All of Me: A Holiday Bites Novel

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “On to the next,” she said, leading the way back to the dressing room.

  As she worked on the dress, all I had to do was step out of it when she told me to. Which left me too much time to analyze what I’d heard Shannon telling Jess.

  Harrison was all of those things that she’d said. But was I good enough for him? I loved him, but Lake Shores was a relatively small town and I didn’t want to hold him back. Was he giving up on dreams he hadn’t told me about to stay here with me?

  Probably not because he’d told me, more than once, that I was his dream. Being with me was his dream.

  I’d left before. Knowing he was coming back to me, I’d left before and I certainly didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to live here where my home was, where my business was. Have some babies and be with Harrison. And I knew he wanted all those things eventually as well, but I worried that he was giving up other things he wanted in exchange.

  I shook off all of those thoughts and focused on finding the dress. I had no idea why these moments of insecurity were hitting me, so I chalked it up to the excitement and being overwhelmed.

  And missing my mom.

  The next two dresses missed the mark as well. One had more of a train than I wanted and the other just didn’t look right on me. When I’d asked Dana about the train she said that if I loved the dress, it could’ve been altered away.

  Finally, the fourth dress made my breath catch in my throat.

  It had a straight satin bodice that hugged my breasts perfectly. It was strapless and pale sapphire that flowed down into a semi-full skirt. It was long without even a hint of a train. It barely brushed the floor and I could already imagine presenting myself to Harrison in this. Imagine the shoes I might wear and the flowers I might carry. My hair could be down with a small section pulled back on each side. Loose curls for sure.

  This dress was almost perfect.

  I swallowed back the tears forming in my eyes. Who knew shopping could get me so emotional? Then I stepped out once again and both women quietly gasped.

  “Luna.” Jess cocked her head to the side as a soft grin curved her lips.

  Shannon wiped away a tear once again. “That’s incredibly beautiful.”

  I took my spot on the pedestal and looked myself over, front and back, while talking to them.

  “It is beautiful, right? And I know it’s not white—”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Jess shook her head. “You can be unique and that color makes your eyes almost unreal.”

  I’d noticed that too. “There’s only one problem.”

  They both gave me questioning looks.

  “It’s strapless,” I told them. “And I don’t think I’d like one of those fur things that go over the shoulders. Plus, I don’t think it’d look right. But strapless in the winter…”

  “Harrison will keep the winery at a hundred degrees to make sure you’re warm in that thing,” Jess assured me.

  I giggled. He would do that. “I don’t want him to have to, though. I’m sure I’d be fine with something light. I just think completely bare shoulders isn’t going to work.”

  Dana stepped up then. “I have a suggestion.” Please, please, please let it be good. “If you don’t mind the cost, our seamstress is amazing and could make you a mostly sheer jacket out of the same color fabric.”

  “It would match?” I asked. She nodded, which got my hopes up. “And it would look OK?”

  “Yes.” She stepped up to me and used her fingers to trace what she meant. “It would go to the waist so the line would blend in with the skirt and we’d have it on backward. Meaning the buttons could be in the back. We could do a mockup so you can visualize what I mean, but I think it would look spectacular. I’d just have our seamstress hop out here to take your measurements and we can email the design to you.”

  My body began to shake with excitement. Until I realized I hadn’t asked about the cost of the dress or the jacket. Though with the way I loved it, I’d probably go into debt for it if I had to.

  “And how much extra would that be?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Shannon answered before Dana could. I was about to protest, but she cut me off. “Jim and I would like to buy your dress for you, Luna. If that’s OK with you.”

  My brain couldn’t have heard what it had. “What?”

  “Jim and I talked. We’d like to pay for your dress if you don’t mind. I know your mom would’ve wanted to be here to do it herself and I know I’m not a replacement, but we’d really love to do this for you.”

  The sincerity in her voice made me want to say yes immediately, but again, I hadn’t looked at the price tag. That was the first thing I reached for.

  “Don’t look at the cost,” Shannon urged as I went to look at the tag. The dress fit me perfectly aside for the length of the skirt, which would need to be hemmed. Story of the life of a short person.

  “Are you sure? It could be a ridiculous amount.”

  She nodded. “We’re very sure. It doesn’t matter what it costs. You two are paying for everything else yourself and we’d like to do this for you.”

  Jess was biting her teeth together and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was almost as excited as I was.

  Now I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I wouldn’t ugly cry, though. There had to be limits.

  “Thank you,” I said, my voice cracking before I could stop it. I stepped down from the pedestal and went right for Shannon, where I pulled her in for a tight hug. She was taller than me, but then again, everyone was. My head rested against her chest. “Thank you,” I said again.

  Shannon ran a hand down my hair and whispered, “You’re welcome.”

  I turned to Dana, who was watching us all with a slight smile. “This is the dress,” I told her. “I’d like to see the jacket, but I’m going to want something for the shoulders so whatever you can work out.”

  She clapped her hands together. “Perfect. I promise you it’s going to be amazing.”

