Page 22 of Pillow Talk (Rally Romance #1)

‘I did not expect that,’ Felicity said.

Shona nodded slowly.

‘Now we have to rearrange our diary and do this. I can’t believe it! I’ve never been busier,’ the wedding planner said.

Somehow people found out that Shona had altered Esha’s veil. Before long, three brides had booked her to design their traditional wedding outfits. And they’d hired Felicity to plan their weddings.

Maddie Harper’s dress was already with the bride-to-be, who’d picked it up from Shona an hour before at Felicity’s office. The shy woman was overcome with emotion when she tried it on. And that’s when Shona finally saw it – the design was perfect for Maddie. She was born to wear it.

‘I’m so grateful that Maddie didn’t expect us to travel to her wedding destination to help on her wedding day. I loved playing a small role by organising local service providers, but I don’t want to be involved in that circus,’ Felicity said.

‘Do you really think it would be that bad?’ Shona asked.

Felicity closed the file on her desk.

‘Honey, rich people are work. Super rich people like the Harpers are nightmarish work. Now, we need to talk about something else,’ Felicity said.

Shona raised an eyebrow.

‘Don’t you think it’s time you rented space for your own design studio? Brides will want the whole experience during their fitting. Your work on its own is worth it, but a space would be a perk,’ she said.

‘I actually have been researching it,’ Shona replied.

Felicity clapped her hands together.

‘I love it when we’re on the same page. I would have offered you space here but it’s an office. No one wants to try on a wedding dress in an office,’ she said.

Shona smiled. Felicity was so kind.

‘It’s okay. I’m going to get a space soon.’

Three hours later, Shona was back home and scrolling through an online food delivery app when the doorbell rang.

Sen. Ruffled hair, no jacket and a sheepish smile.

‘Hey,’ he said.

She stepped aside and let him in.

He ran his fingers through his hair – a gesture so familiar to Shona that she almost anticipated him doing it. What wasn’t familiar was the slight hesitancy in his words: ‘I want you to know that this is crazy and I don’t know how you’re going to react, but I have to do it.’

Confusion replaced her smile.

‘A cousin is getting married next weekend. Would you accompany me to the wedding?’

He said it so fast that she almost didn’t hear it. But she did.

She didn’t say anything. She just looked closely at him. And then laughed.

‘Sen, you’re crazy. I’m ordering food. What do you want?’ She moved past him to sit on the couch, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.

‘I’m serious, babe,’ he said.

‘Babe?’ She shrieked with laughter.

‘Dammit Shona. You’re not making this easy. Just go to this stupid wedding with me.’

She pursed her lips together to avoid laughing and simply shook her head.

‘Please.’

She sighed.

‘Fine, I’ll go with you,’ she replied, the corners of her mouth curling with amusement.

‘Why couldn’t you have just agreed when I first asked?’

‘I wanted to be called babe,’ she teased and began to giggle.

He scowled, pulled out his phone and started typing.

‘I’m ordering the food. You just sit there and be quiet,’ he said.

She pretended to zip her mouth, but laughter danced in her eyes.

‘So why are you going with Sen to this wedding, anyway?’

Anni lay on her stomach on the bed with jewellery, saris and other traditional outfits scattered around her. Shona had invited her over to help choose an outfit and accessories for the wedding.

‘I think it’s because he needs a buffer,’ Shona said as she searched in her closet for more outfits.

‘A confident man like Sen needs a buffer? Mmm,’ Anni mused as she dug in Shona’s jewellery box.

‘Even the most confident and strongest man doesn’t stand a chance against matchmaking aunts at weddings,’ Shona said.

‘I forgot about that. A catch like Sen – they’d have him married off in no time,’ Anni said.

Shona chuckled but didn’t look back at her friend. She didn’t want her to see any hint on her face of the secret she shared with Sen.

‘Remember how many times your mother tried to set me up? I think I married Sam just to stop your mother,’ Anni joked.

‘Oh gosh! Don’t remind me. Creepy Kreeson! I was lucky to escape that one,’ Shona replied with mischief in her eyes.

‘I thought we always had each other’s backs until you told your mother that Creepy Kreeson was more my type than yours. Shona, that creepy man is no one’s type!’

Shona pulled out a shimmery silver sari from her closet and turned to her friend.

