on a social networking site. I could be sure of that. “Please tell me the exclusiveness of this club took precautions to protect its patrons.”

  Her brow furrowed. “You’re worried about someone having seen him?”

  “More like pictures of him. He’s the face of a cable news program. I wouldn’t care, but we’re still very puritanical here.”

  “Damn right you are, but not to worry. No mobiles or cameras allowed. I’m fairly certain I recognized six politicians in the crowd. No unauthorized photos will surface.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “And how’s the groom? Hung over?”

  “He probably will be. He’s not up yet.”

  “What are your plans today?”

  “Golf and massages. What about you?”

  “Spa day and merry-go-round of hair and makeup.”

  “Just what you love.”

  I looked back at her. How did she know that I wasn’t looking forward to what Dallas would consider ultimately relaxing? “It’ll be fun.”

  “Okay.” She was unconvinced. “I’d offer to have you join us for golf, but I know you need to be with your friend.”

  “Thanks anyway.”

  She looked back down at the bakery boxes. “I guess I better get these delivered. Do you want to come up and say hello to everyone?”

  “Probably not. I don’t want Colin thinking I was here to check up on him.”

  “He’s not up, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t think that.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll see you all later.” I turned and stalked off before I took her up on the offer. With her parents around and how well we seemed to be getting along, I’d be tempted to stay with them all day.

  As appealing as that sounded, I couldn’t shirk my duties with Dallas today. No matter how much I might want to.

  Thirty

  Dallas got out of the car in front of me with her mom and sisters. I’d gone back to my place to shower after leaving them to finish their pampering and then off to pick up her grandparents. Her stepfather was collecting his offspring and their families, and her father would be picking up his parents from the hotel. Both would be here an hour from now.

  I paid the cab we’d taken and helped her grandma out of the backseat. I grabbed my dress and bag from the trunk as Dallas’s crew spotted us behind them. Lots of squealing and jumping occurred at being reunited with the whole family. I’d pretty much had my quota of squealing and jumping for life after last night, but it was fun to see Dallas so excited and her sisters finally being wholly supportive rather than a little self-absorbed.

  “Is everything set up?” Dallas asked me.

  I nodded and started herding them toward the stairs. “Morgan was almost done when I stopped by after the spa. It looks great.”

  We pushed through the front doors and were immediately met by the guy that showed Ainsley and me around last time. He was sufficiently effervescent for a wedding party. The ladies seemed to appreciate that. He led us into the sanctuary. Dallas halted, which caused her older sister to bump into her and her younger sister to swear, but the complaining stopped when everyone saw how the church was set up.

  “It’s beautiful,” Dallas whispered. “Just how I pictured. Better than I pictured.” She reached out to drag me to her. “We wouldn’t have this if it weren’t for you. Thank you so much.”

  “It was your plan. Gary organized the whole thing and Ainsley did just as much.”

  “Oh, I plan to thank her as well. Gary’s paid to care, but you two made this happen when Colin and I couldn’t.” Her arms came around me fully. I felt tears drip onto my cheek and knew the crying was just starting.

  Her sisters and mother crowded around us into a group hug that became a bit soggy by the time everyone pulled away. I dug into the duffle bag I’d equipped and pulled out travel sized tissue packs for everyone.

  “You’re a marvel,” her mom said, gripping my chin and forcing me to accept her compliment.

  Assistant guy showed us up to the changing room. I set my dress on a hanger and got my iPad out to connect to the church’s Wi-Fi. A moment later, Dallas’s granddad had a baseball game streaming on the screen as he took a seat in the hallway. Inside, I handed out water bottles for everyone, which had them squealing again. I really needed to get a handle on this girl thing because the squealing gene obviously passed me up.

  “You thought of everything,” Dallas said, taking a sip of water. “What else you got in that bag.”

  “Hopefully everything we’ll need.”

  “I thought you hated weddings.” Dallas’s eyebrows fluttered. “How do you know what we’ll need?”

  “Research.”

  Her mouth popped open. “You’re kidding.”

  “People love blogging about weddings.”

  She started laughing through the confused stares of the others in the room. “You don’t understand. This is the most cynical person I’ve ever met when it comes to weddings. To think she spent even ten minutes reading wedding blogs is the funniest thing I can picture.”

  “How many weddings have you been to?” her mom asked me.
>
  “Five. My mom’s, two cousins, one friend, and one boss.”

  “You’re lucky. For a time there, it seemed like my husband and I were getting invited to weddings every Saturday,” Denver shared.

  “Me, too,” Savannah said. “Do you know how expensive it gets to be a bridesmaid at seven weddings in one year?”

  “Sounds like someone needs to learn to say no,” Dallas told her.

  “Right, like you’d let me get away with that. Friends don’t like when you don’t want to be part of their wedding. Sisters would kill me.” We laughed, but I knew she was right about how Dallas wouldn’t have forgiven her. At least here, Dallas was paying for her dress and her hotel room.

  A knock at the door heralded Gary and his minion. I looked behind him, expecting the other minion. After he’d given air kisses to everyone in the room and made sure Dallas knew how beautiful he thought she looked, he turned back to me. “A little flu bug going around. My other assistant won’t be joining us. Not to worry, we’ve got it handled. Mia will head over to the reception to make sure the venue is set up correctly.”

  “You remember that our florist needs help, right?”

  “Mia will take some staff with her to help unload.”

  I had to hope he knew what he was doing. This was exactly the kind of story that seemed to repeat itself on those blogs I’d read. They all seemed to describe some sort of disaster that they had to work through, but it was the reason I had packed a duffle full of contingencies.

  My phone buzzed as I was letting Mia out. I glanced at the text and reported, “Jackie’s outside with the other hairdressers.” Wordlessly, I communicated with Gary. I knew without a second assistant, he’d need someone to help coordinate all the moving parts. Looked like I’d be that person. “I’ll go bring them up.”

  On the front steps, I met Jackie with two hairdressers we used for the other shows. After a quick hello I got them pointed in the right direction upstairs and turned back to find Betsy, Dallas’s makeup artist from the show, struggling with her rolling makeup case.