  Dana and I stepped back into the dressing room so that she could get this dress off me and put my street clothes back on. That was when I took a quick peek at the price. My heart sputtered. Somehow I had chosen a dress in a bridal shop that was only three hundred and fifty dollars. Probably because it wasn’t a standard bridal gown, but I didn’t care. It was perfect.

  As long as the jacket wasn’t super pricey.

  We now had to spend more time and drink another glass of champagne to pick out something for Jessica. I sipped but barely had any. Obviously, she wouldn’t be wearing blue.

  I also wondered if Harrison had known his mom was going to offer to buy my dress. I’d have to ask him later.

  It took another hour to get everything together. My dress, the seamstress coming out to measure me for both the jacket and the length of the dress. Then we got Jessica’s picked out. Her dress was a pale champagne color that looked amazing next to mine. I also found a pair of heels that fit and would be dyed to match the color of my dress.

  It was such a beautiful color that I’d wear those shoes with a lot of things, honestly.

  All in all, it was an emotionally draining day but well worth it.

  15

  Harrison

  The last weeks had been incredibly busy. We’d had things to nail down for the wedding, but since it was going to be so small, it didn’t take much time.

  I’d heard about Luna’s dress. No details. Just how beautiful it was and how stunning she looked it in. Something I’d never doubted. My mom especially liked to tease me with the fact that she knew what I’d be getting on my wedding day. The joke was on her because what Luna wore wouldn’t have mattered. What mattered to me was getting to marry her.

  I was at the winery with my dad and Killian getting some things together for the wedding. Making sure we had the chairs for people to sit in and getting the lay of the land so that we’d be able to set everything up for the wedding.

  We still had a week to go.

  “How
did I get roped into this again?” Killian asked.

  “Because your brother needed us,” Dad said pointedly. Dad wasn’t quite as tall as either Killian or Me, but he wasn’t short. He had the same dark hair as we did, though his had streaks of gray. Mom and Dad were both still in great shape, though sometimes Dad commented on pain in his back. It was one of the only things that showed his age.

  “Right. I forgot.”

  I snorted because, no he had not, but at least he’d gotten beyond whatever his problems with Luna were and he was here. Helping.

  “And your brother has seemed awfully happy these last few weeks.”

  “I am,” I told him honestly.

  We could talk to Dad about anything. When I’d thought I was going to have sex for the first time, Dad had gotten wind of it. My guess was it had been Killian yapping his mouth. Killian had been the one who’d told me what to look for in condoms back then. But Dad had sat me down and had a serious talk with me. The same one Killian said he’d also gotten.

  Dad had wanted to make sure I knew that I couldn’t expect anything from a girl and that my job was to treat her with respect. I credited him with the way I was now. That conversation had been a game-changer. Even Killian, who sometimes teetered on being a whore depending on what was going on in his life, still treated women with a high level of respect. We had to. We’d watched my dad do that with my mom our whole lives.

  “I honestly couldn’t be happier,” I told them as we moved some folding chairs. These would be used for the guests to sit in during the ceremony. A friend of a friend was certified to perform weddings, so we were using him. “I didn’t know I could be this happy. Having my girl agree to spend the rest of her life with me…” I shook my head.

  “Hard to describe, isn’t it?” Dad gave me a knowing look.

  My parents loved each other. Killian and I had both witnessed it our entire lives. Of anyone in my life, Dad would’ve been the one who knew exactly how I was feeling.

  “Yeah,” I told him. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Serious question.” Killian stopped moving the chairs and put his hands on his hips. “Is it real? Like really real?”

  “Realest fucking thing I’ve ever experienced,” I said honestly.

  “Wow.” He scratched the back of his head. “That’s some turnaround from a year ago.”

  “How’s that?”

  “A year ago, I was pretty sure you’d never be in a position to have a girlfriend again, let alone anything more. You seem to forget how lost you were.”

  I stopped working too. “I was only lost because I didn’t have Luna.”

  Killian snorted but fuck him if he didn’t believe me.

  “Killian, I know you don’t understand what I feel for her,” I told him honestly. “I know. But all my dreams have come true. Every single one. Not just Luna. I have a great job that I love. I have friends who have my back. I bought the winery and I’ve got Luna. That’s all I need.”

  His head wobbled back and forth like he wasn’t sure I was telling the truth. “I wouldn’t say all of your dreams.”

  Dad sighed. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Are you going to tell him or am I?” Killian glared at me, but I gave it right back.

  Instead of giving him the satisfaction of tattling on me, I decided to do it myself. “I turned down a chance to study in France for a little while. It’s not a big deal.”

  “It is a big deal,” Killian muttered.

  “Because of Luna?” Dad asked, but at least he had no accusation in his voice the way Killian always did.

  “She has the spa here. She can’t go there for six months or a year and I won’t leave her for that long again. It didn’t work in my favor last time.”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “Are you sure it didn’t work in your favor?” Killian was pushing my last button. Almost if that was his entire job in life at this point.

  “Fuck you,” I spat. There wasn’t a lot of venom behind my words. “There isn’t anything that could make it better, Killian. Maybe if Luna’s mom were here to see our big day. That would be better because my girl would be so happy. That’s about it.”

