This Can't Be Love

by Maria Geraci

  “Me? Oh, no, not really.”

  “Why not?” Mimi said. “Is it because you still have your heart set on the food truck idea?”

  Something about the way Mimi looked at her made Sarah feel itchy. It took her a minute to realize what it was. When Mimi got all intense, her eyes looked just like Luke’s.

  If, by some crazy twist of fate, she could afford to buy The Bistro, then it would mean she’d be permanently tied to Whispering Bay. Is that what Mimi was getting at? Did Mimi want her to stay in town? She’d certainly tried her best to fix Sarah up with her brother. But Luke didn’t live here, so that made no sense.

  “Well, I know what I’d like Sarah to do,” Lauren said. “You should open up a business delivering homemade meals to stressed out families.”

  The Babes all turned to look at her.

  “I won Sarah’s homemade family meal at the preschool silent auction and let me tell you, it was a godsend. Not only was it the best thing we’ve had to eat in ages, it came on the perfect night. Nate was at the office till seven, Henry had a soccer game till eight, and Baby Miller and I were working hard at the office. Sarah delivered it still warm from the oven.” Lauren made a dreamy face. “Pot roast, carrots and potatoes, homemade biscuits, and cheesecake. It’s been over a week now and Nate hasn’t stopped raving about it.”

  “Can you deliver dinner to my house tomorrow?” Shea said. “And I’m totally serious, by the way.”

  “Oh, uh, I’ll be in Atlanta tomorrow, but…maybe I can work something out for next week?”

  Shea took out her cell phone. “Give me your number. I’ll call you.”

  A couple of the other women got Sarah’s number, as well.

  “I hate to break this up,” Lauren said, “but it’s getting late and we need to get down to business.” She snapped her fingers at Sarah. “We need you to stand in the middle of the room.”

  Sarah suddenly found herself the focus of eleven hard and appraising gazes.

  “What size are you?” Pilar asked.

  “Four, I think.”

  “How tall?” asked Kitty.

  Sarah cringed. “Five-three. And a half,” she added because, let’s face it, that half-inch was important.

  “Shoe size?” asked Shea. “And is that hair natural?”

  “Seven, and yes.”

  “Is that your real eye color or contacts?” asked another woman.

  “Real, but…what does that matter?”

  Lauren interrupted the flow of conversation. “Ladies, I think that’s enough information to get started.” She pointed toward a hallway. “Mimi and Kitty, can you two bring out all the dresses?”

  The two women came back a couple of minutes later, their arms overflowing with brightly colored satin and crepe and silk. They laid everything down on an empty couch behind Sarah, then smoothed out the material to reveal a dozen formal dresses.

  “I guessed you were about a four,” Lauren said, “So we all combed through our closets and this is what we came up with.”

  Sarah blinked, feeling overwhelmed.

  “Which one jumps out at you?” Mimi asked.

  She stood back and studied her choices. There were three black dresses and one white dress that she immediately crossed out. Since she wasn’t the bride, she didn’t think white was appropriate, and since it was an evening wedding, there were probably going to be a number of women wearing black, and it would be nice if she could stand out. In a good way.

  That left a cream-colored dress, three dresses in various shades of blue, a brown satin dress that had lots of ruffles on the bottom (she’d probably look like a chocolate ice cream cone in that) and…a gold shimmery number that looked as if it belonged on the Oscar runway. “This one,” she said automatically.

  The women all murmured in approval.

  “You have good taste,” Lauren said, “considering that dress used to belong to me.”

  “Used to?”

  “It’s yours now. If you’d like it.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t take it. Even borrowing it is a lot to ask.” Sarah reached out to touch the shimmery gold fabric. It was a beaded, off-the-shoulder mermaid gown and it was absolutely gorgeous. Sarah didn’t know a lot about couture fashion but she knew enough from her stint working on a cruise ship that this was a designer gown and probably cost more than she made in a month. Maybe even two months.

