That Wedding (35 page)

He gives me the sexiest grin. "I think that can be arranged."

He gazes at my mouth. I'm pretty sure he's going to kiss me, but he says, "You have some whipped cream on your mouth. Here, let me get it." He licks the corner of my mouth then kisses me. I'm pretty sure he was lying, but I don't mind.

Amy waltzes back in with a different chef. "Since both of you have fond memories of late night breakfasts with your friends, that seemed like the perfect food for your after party."

We taste the cutest stack of mini pancakes that are held together by a purple skewer and drizzled with warm maple syrup. There are paper cones full of mini hash browns, sausage and cheese biscuit sliders, mini French toast points made with cinnamon bread, warm mini cinnamon rolls with thick white frosting, and a little ramekin filled with a mushroom and pepper jack cheese omelet.

The exact type I used to make for the Phillip and Danny.

"What do you think?" she asks.

Phillip and I both have our mouthes full of something. He gives her two thumbs up. I chew quick then say, "I think you just pitched a shutout."

And she's like, "What?"

"It's like you had the perfect game," Phillip tells her. "You did good."

After a long drive home, Phillip makes good on his promise. He stops at the grocery store by my house and comes out with hot fudge and a can of whipped cream.

Let's just say, Phillip is by far the best dessert of the day.

I'm starting to hate these blue and white checkerboard chairs. They're like mini torture devices. I look down at them and study them a little closer, half expecting shackles to be hidden under the rolled arms and on the wooden legs.

If it's not bad enough that I'm sitting here, Phillip told me on the way in that if I wasn't good I didn't get margaritas after.

Does he think he's my dad?

I don't need his permission to get margaritas!

Maybe today we need to talk to him about the whole smothering thing. I'm pretty sure margarita blocking equals smothering.

Can you technically die from lack of alcohol?

Pastor says, "So today, we want to talk about the past."

Phillip butts in. "We're not going to discuss JJ's parents."

I smile at him. My hero.

Maybe he's not so bad after all.

Pastor replies. "Well, you can pretend all you want that it doesn't affect you, but JJ went through something traumatic. You both did, but that's not all we need to discuss. Everyone comes to a relationship with a past. Past loves, secrets, sometimes children. They've had relationships that were successful, and relationships that were failures. We want to make sure you're both on the same page. How much do you know about each other's past?"

"We know everything! I've known him my whole life!" I say.

Phillip smirks at me. "Not everything. I learned a few things I didn't know about your past the other weekend."

Oh, please. He's not going to bring up that I slept with the bartender, is he? He hasn't said one single word to me about it, and he's gonna choose NOW to talk about it?

Pastor says, "What did you learn, Phillip?"

I give Phillip my evilest glare, but he doesn't look at me. He continues. "I just learned that I don't know everything about her, like I thought I did."

Duh? Like I was gonna tell Phillip about every boy I slept with? Sleeping around was fine for Danny, but I wasn't really allowed. Like Phillip and Danny would've gotten mad at me. Part of the reason I never brought a guy home with me. Danny and Phillip would've crucified him.

"I don't know everything about your past either," I tell Phillip. "We were close, but like the dreams we talked about, we didn't share everything with each other. I'm learning new things about you too."

"True," he says. His eyes get sparkly, and I can tell he's moved from thinking about my past to thinking about naughty dream week and probably about last night. Phillip doesn't mind being treated like a dessert. He says I can lick whipped cream off anything I want, anytime I want. Which I wanna do again very soon. Like maybe tonight.

When that's what you have to look forward to in your future, why would you care about the past?

Phillip turns to Pastor and says, "I don't think we should be dwelling on the past. I think we should be focusing on our future."

This is why I love that boy.

And I love him even more when we get to his car. He kisses me quickly and deeply then picks me up and sets me on the hood. He's standing between my legs and leaning his torso tightly into mine. He grabs my legs, wraps them around his waist, and pulls me in closer. A couple of things cross my mind before I unzip his pants. It's really a good thing the parking lot is dark and deserted, and I'm really glad I wore a dress.

I call Lori while Phillip is in a meeting. "Do you think our past matters? Like does it freak you out that Danny slept with a lot of different girls?"

"Not really. His past is what makes him who he is. Plus, I figure he got it all out of his system. I don't think your past has to define you. I wasn't exactly a saint either."

"That's for sure, and that's a good way to look at it. You kinda threw me under the bus the other day. Phillip and Danny didn't know about Bradley."

"You hooked up with him off and on for two years! How did they not know that?"

"I never told them. I always said I was staying at the sorority house if I wasn't coming home. They don't know much about the hookups side of my past. Like the guys I was in relationships with, they knew about. The hookups. Not so much."

"Did he get mad?"

"No, we had stupid couple's counseling last night. He sorta brought up how he thought he knew everything about me, but he really doesn't. Then I think he started remembering Monday night, and it distracted him. While we were having our tastings, I told Phillip I wanted to cover him in whipped cream and chocolate and make him my dessert. He stopped and bought stuff on the way home, so I did. It was so fun. Phillip is so damn sexy. I can hardly stand it."

"Did you really? Didn't that make a mess?"

"It would have, if we would've been in bed."

"Where were you?"

"The kitchen. Like mostly the counter, well, then the floor. We cleaned it all up, but I still keep finding little random chocolate smudges. They make me laugh."

"Jade, I'm a little worried about you. Do you really think couple's counseling is stupid?"

"Yeah, didn't you?"

"No, not really. I kinda enjoyed it. It was fun learning about ways to be a better couple. He made us think about issues that we hadn't thought to discuss, and I was glad we did."

"You were always a better student than me."

"I studied harder, that's for sure. You hardly ever studied, but you got good grades. That used to piss me off," she says.

"I just have a really good short-term memory. I can't remember any of it now."

"Well, I think you should take counseling more seriously. You and Phillip need to be able to work through things, not just have whipped cream sex."

"Danny told me you solve your conflicts with sex."

"No, we don't. He just thinks we do. If we talk it out first, then I reward him with sex. The sex is all he remembers. I think he has a short-term memory too."

"You're a tricky girl."

She laughs. "So this weekend!! You ready to find the dress of your dreams?"

"I am. Do you really think we'll find a dress?"

"I know we will!"

Tonight, we're both sitting in bed. I'm on my ipad, flipping through wedding cake designs while Phillip is watching, well, I have no idea what he's watching.

He's on the Discovery channel, and every time I glance up, I see big, huge crocodiles eating something.

It's really disturbing me, so I try not to glance up, but, yuck, I accidentally do.

So it's really no wonder with all this wedding planning going on in my mind that my subconscious would play havoc with my dreams.

I walk out onto a stage as an announcer says, "And on today's journey through the dark recesses of Bridalville, we find our heroine, Princess Jadyn, on the search for the perfect wedding dessert."

I sit at a big golden banquet table, eating dessert after sinful dessert. An audience claps at me when I choose to have purple edible flowers flown in from Guam for my special day. "She's so creative," the announcer says.

Then it's my wedding day. Phillip pulls out my chair at our sweetheart table. We sit down, and I feel so lucky. Phillip is beaming at me. Our friends and families are at all the surrounding tables waiting to be served dinner.