  “That is… some fucked-up Hallmark movie shit.”

  I shrugged. “Dad gets it.”

  “I do,” Dad agreed. “That’s how it was with your mom. Killian, one day you’ll get it. When you meet that special woman who makes you feel all the things… you’ll get it.”

  “I don’t want to feel any of the things.”

  I cocked my head to the side and asked, “Who hurt you, Killian? What happened to the little boy inside of you?”

  “Fuck you.” He lifted his middle finger like it was punctuation on his words.

  Dad and I laughed loudly, which just made him more upset.

  I didn’t need Killian to understand. I just needed him to be there for me when I needed him to be just like I was there for him when he needed me.

  Though it did make me start to wonder why he was the way he was.

  Girlfriends sometimes. Whoring sometimes. It was like two opposing sides of him. To my knowledge, there hadn’t been a specific girl who’d broken his heart. He would’ve had to love them first, so now it was a mystery to solve. Had Killian loved a woman who’d broken his heart and I just didn’t know? Or had he loved a woman who hadn’t loved him back? Or was it neither of those things?

  Oddly, I wanted to know the answer to these questions.

  The three of us finished up what we needed to do at the winery and I had Erica, our event coordinator, on it to decide how it would be best to seat people and take care of all that. She was a gem. In her mid-thirties with shoulder-length brown hair and could coordinate the shit out of anything that was thrown at her.

  I couldn’t do all this without her.

  Once we were done, I sent a text just to make sure everything was good to go for the rehearsal dinner, which Luna had decided to have at our house; however, my mom and Jess were taking care of everything. They said they’d make sure Luna didn’t have to do a thing.

  Personally, I thought Luna wanted it at our house because it would make her feel like her mom was part of it. This was where she’d grown up and spent most of her time with her mom. I wouldn’t deny her that.

  The floor plan was perfect as well. It wasn’t like there’d be a lot of us. Us, my parents, Killian, Beck, and Jessica. Beck was going to act as an usher to make sure everyone got situated. Which meant he was part of the rehearsal.

  Jess assured me that she and my mom had it all under control. We were having the dinner catered, but they wanted to do some decorations and setup that was out of my hands. Luna knew it was all happening, but they hadn’t let her in on any details.

  Just thinking about her was enough to conjure her up, apparently. As soon as her name came through my head that last time, car lights flashed across the main room of the winery followed by Luna coming through the door.

  I furrowed my brows. She knew we were going to be out here, but last I heard, she hadn’t planned on coming.

  “Hey,” I said, making my way toward her.

  She smiled, but when we got close, she reached out for me. I gladly took her in my arms. I didn’t care if my dad or brother were watching. That wasn’t enough though because as soon as I had my arms wrapped around her, she jumped, forcing me to take a step back and wrap my hands around the backs of her thighs. Which I then slid to her ass as she buried her face in my neck.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, worried that something had happened to interfere with what we had going on.

  But when Luna pulled back, she had a huge grin on her face. Without explaining, she pushed our lips together. I wasn’t going to turn that down. I readjusted the way I was holding her, sliding one arm under so that her ass rested on my forearm, then snaked the other hand up to the back of my neck.

  My girl sat back and that huge grin returned to her face. Everything was fine.

  “Nothing is going on, but I n
eeded to see you,” she said quietly, though I knew Dad and Killian would hear her and when my brother gagged under his breath, it showed they had. Fuck that guy.

  “I’m always happy to see you, but I would’ve been home soon.”

  She shrugged. “Couldn’t wait.”

  Now it was my turn to crack a smile. “I really like hearing that.”

  “Aren’t I getting heavy?” she asked.

  “You weigh nothing,” I told her honestly, then I kissed her again.

  “I went to pick up my dress,” she said as if she were admitting to something. Something naughty or something secret.

  “Yeah?”

  She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. “It’s even better than I could’ve hoped. It’s so beautiful and I’m going to hang it in the closet by the front door, so if you want to see it, it’ll be in there.”

  “No way. That’s bad luck, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t believe in that and you know it. So it’ll be there.”

  I leaned in and ran my nose up her jawbone until my lips were extremely close to her ear. “I’ll see it when you come to me in it,” I whispered.

  She shivered. Actually shivered, as if my words had skittered down her spine and given her a chill.

  “It’s really beautiful,” she said again.

  “I’m sure it is. But you could make anything beautiful.”

  Luna rolled her eyes. “A potato sack? Could I make that beautiful?”

  I burst out with a loud laugh. “Yup.”

  That was when she finally wiggled out of my arms and put her two feet back on the floor. Then, as if she’d just noticed they were there, her eyes slid over to Dad and Killian. My girl shyly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

  “Sorry about that,” she said to them.

  “You shouldn’t be,” Dad said, beaming as if this were the thing he was most proud of me for. Killian remained conspicuously quiet but better that than him saying something stupid.

  “I’ll go and let you all finish up.” She pushed to her toes to kiss my cheek.