Page 7 of Love Under Review

“Hey! Those are mine.” Danielle laughed at Becca’s expression, her eyes wide and chewing slowly as if she hadn’t done anything at all.

“I’ve been so good lately, and here you are, ordering all the grease.” Becca laid a large binder on the table and placed her purse on the seat next to her. Turning back to Danielle, she asked, “How was the drive back? Hopefully, it wasn’t too bad since the fall weather’s been nice, right?”

“It was good. Just the usual desert and traffic.” Just rehashing the failure of her life for six hours. Danielle took a fry and dipped it into the shake, taking a bite as Becca wrinkled her nose.

“I don’t know why you like that. Gross.” Her disgust faded quickly as a smile returned and she flipped open the binder. “Okay, so here is the itinerary for the weekend.” She turned the book around and slid it in front of Danielle.

Pulling it closer, Danielle wasn’t surprised at the number of activities on the list. “You really think a spa day can be done in ninety minutes? We won’t even have time to make it over to the wedding ceremony if we do that in such a short amount of time.”

Becca bit her bottom lip and pulled the paper back in front of her. “You’re right. What was I thinking? This is why I wish you’d come home sooner.” She paused and opened her eyes wider with a tilt of her head. That was code for Becca’s guilt trip. “Apparently, I can’t make rational decisions by myself.” She took out a pen and leaned over to write something to the side of the itinerary before glancing up at Danielle.

“Whoa, now. Wait a minute. I never said that; I was just trying to be helpful. Did someone say you couldn’t make rational decisions?” Danielle reached her hand out, trying to pull the pen away from Becca’s strong grip, but Becca pulled her arm back with a jerk, succeeding at holding on to the pen. Danielle gave her a fake frown, draping her arm over the itinerary so Becca couldn’t make any more changes.

With a sniffle, Becca held the pen out, her eyes focused on it. “Well, no. But I can feel it. It’s times like these when I miss my mother most.” A tear escaped, and Danielle moved to the other side of the booth, pulling her best friend toward her. Becca leaned her head on Danielle’s shoulder while Danielle did her best to channel the life of a statue, knowing her friend just needed to cry it out.

When the sniffles slowed down, Danielle said, “No one is saying you can’t make decisions. Every bride in the world has to have help in deciding what to do for their wedding. I think it’s the clouded vision of being in love that sometimes makes it hard to see things like I just did. Let’s figure this out and get you married this weekend, okay?”

Becca sat up, wiping at the tears with both hands, and nodded. “I like it,” she said, her voice thick from the tears.

Scanning the list again, Danielle sighed. “Okay, I know you want this to be a lot of fun, but we have four days until the ceremony. You’ve got every moment planned from now until then. Why don’t we pick one thing for every night, starting on Thursday, and then just see how things go from there? You can move pedicures and hair back a few hours to give you time to look perfect for your wedding day.” She grinned and winked, which allowed Becca to relax a little bit. “Then people will have time to just breathe and enjoy the experience. Besides, we’re in Sage Creek. We can bowl any time we want.” Danielle pointed to one of the activities, scrunching her face.

Becca laughed so hard she snorted. “When you make that face, I just—I can’t help but laugh.”

“And snort,” Danielle added, laughing, an ache forming in her side. “I haven’t been home for long, but I’m pretty sure I’m still banned from the bowling alley.”

“I still can’t believe you caused so much damage. It’s been what, eight years, and Roger still left the patched section in the ceiling where your ball hit. The light still flickers, though.”

Danielle slid back against the booth, laughing over the memory. They’d gone for a day activity before prom, and she and her date had to leave after the fourth frame.

Becca took the paper again and crossed out several things, writing for over a minute before looking up at Danielle. “I actually feel really good about this now. The gal planning my wedding had me thinking I needed to do a crazy amount of stuff to make it fun for the guests, but I guess she’s not used to the small-town stuff.”

“Did you get Susie Jones?” Danielle asked, dipping another fry into her ice cream.

Becca frowned, shaking her head. “No, some famous girl booked her a couple weeks before Colton proposed. I know I’ve always been a little annoyed with her, but she has an eye for wedding planning.”

“Did you get to choose most of the things you wanted, though?”

Becca looked a bit sheepish and said, “The flowers?”

Rolling her eyes, Danielle said, “Well, duh. If you had let her hire out your flowers to someone else, I would have thought you’d been abducted. What did you want most that you don’t have set up right now?”

Taking a few minutes, Becca finally said, “The venue. She wanted it to be inside the rec center, but I really want it up by the pond. You know how much I love it there. It wouldn’t fit the whole town, but it would fit the people we really want to be there. And it’s kind of our spot, mine and Colton’s.”

Stuffing a scoop of the melted shake into her mouth, Danielle typed a note to herself on her phone. After swallowing, she said, “Okay, I’ll work on that. Anything else we need to do?”

Becca pulled out a stack of papers and flipped through them, marking things off here and there. After a while, she said, “I think that’s good for now. That was the biggest thing. Velda was worried about the rain, but even if it rains, all we need is to say I do, and then I’m married to Colton Maxfield, man of my dreams.”

The beam on her face made Danielle want to gag, but she forced a smile on her face and ate an overly large scoop of ice cream. The extreme cold caused a brain freeze, probably saying something about how she was wired, but at the moment, Danielle was just trying to get through all the mushiness of her best friend’s wedding.

After Saturday, Becca would have Colton by her side for the rest of her life. Danielle had never worried about not having someone at her side, always able to do everything on her own—even travel to places like Rome, London, Egypt, and Peru. But now that she thought about it, those places would have been even better with someone to share it with.

Well, her best friend, anyway.

Pushing that aside, Danielle said, “You really love him, huh?”

“Of course. He’s amazing and sweet. And he pushes me to get out of my comfort zone just enough to help me conquer things.”

“Where are you going on your honeymoon?” Danielle recalled how nervous Becca had been to cross the county limits when she went after Colton earlier that year.

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