I kiss her forehead and wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"Let's do it."
Chapter Eighteen
Lilly
The night before my wedding and the temperature is steadily dropping outside. It was seventy degrees and beautiful when we arrived yesterday. Cass, Buddy, and I went walking all around the falls and exploring through the woods, the same woods Lawsyn took me through when we were here months ago. It’s getting colder by the second, it seems, and I’ve got the heater on inside of the RV for me and Buddy. He’s probably shivering in there already.
Cass has been insistent that we not see one another before the wedding and it makes my brain hurt. We can have all the sex we want before marriage, but looking at one another the night before is bad luck.
Cass is staying in one of the many cabins that we rented for the weekend, and the guys are likely doing the same thing we are…sitting around a fire and drinking.
Raven, Mindy, Lawsyn, Violet, Nova, Carrie, Lucy, Bristol, and Kendra are all gathered round. Bristol disappears to her and Sebastian's RV two spots over and returns with a glass jar filled with a pink liquid.
"This is my favorite moonshine that we get from one of the locals, so I brought you a jar as a wedding gift," she says, handing it over to me. I pop it open and the strong scent of watermelon wafts to my nostrils.
"Oh my God, it smells so good!" I shriek, taking a pull from the jar.
"It tastes even better!" I say, passing the jar to Mindy who is directly to my right. Everyone in the circle takes a sip and we pass the jar around until it's completely empty.
"I also brought a little party favor for the bride," Lucy says, digging a small metal tin from her purse. I already know what's inside and I can't wait.
"Hell yeah," Mindy says, recognizing the tin from that day at the beach last year.
Lucy opens it and inside are a few perfectly rolled joints. She takes one out and lights it, taking a big hit before passing it to Carrie. Nova and Violet politely decline, but Lawsyn takes a few hits and shocks the hell out of me.
"I didn't think you'd smoke with your profession," I note as she hands me the joint.
"Just because I'm a therapist doesn't mean I'm not able to have any fun. I just shouldn't be high when I'm dealing with patients because I'll give them terrible advice and not the guidance I went to school to provide," she says, coughing between sentences.
"Just what they need, a rough, tough therapist to guide them on how to function in life rather than offer gentle parenting," Violet says sarcastically.
"I would never. My patients need someone to care and be gentle. The world is rough enough that I can be their soft place to land," she says, softly.
Raven crosses her ankles and takes a hit from the joint, one hand shoved into the pocket of her fuzzy vest to keep warm. Thefire is nice, but when the wind blows it's piercing. I look around the fire pit, at the friends that have traveled all this way to be here for my special day, and I can't help but feel so grateful for this club family. There may be times when all feels lost, but man we sure rally together, as a huge extended family, and are there for each other.
I can't think of a better family to be marrying into. The temps are lower tonight than they were today. It was sunny, seventy-two degrees, and beautiful at noon today. Our ceremony will be at noon tomorrow and as much as I wanted the weather to be beautiful, it's going to drop significantly and be twenty-eight degrees at noon. I guess it's a good thing I picked out that long-sleeve wedding dress because I'm going to freeze in it as it is. If I'd picked the sleeveless dress, I'd be in a panic trying to find some kind of elegant cover.
My mind wanders as the alcohol and pot begin to work together in my body and brain. I think of all of the time that I've spent with each one of the women sitting around the fire. Meeting Raven at the benefit. Her being there for me and driving me home. Smoking on the beach with the purple and gold ol' ladies. The way Carrie was there for me the night I was kidnapped. My friendship history with Mindy and all the ways she's stood up for me, defended me, talked sense into me and been by my side all this time. Lawsyn and Nova and Violet and how our friendships are just getting started.
Bristol and Kendra and everything Bristol's been through and the resilience she still shows. Kendra's loving and caring demeanor, the motherly side of her that always comes out when we're all together. She's always looking out for everyone's best interests, making sure everyone is safe and taken care of. These friends of mine? I'm so damned lucky.
And it's all because I met a man in a bar in Texas and now I'm marrying that man, in the very same place that his mother andfather said their vows and got married. In just a few short hours, I'll be Cass's wife and that has a nice ring to it.
When the night is drawing to an end and I see that it's near three in the morning, I tell the girls good night and disappear into my RV. Buddy is snuggled in the bed beneath the large blanket. He doesn't pop his head up when I enter. He's sound asleep, sleeping so good that when I lift the covers from him, he's startled and looks disoriented and confused for a moment before wagging his tail and greeting me with a lick on the cheek.
"Hi, best good boy." I give him a pat on his head and put the blanket back over him, leaving his head poking out. He watches as I change into one of Cass’s oversized shirts and climb into bed beside Bud. My buzz hums through my veins paired with exhaustion lulls me right to sleep. I wake to my phone vibrating on the small space beside the bed that is supposed to be a nightstand.
I answer the phone to a singing Cass on the other end.
"Baby, let's get marriedddddd," he sings, a little off key but so adorably. I smile like a fool.
"Good morning to you too handsome," I say softly.
"Well, did you run as far and as fast as you could last night?" he asks.
I grin. "Nope. Still right here. Me and Bud dog both."
