Page 17

17

T ess

Monday: Wedding minus 5 days

M olly was home.

Molly was home .

She walked into the shop, and my entire day brightened.

I loved Jack more than anything, and my family meant the world to me. But there was something magical about a best friend who’d known you your entire life.

“Molly!” I ran over to give her an enormous hug, and she hugged me back so tightly I knew she’d missed me just as much.

Molly Chen was a one-woman tempest in a tiny package. Her black hair that had been in a pixie cut had grown out to a shaggy, face-framing cut that looked suspiciously like a mullet. When I said this, she just laughed.

“It’s called a wolf cut these days, and it’s the thing,” she told me, grinning.

“Tomato, tomahto. That’s a mullet, my friend. And I’m going to tease you about it unmercifully!”

“Well, you’re marrying a boy. You’re going to get boy cooties !”

We hugged and laughed and even cried a little, and then I put the Closed sign on the door. I deserved a break, and I was going to take one. It was only five days till the wedding, and I was woefully unprepared. Jack had said he’d take on more, but he didn’t specify what he’d take. I didn’t want to bring it up, though, in case he thought I wanted to assign him tasks.

I so didn’t want to assign tasks.

I’d broached the idea of hiring a wedding planner, but Aunt Ruby had gasped in horror. What she and Eleanor and Lorraine didn’t know about planning weddings wouldn’t fill a thimble, she’d assured me.

I’d sighed and agreed to let them coordinate everything.

But life and Dead End had been busy lately, and wedding planning had fallen by the wayside.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Molly gave me a long, steady look. “I really like Jack, but if you have the slightest doubt, I’ll drive the getaway car.”

“I’ve never been surer about anything,” I told her sincerely. “I love him so much it hurts. I’m not worried even a little about marrying him. It’s the wedding that’s giving me fits.”

We drank coffee and ate day-old donuts, and I filled her in on everything that had been going on.

In detail.

It took an hour.

“Way to go, Uncle Mike!” She punched the air. “He’s awesome.”

“They can’t wait to see you. I think Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike miss you almost as much as I do.”

“I wish my parents did.” She sighed.

Her parents were lawyers, and pretty conservative ones, to boot. They didn’t quite know what to think about their rocker daughter with her elaborate tattoos and musician lifestyle.

“Have they come to any of your gigs?”

She scoffed. “Not hardly. I could barely get them to listen to one of my songs when we were driving to dinner, and it came on the radio .”

“Wait! Is your song on the radio? Why didn’t you tell me? That’s wonderful!” I jumped up and ran into the shop. “We have at least six radios out here.”

I grabbed the one that looked the newest and took it with me to the back. “Which station? Let’s turn it on now!”

“Tess. Tess! That’s not how radio works.” She laughed. “And you know it. But we’re on the streaming services, so you can listen anytime.”

Just in case, I turned the radio on low, and we settled in for a long chat. About an hour later, Molly suddenly jumped out of her chair.

“Oh, my goodness!! Your dress! I have your dress in my car. I can’t believe you didn’t ask about it.”

Come to think of it, I couldn’t believe it, either. Maybe I’d been barraged with too many dresses. But this one—mine—was special. Molly and I had picked it out together, and I’d even flown to Atlanta for the last fitting.

“Yes! Let’s get it! How did the others turn out?”

“They’re absolutely gorgeous.”

Molly and Shelley, my two maids of honor, and I had put our heads together and chosen coral floaty summer dresses for them that worked with their coloring. Molly’s was cut in a more dramatic style and showed off her gorgeous tattoos. Shelley’s was appropriate to her age, but with the same floaty look and feel.

“Did you show your aunt, Eleanor, and Lorraine their dresses?”

I grinned. “Nope. They deserve a bit of torture, after they ganged up on me and made me wear the hideous pink cupcake dress at Eleanor’s wedding.”

But the “flower girl” dresses were beautiful, too. Cream-and-coral stripes with tiny flowers and leaves scattered throughout. They’d all look completely lovely.

I felt myself get emotional while we pulled dresses out of bags to hang up and examine, but the actual tears arrived when we got to the centerpiece.

My wedding dress.

I’d wanted simple, and we’d found it. One of Molly’s friends was an up-and-coming designer, and when she’d found out that the king and queen of Atlantis would be at my wedding, she’d insisted on donating the dress to me.

