Page 66 of Not Yet Yours

“Oh. Ok. Well, that’s alright then,” she says. “I love it Liam and I obviously want to wear it every day, but I am going to be so scared of anything happening to it.”

“Don’t be. We’ll get it insured,” I tell her.

“This cup of coffee sure goes a long way,” Harriet says, and we laugh and head back out of the mall and back to my car.

We get in and drive back to my place. As we drive, Harriet chats excitedly about the wedding, and talk turns to her wedding dress.

“I never expected to get married, as you know, but in my wildest dreams, I would let myself picture my dream wedding dress. What girl doesn’t, right? And it was always like a princessdress, a big ball gown style dress with lots of netting. Obviously, I can’t have that now,” she says.

“You can have whatever dress you want,” I say.

Harriet shakes her head.

“No, this isn’t me being paranoid about the cost,” she says. “Can you really imagine what I would look like in a ball gown at a destination wedding?”

I consider this and I see she’s probably not wrong.

“Plus, imagine how hot I would be,” she says.

“Oh, good point,” I say. “You’d best get an appointment booked somewhere then so you can try on a few different styles and see what you feel comfortable in.”

“I will. I’ll have to see when my mom and Max are free,” she says. “What about you? What are you planning on wearing?”

“I’m thinking a suit, but like a linen one so it won’t be so hot and stuffy. Maybe in a light gray color?” I ask.

“Yes, that sounds nice,” she says. She beams at me. “It’s all starting to feel real now and I am so excited. Are you?”

I nod.

“I can’t wait to call you my wife,” I say honestly.

We reach my building’s parking lot and I park the car and we walk to the building. We go inside, up the stairs, and into my apartment.

“I’m going to have to call Cullen and tell him what the lawyer said,” I say. “He’s going to rip me so bad.”

“Let me do it,” Harriet says. “I’ll call Max and tell her what happened and then tell her to tell Cullen. It’ll give us a good laugh and it means you will get away without getting a ribbing for now.”

“You just want to talk shit about me with Max,” I say.

“Well yeah,” Harriet says with a grin.

“Go for it,” I say. “I’m never going to live it down either way so one of us may as well have fun with it. I’ll make us some coffee while you make your call.”

Harriet gets her cell phone out of her purse and disappears toward the bedroom. I go to the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on like I said I would. I stand and watch it drip through the filter for a bit and then I grab two cups and the cream and sugar. I wait until the whole pot is done and then I pour the two cups out and add cream and sugar to Harriet’s. I put the cream and sugar back away and then I take them into the living room to wait for Harriet.

She soon comes into the living room, laughing softly to herself.

“You can imagine Max’s reaction I’m sure,” she says. “But she wanted me to tell you personally that she said you’re a total dumb ass.”

“It could have been a lot worse than that to be fair,” I say.

“Yeah, but don’t forget you have to hear what Cullen has to say about it yet,” she laughs as she sits down beside me.

“I’m glad we can laugh about it now. Really, I am. But I keep thinking how close I came to losing you over something that wasn’t even a thing and it’s scary,” I say.

She moves closer to me, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders.

“I didn’t exactly handle it well,” she says. “I completely overreacted.”