  “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” Lauren agreed with a sigh. “I bought it for a big, fancy medical fund-raiser that Nate and I went to after we first got married. But that was about thirty pounds ago and, honestly, while I loved the dress, I don’t really have the right figure for it. Even when I’m not pregnant, my boobs are just too big for this style so I’d never wear it again anyway.” She took a long look at Sarah’s chest. “You need to try it on, but I can already tell that it’s going to fit you perfectly, except in the chest. I’ll have to take it in a few inches on both sides, but that’s not a problem. I have my machine all set up in the guest room, so let’s see how it fits.”

  A chorus of “Try it on! Try it on!” came from the room, making Sarah laugh. “Okay. Here I go!” She went to the guest room and quickly stripped down to her bra and panties. Other than it being too big in the bust and too long, of course, the rest of the dress fit perfectly.

  She picked up the hem so that she wouldn’t step on it and carefully walked back to the living room to show the women. She’d expected a continuation of raucous laughter and positive shouts, or at the very least, a “Gee, that looks nice.” But instead, the entire room went quiet, which couldn’t be good.

  And here she’d really loved this dress.

  “Should I try on another one instead?”

  Mimi was the first one to speak. “Don’t you dare wear anything to this wedding but that dress!”

  The rest of the room suddenly came alive. Someone shoved a pair of gold sandals with at least a four-inch heel on her feet, making the length now perfect as well. There was just the matter of that bust…

  “If I only had the boobs to fill out this dress,” she said, looking down at the gap in the gown’s bodice.

  “Oh, honey, I’d kill to have your boobs,” Pilar said.

  “I did have those boobs. Before I breastfed Amanda,” Kitty said, referring to the adorable toddler that she sometimes brought into The Bistro for breakfast.

  “I paid to have those boobs,” Shea said, causing the rest of the women to laugh even more.

  “Believe me, Sarah,” Lauren said, “you don’t want to have these…freakish boobs of mine. Do you know how hard it is to buy clothes?”

  “I love those freakish boobs of yours,” yelled Nate from the other room.

  “There are kids are in the house!” Lauren yelled back.

  “Sorry. Cover your ears, boys,” Nate said loud enough for all to hear.

  Everyone laughed, then Kitty got up and closed the door to the nearby family room.

  Sarah sucked in a breath while Lauren pinned up the sides of the dress. “I can have this ready in no time.”

  Sarah could hardly believe this was happening. She’d never worn anything so beautiful in her life. “Really? You can make this fit me?”

  Lauren made a scoffing sound. “Of course. I’m a professional seamstress. This is what I live for.”

  After Lauren was satisfied with the way the dress fit with the pins, Sarah went back to the guest room and took it off. She slipped her shorts and shirt back on, delicately draping the dress over her arm and handed it back to Lauren.

  “Give me thirty minutes, tops. Then we’ll do a second try on.”

  While Lauren was busy sewing away, the rest of the women discussed possible hair and makeup.

  “You definitely want to put your hair up,” Pilar suggested, “so that you can show off your bare shoulders.”

  “But don’t make it too severe,” Shea said. “You want to keep it sexy.” She took the bulk of Sarah’s hair and, with a quick motion, made a simple, loose French twist that she secu
red with about half a dozen bobby pins. “Now let’s see you do that,” she instructed, taking Sarah’s hair down so that they were back to square one. “If you can’t do it yourself then we’ll have to do something else.”

  Sarah did as Shea said, because for one, she didn’t want to contradict the woman, and secondly, the style did look nice. After a couple of tries, she got it to look almost as good as Shea had.

  “Perfect,” Pilar said. “Now for makeup.”

  “Sarah is so pretty and she normally doesn’t wear much makeup, so I say keep it simple otherwise she’ll look too made up,” Mimi said.

  The rest of the women agreed, and after another thirty minutes of trying out different blushes and lipsticks, they settled on “the look” as Shea called it—dark brown eyeliner, mascara, a little powdered foundation, pink blush and red lipstick.

  “Red? Are you sure?” Sarah looked at herself in the mirror. “You don’t think I look like a clown?”