I’d loved her design so much, I’d insisted on paying at least her costs.

“Voila! What do you think?” Molly unzipped the bag with a flourish, like a magician unveiling her favorite trick.

“It’s magnificent,” I whispered.

And it was.

Long and narrow, the simple but elegant gown fitted me closely on top, with a deep-for-me, but not scandalous for Dead End, V-neck bodice. The skirt draped in beautiful lines from the waist down. It was white, and I had shoes to match. I planned to wear my hair down and only gather a few strands to pull away from my face and wear with a fresh-flower circlet.

I couldn’t help it. I cried.

“Oh, honey.” Molly hugged me. “You’re going to be the most beautiful bride who ever walked down an aisle!”

“I am?”

“You are! I bet if Nancy Hoffman saw you in this dress, she’d be really sorry she stole your crayons!”

“Kindergarten was rough,” I said, sniffling.

“The worst. But we found each other!”

She was right.

We spent the rest of the day catching up, and we had a girls’ night at my place that evening, playing with facial masks and hair experiments. Then we painted our nails and ate piles and piles of junk food and drank a couple of bottles of wine.

Naturally, when I had cotton balls stuck between my toes and a virulently green clay mask on my face, a knock sounded at the back door.

“It’s probably the troll,” I told Molly, carefully walking down the hall so as not to mess up my toenails.

When I opened the door, Braumsh made a weird sound and actually took a step back, which made me laugh.

“You thought you were the scary one around here, Braumsh,” I told him between giggles.

There’d been a lot of wine.

“What happened to your face?” he rumbled.

Molly came skipping into the kitchen, a purple mask on her face, and rummaged around in the fridge. “Hi, troll! How’s it going? Want a glass of wine? A face mask?”

Braumsh’s huge orange eyes widened ever further as he looked back and forth from me to Molly. Then he ponderously shook his head. “No, I do not. You are strange mortals. I am only here to tell you I found a place to live, so I’m moving on. I will have no more need for your tent.”

“Great! I’m happy for you. Wait!” I remembered Susan’s warning. “Braumsh, please be careful. A couple of people who hate the Fae accosted me at my shop, and they were asking about Queen Viviette. I know you’re not with her, but I think they hate all Fae. Please watch out for anybody who looks suspicious.”

The troll’s face turned grim. “Do you have a name?”

“Twyly Thursday. No, that’s wrong. Um, Twyla Tharsin. She used to be a reporter, but is big in an anti-Fae society now. Horrible bigots. Anyway, be careful.”

“I will, Tess. I know of this Tharsin woman,” he said in a voice like thunder.

“Okay!” A tiny burp escaped, and I clapped my hand to my mouth. “Excuse me! Hey Braumsh, just between you and me, it’s okay to say thank you to me. I won’t hold you to any debt. It’s just the neighborly thing to do.”

“ Am I your neighbor, Tess of the Callahans?” the troll asked, so softly I almost didn’t hear him.

“Yes! And more than that, you’re my friend. I’d invite you in, but we’re having a girls’ night. You’re coming to the wedding, though, right?”

He looked at me for a long time. So long I almost forgot the question. Then he held out a hand.

“May I shake your hand in thanks?”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry.” I hastily put my hands behind my back. “I really don’t want to see how you’ll die. Maybe just say the words?”

Another long pause.

Then he bowed.

“Thank you, Tess. Farewell for now. I will leave gold on the table by the pool for my lodging and bring a spectacular gift for your wedding.”

“No!” I felt awful. He clearly didn’t have much money, and now he thought I was hinting for gifts. “No, please. You don’t have to bring a gift! And definitely no money for staying here. You’re not my lodger; you’re a friend who needed a place to stay. I’m sure you’d do the same for me.”

“That’s the oddest thing about all of this,” he said slowly. “I believe I would.”

Molly yelled something about the TV from the front room, and I glanced over my shoulder to answer her. When I turned back around, Braumsh was gone.

I sighed. All this disappearing was getting old.

“Tess! Grab the pie!” Molly yelled.

I grabbed the pie.

And another bottle of wine, just in case.

Girls’ night was awesome.

And Tuesday was even better.

Wednesday, however?

Wednesday sucked.