My eyes widened. “What the hell is all of this?”
Deja grinned. “Since your head his been all over the place, and you haven’t brought it up…”
“We are!” Kenya added.
“We are in wedding mode, bitch!” Renee finished.
I stared at all of it for a second before looking around at them.
“Y’all serious?”
“We are deadass,” Deja said. “You over there stressed out over an unhinged nigga, when in reality, you are getting married to a rich, fine nigga who worships the ground you walk on.”
“And we need details,” Renee added. “Colors. Dresses. Trip. Everything.”
A laugh finally escaped me for what felt like the first time since the night before.
A real one, not forced, not nervous, just genuine, and honestly, I need that.
“You know what…I love y’all bitches!”
“Aww damn it, Islah, don’t cry,” Kenya warned instantly.
“Too fuckin late,” I said as I tried to wrap my arms around all three of them.
“Thank y’all, for real, I never had friends like y’all, and the whole time I needed friends like y’all.”
Deja squeezed me tighter. “Girl, please, you’re stuck with us now.”
The rest of the day slowly shifted.
Phone came out, Pinterest boards got opened.
Renee kept showing me over-the-top wedding dresses that looked like they belonged in the royal families.
Kenya focused on venues and food.
Deja was already talking about the bachelorette trip and demanding strippers or Love’s friends.
For the first time in days, Gio wasn’t sitting in the center of my thoughts.
Love was. My future with him was, and sitting there in the middle of my friends, wedding books, wine glasses, and our own chaos…
I finally let myself get excited about becoming a wife.
By the time it got dark, I had so many ideas to pick from, and my girls were just as excited as I was.
“Now listen,” I said as I was getting off the floor. “All of this was fun, but now I need to get home to my man. I miss him.”
They all smiled.
“Girl, we know you do. I saw you checking your phone,” Kenya said.
We laughed. “Man, I haven’t been away from him like this. The only thing that was holding me last night was Renee’s feet.”
“Girl, your legs were warm.”
We laughed, and they walked me to the door.