  “You look sophisticated and beautiful,” Kitty said.

  Lauren called out from the guest room. “Get your perky little boobs and butt in here now, lady! Your dress is ready!”

  Sarah found Lauren sitting behind a sewing machine. Nate was right. Her cheeks did look flushed. She felt guilty for making Lauren work so hard when she was, as she had jokingly put it, about a million weeks pregnant. “Are you okay?” Sarah asked.

  “Of course I’m okay. I’m just excited to see how this fits you. Shoes, too. We need to make sure everything is a go.”

  Sarah stripped down again and Lauren told her to take off her bra as well. “You don’t need it. I’ve taken in the bodice enough that it will be pretty snug.” She helped Sarah into the gown then stood back to inspect her handiwork. “How does it feel?”

  “Awesome,” she said, blinking back a tear.

  Lauren beamed at her. “Go show the girls. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.”

  This time when Sarah came out in the dress, the room was definitely not quiet.

  “You’re gorgeous!” Pilar said.

  “Stunning!” said Kitty.

  “My brother is in so much trouble,” Mimi said, laughing as she shook her head. “I wish I could be a fly on the wall when sees you in that dress.”

  The back of Sarah’s eyeballs stung. This time, she didn’t bother to hide her tears. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you all.” She went around the room giving out hugs to all the women.

  “Thank us by having a wonderful time,” Pilar said

  Lauren got an extra-long hug. “And I have no idea how I’m ever going to repay you. Anytime you want a home-cooked meal all you have to do is ask.”

  Lauren had a funny look on her face when she stepped back from the hug. “Um, I guess you can repay me now by going to get my husband because I think my water just broke.”

  * * *

  “That’s the second Bunco baby we’ve had in the past year and a half,” Pilar said, a few hours later. “We definitely need to get our dice checked out.”

  “But we weren’t actually playing,” Mimi said, “Not like when Kitty went into labor during couples Bunco last year, so we can’t blame it on the dice.”

  “True,” Shea mused.

  For the most part, the group had dispersed after Nate and Lauren had left for the hospital in Panama City, but Sarah had stayed at the house with Shea and Mimi and Pilar until all the parents had come to pick up the boys. Tom and Allie had taken Henry to the hospital so that he could see his new baby brother, Daniel, named after Lauren’s daddy, who suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease. But according to Nate, who’d called to update them, Dan Handy had seemed aware and extremely pleased to have his second grandson named after him.

  “I’d say tonight went pretty damn well,” Pilar said. “Lauren and Nate have a healthy baby boy and Sarah is all ready for the big wedding. Well done, ladies!” They all high-fived one another.

  Mimi walked Sarah out to her car and helped her load the carefully packed dress and shoes into the back seat. “Have fun in Atlanta.”

  “Thanks. It’ll be good to get away for a couple of days.”

  “Hey, Sarah?” Mimi said. “Give my brother a chance, okay?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s great and of course I love him to death, but he’s not the most evolved guy on the planet.”

  Sarah laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  Mimi didn’t laugh back. “I know it looks as if he’s king of the world, but…” She shook her head. “I’m probably not making any sense here, except to say that permanently breaking off with Victoria was the best thing that could have ever happened to him.”

  “But I thought you all loved Victoria.”

  “Not all of us. Don’t get me wrong, Victoria’s great. On paper. But I never thought she was right for Luke. It was my mom who was pushing that. Frankly, I think you’re the perfect woman for my brother.”

  “Me?”

  “I’ve never seen him look happier, and that has absolutely nothing to do with fishing and everything to do with you.”

  Sarah hesitated, not sure how much she should tell Mimi about her relationship with Luke. Mimi was Luke’s sister, which made things awkward, but she was also Sarah’s friend, so she decided to be frank.

  “You’ve probably guessed by now that Luke and I are sleeping together, but neither of us has any expectations that this relationship will last past next week. We’re friends and I like him a lot and he feels the same about me. But that’s it. I really don’t expect to see him again after I leave town.”