‘I think he’s married now, so clearly he is someone’s type. I won’t be surprised if my mother set it up,’ she said and sat down on the bed with the sari folded on her lap.

Anni didn’t respond. She just looked at Shona with worry in her eyes.

‘You want to know if my mother called. No, she hasn’t,’ she said softly.

‘You haven’t tried?’

Shona stood and walked to her closet again to avoid eye contact. ‘Nope.’

Anni stayed silent, the only sound in the room the soft clink of her fingers rummaging through the jewellery box.

Shona sighed and turned back to her friend. ‘What do you think I should do? Go back?’

Anni looked up and shook her head. ‘I have no opinion on this, Sho.’

Shona closed her closet door, walked back to the bed and sat down facing her friend.

‘Since when do you have no opinion? You’re my voice of reason,’ she said.

Anni’s eyes softened. ‘I’m just worried that not making contact means more time will go by and the relationship might become irreparable,’ she replied.

‘I know,’ Shona whispered.

Anni reached out and covered Shona’s hand.

‘Sho, your parents are good people and good parents. Trust me, I know bad parents. Your parents have always been so good to you and even me. They’re the only parents I know. They’ve always been there for me,’ Anni almost choked on what appeared to be built-up tears.

She removed her hand, delicately swiped it across her eye and looked away.

‘They even stood for me as my parents at my wedding, Sho,’ she added.

‘But remember, Anni, my dad had to go to the shop on the morning of your wedding even though Drake was going to be in charge that day,’ Shona said. She held back from raising her voice because she was irritated that Anni was obviously siding with her parents and she couldn’t lose Anni too.

‘I know Sho, but it’s clear you hate the shop, not your parents.’

‘I don’t hate my parents. I hate that they put the shop first,’ Shona said.

‘Not your mom. I think she actually hates the shop more than you do,’ Anni replied and picked up a pair of heavy gold bangles.

Shona bit her lip when her gaze fell on the yellow gold, its gleam stirring a memory she would rather have forgotten.

‘How did you get these?’ Anni asked.

‘When my dad finally sorted out my grandmother’s things and put her house up for rent, he gave them to me. He said she would have wanted me to have them,’ Shona explained and a hollow, bitter laugh escaped her lips.

Her grandmother wore those bangles every day. Apparently, she never took them off. Shona’s grandfather had bought them for her with the money from the first sale he made at the shop.

She remembered her grandmother’s hands. They were bony and always cold.

Shona had no recollection of her grandmother ever holding her hand, stroking her hair to console her or, least of all, cuddling her.

But she remembered the long, knotted finger that would stab the air at her whenever her grandmother scolded her, which was often.

Anni’s eyes reflected sadness, empathy and understanding.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Shona asked.

‘The sewing machine.’

Shona pushed the sari aside and lay down, covering her eyes with a bent arm.

Anni lay down next to her friend.

The sewing machine.

‘I’m sorry I brought it up,’ Anni murmured.

‘It’s okay. It happened. We can’t change that,’ Shona said.

‘But it shouldn’t have happened,’ Anni replied cautiously.

Shona didn’t answer as the unwelcomed memory shoved its way into her mind.

By the time she was 15, she was already sewing her own clothing.

She would design garments for herself and Anni and then Drake would supervise her when the shop wasn’t busy.

She didn’t have her own sewing machine and those at the shop were the only ones available.

Her skills had developed beyond the point where she could complete work by hand.

She even had a favourite sewing machine at the shop.

This probably seemed lame to other 15-year-olds, but to her that sewing machine – bought decades before she was born by the grandfather she never knew – was pure treasure.

At that point, she didn’t even mind working at the shop after school because she knew she’d have a chance to use the sewing machine.

That was until her grandmother decided to sell it.

She said it was old and no longer working as well as it should.

She said the money from the sale could be used towards buying a newer model.

But by then Shona knew her grandmother too well: she was selling the machine out of spitebecause she knew it brought Shona joy.

Or maybe because with Shona being more focused on sewing, she believed she was neglecting her duties in the shop.

Either way, her grandmother wanted the sewing machine gone and made it clear that Shona would not be allowed to use any ‘new’ machines, including the others that were not so new anymore.

It was clear that her grandmother didn’t want her to sew in the shop.