“Where’s the other lace dress we had picked?” she asked. “You don’t like it anymore?” She knew Fallon would change her mind, as she had about everything, except for the theme. Which Audrey had to admit was pretty stinking sweet, and even she wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I think it matched mine too much,” Fallon said about the other dress. “I want you to stand out.” Her sister’s eyes were bright with excitement.
“Okay,” Audrey said skeptically.
“What, you don’t like them?” Fallon asked with concern.
“No, I do,” Audrey assured her. “I love the lace one. Let me try it on and it’s a done deal.”
Fallon clapped her hands as Audrey went into the dressing room. She was at the point where she didn’t care what she wore. The damn wedding was going to be the death of her, and they still had the rehearsal dinner to get through.
Lord, help her.
Everyone loved Red Velvet cupcakes.
How could they not? They were delicious, the perfect combination of buttercream and cake. They were also Audrey’s favorite. Not only to make, but to eat. She turned off her mixer before setting each of her cooled cupcakes in a row along the bar. After filling her piping bag with the cream cheese buttercream, she frosted each cupcake with a flair she had mastered. She loved the way the frosting would ripple, topping each one with a little red heart. Finishing the last cupcake, she took a step back and smiled.
They looked great.
Hopefully, her neighbor would like them. His trash can was always filled with doughnut boxes and candy wrappers. Not that she stalked him, because really, she hadn’t even seen him, but she noticed that he was a big sweets kind of guy. She figured that he would appreciate a good cupcake, and since she knew she could make a mean Red Velvet one, she decided to make him a batch.
It was a great welcoming gift, she thought.
After packing the cupcakes in a cute little brown box, she went to the bathroom to make sure she looked all right. Audrey decided she looked fierce in the short caramel brown, flowery one-shoulder dress that she had paired with matching lace heels. She loved the way the dress hugged her curves, and she had to admit the shoes made her legs look fantastic. It was too much to wear to meet her neighbor, but afterward she had to go to the rehearsal dinner.
As Audrey made her way back to the kitchen, she wiggled her teal pearl bracelets up and down her wrist. She was jittery and didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she was going to Fallon’s rehearsal dinner alone. She hadn’t been to a family function alone, since … hell, she couldn’t remember. She always had a date, it kept her mother out of her hair, but now she had no one and she knew she would have to deal with her mother’s sympathetic looks. Nora Parker wanted both her babies to marry, and since Fallon was doing what their mother wanted, Audrey knew she would be Nora’s sole concern now.
Wonderful.
Audrey took a deep breath, then picked up the box of cupcakes as she walked to her front door. Outside in the cool November air, she ran her hands down the front of her dress before walking slowly to her neighbor’s condo. At his front door, she knocked tentatively at first, then a little harder.
But no one answered.
Hmm … she could have sworn he was there.
She looked back at the drive and saw his big black truck. Turning back to the door, she knocked again, but again no answer. Frustrated, Audrey went back to her own apartment. She was never going to meet this guy? After setting the cupcakes on the back of the couch, she went to the kitchen for a Post-it, wrote a quick note, and stuck it to the top of the cupcake box. She put the box in a plastic bag and went back to his door, to lay it on the doormat in front. Hopefully, she would meet him tomorrow at the wedding, because she didn’t have time to wait for him now. She had to go.
Unfortunately.