  Mimi looked crestfallen. “Oh, I’d hoped, well, it’s no secret that I’d hoped it would be more.”

  “He’s not looking for love and marriage and neither am I. Your brother and I had that conversation up-front and we’re totally on the same page.”

  Mimi looked as if she didn’t believe it. “I hope you’re right about that because I like you a lot, Sarah, but if you do anything to hurt my brother…” She shrugged, then reached out and gave Sarah a hug. “Have fun. Take lots of pictures.”

  Sarah got in her car, a little shaken up by that last part. It must be the pregnancy hormones making Mimi say things that were flat-out crazy.

  She waved to Mimi one last time and began the short, five-minute drive back to Luke’s house. She had three whole days off and she and Luke were going to Atlanta, a town she’d only driven through but had never really seen. And even though they were going to his ex’s wedding, it couldn’t be horrible because now she had this gorgeous dress to wear and a part of her felt like Cinderella going to the ball.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The six-hour drive to Atlanta went quickly, mainly because Sarah slept most of the way. She was still exhausted from working all week, but the minute they hit the 285 perimeter, she’d sat straight up and began to take note of the landscape and the buildings, and the non-stop traffic, too. Luke had explained that the locals referred to everything inside the highway that circled Atlanta as ITP (inside the perimeter) and everything that lay beyond the highway as OTP (mainly the suburbs).

  Luke lived in a spacious, two-bedroom condo on Peachtree Street near downtown. Decorated in a minimalist, modern style that made it look more like a showroom, it was so completely different from the warmth of the little beach house in Whispering Bay that it was hard to believe that the same man owned both homes.

  “This is…nice,” Sarah said, glancing around the living room.

  Luke finished bringing in their luggage. “You hate it.”

  “Not at all. The view is gorgeous. It just doesn’t look lived in.”

  “You’re right about that. My job takes me to a lot of different places. I’m lucky if I spend a week out of every month here.”

  “Does Ethan travel as much as you do?” she asked, referring to Luke’s business partner. When she hadn’t been sleeping on the drive up, he’d filled her in on his job and his friends. Sarah liked the way he talked about Ethan and his wife
, Julie, and she looked forward to meeting them both tonight at their home for dinner.

  “He used to, then he got married and now he’s gone soft.”

  “Okay, I’m off to inspect the most important room in the house.”

  He wagged his eyebrows up and down. “The bedroom?”

  “No, silly. The kitchen.”

  The kitchen, like the rest of the condo, was ultra-sleek with rows of white cabinets and marble countertops and lots of impressive-looking silver appliances that Sarah would bet had never been turned on. She began opening cabinets. There was just about every kind of gadget she could dream of, plus rows of glasses and top of the line china and flatware. But as for food? All she could find was a neat little row of bottles containing the basic spices, a bag of coffee, some sugar, and, of course, a bottle of Glenlivet. The refrigerator wasn’t much better. It was empty except for a case of expensive designer water.

  “So how did you learn to make that awesome fried grouper and those incredible hush puppies of yours? Because I don’t think you’ve been in this kitchen more than twice.”

  “Gramps taught me how to make the grouper and hush puppies. It was his signature dish, and now it’s mine.”

  “You mean, it’s your only dish?”

  He grinned. “Yeah. But it’s all I need, right?”

  “True,” she mused. “So, where’s the nearest grocery store? If we’re going to stay here a couple of days we’ll need some stuff for breakfast and snacks.”

  “No problem. Just write out a list and I’ll give it to the concierge downstairs. They’ll have it delivered and put away for us by the time we get back tonight.”

  She’d heard about people who lived this way. In million-dollar apartments with skyline views and doormen ready to wait on your every whim. It had always seemed so glamorous, but there was something to be said about the simple joy of driving to the grocery store and picking out your own bananas.

  He glanced at his watch. “Okay, it’s almost one and we’re supposed to be at Ethan’s around seven. I have roughly six hours to show you Atlanta.”