10
Tiff
Iwas on my third cup of coffee by the time Audrey knocked on my door.I’d finally convinced her to start wedding planning.Despite my own reservations about the institution, it was easy to find the excitement for my best friend.
After all that she’d been through in her last marriage and the rollercoaster that had been the start of her relationship with Jackson, she deserved nothing less than unicorns and glitter.
She was, without a doubt, my favorite person in the world and the exact thing I needed to forget the buzzing thoughts that had been keeping me up lately.
As usual, she was bright and cheerful, although when I saw who was standing behind her, I had a better idea of why.
“I didn’t realize this had become a group activity,” I said, eyeing her fiancé.
Audrey, god bless her, actually looked worried.“Is this ok?”
“Just don’t start inviting me to your little double date brunches,” I said, adding a wink, and her smile returned.
“Come in, pretty boy, before your groupies start swarming my apartment.”
Jackson wrapped me in a hug before I could protest.“Thanks for letting me crash your morning.Filming kicks off next week, so I’m trying to get as much time with Audrey as possible.”
They were cute.Too cute, honestly.It made me simultaneously yearn and groan.“Ugh, fine.As long as you keep the PDA to a minimum.There’s not enough coffee in the world to help me through that.”It didn’t come out anywhere near like the threat it should have since I’m smiling too widely.
“Yeah, yeah.You love me, really.”
I only scoffed in response.He was right, but I’d never tell him that.
“Did we miss Hannah?I brought her the bottle of MacMillan’s she was asking about.”Audrey placed the bottle of rum on my kitchen counter.
“Ah, no.She’s at her place this weekend.”I’d been aiming for casual, but judging from the awkward silence that filtered through the apartment, I’d missed the mark.
We made ourselves comfortable on the couch, and I could tell they wanted to ask me about it.Jackson tapped a finger on the armrest, his back so straight I was getting an ache just looking at him.Audrey, fitting perfectly into the space beside him, reached a hand out towards me.“Everything ok with you two?We can talk about it if you want.The wedding stuff can wait.”
It was a sweet gesture.And although I wasn’t in the mood to rehash the entire thing, there was comfort in having them here.It wasn’t as if Hannah and I weren’t trying to work it out on our own anyway.Bringing it up wouldn’t solve anything.
“Everything’s fine.And don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing, trying to avoid this.”I motioned to the stack of wedding magazines she’d brought with her.
She grumbled.“Fine.But no favors.”
“Yes, I remember from the three thousand times you’ve told me.”
We each take a magazine, flipping through them and calling out when something caught our eye.Most of what I was looking at was a little too staged for my taste, and I could tell Audrey felt the same from the way she was working her bottom lip and sighing into Jackson’s shoulder.
Eventually, I got tired of wading through pages of models in wedding dresses, and I threw the magazine onto the coffee table.“There has to be a better way to do this.How much do you really need to figure out anyway?”
“You’d be surprised.”Audrey closed the magazine in her lap with a sigh.“I’d forgotten how many decisions you needed to make for these things.Photographers, hair, makeup—”
“One of the crew might be able to help with that,” Jackson interjected.“Or I can find out who Sarah used.”
She passed him a quick smile in thanks before continuing, already sounding stressed.“Then there’s the venue, whether we want to sit down or stand up, how many guests we’ll have, what speeches we want, the music, the cake …”
“Why are you doing this again?”I joked.
“Don’t worry,” Jackson said, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “We have plenty of time to figure it all out.”Audrey twisted on the couch to cuddle deeper into the embrace, and my eyes slipped down to the floor.
After another beat, Jackson asked, “Do you and Hannah ever talk about this stuff?I know you aren’t the biggest fan of the ‘M’ word.”There was no judgment in the statement, which I appreciated.
Nodding, I said, “We have.She knows how I feel about it, and I know that she wants to be married someday.”
