Page 186 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5
“Pretty doesn’t cut it. That must be at least 2 carats. Tell me you’ve picked a date for the wedding. I need to pencil you in as soon as possible. I want yours to be my first wedding as an official wedding planner.”
“I mean…we don’t know when it’ll even be.”God, he looks so excited.“But I did promise you…”
“If you weren’t engaged, I’d kiss you right now. Lori, she’s a keeper. I’ve never met such a sweet girl in this city.”
Mrs. Caldwell smiled. “Yes. I can tell why my son loves her so much.”
I so badly wanted her to like me. Matt always said she already loved me. And she was always perfectly lovely. But I was pretty sure if I came home from school one day and told my mom that a boy was moving in and that we were engaged, she would have freaked out. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But Mrs. Caldwell was still smiling.I wonder how old she was when she got engaged to Mr. Caldwell.
“I’ll pencil you in for every Saturday in the fall for the next few years,” Justin said. “Fall weddings are the best. Trust me. And speaking of events…what’s the theme of this year’s Halloween party, Lori?”
“Characters from old movies,” Mrs. Caldwell said. “The classics.”
Kennedy looked so excited. “Can I be Jasmine from Aladdin?”
Mrs. Caldwell laughed. “I meant like from the 50s or 60s…” her voice trailed off. “Oh, my. I’m feeling my age around you two. I guess something from the 90s does work as an old movie for you,” she said with a laugh. “Jasmine it is!”
Kennedy smiled.
“And what would you like to be?” Mrs. Caldwell asked me.
I pressed my lips together. I wanted something conservative enough to work around Matt’s parents. But also sexy for Matt. And now only Disney princesses were swirling around in my head. “I don’t know,” I said with a laugh. “What do you think I should go as?”
“What about the girl from Clueless?” Kennedy asked. “Not because you’re like her. Just because of the blonde thing. And you already have a school uniform to wear.”
“Kennedy, that defeats the purpose of shopping,” Justin said. “Neither of you are leaving here without a perfectly tailored Halloween costume.”
She laughed. “Right. Sorry, I’m used to working with what I have.”
“Tonight we splurge,” he said and looped his arm through hers. “Follow me, ladies.”
He led us through a set of doors and into a giant room that looked like it would be more suitable for wedding dress shopping than anything else. But it was filled with fancy clothes instead of wedding dresses.
We wove through the clothes and mannequins to one of the changing areas. All of them were empty.I guess Mrs. Caldwell really did rent out the whole place.
“Oh, and Brooklyn, your order is almost ready. Diane is just putting the finishing touches on a few things.”
“Your order?” Mrs. Caldwell asked.
“You didn’t tell her about all your clothes?” Justin asked. He shook his head. “That wench of a sister she has cut all her clothes to bits. The little horror. Some of them were one-of-a-kind pieces. And now they’re all in literal pieces in the garbage.”
“What?” Mrs. Caldwell looked over at me. “Isabella did that?”
I really didn’t want to talk about Isabella right now. I’d had to deal with her all week at school.
“You should hear about all the other stuff she’s done,” Kennedy said. “She poured milk all over her blazer once. She’s tried to sabotage her relationship with Matt on several occasions. She leaves Brooklyn threatening notes at school, and I’m pretty sure they’re written in blood.”
“It’s lipstick.”I think.The notes hadn’t stopped. But I wasn’t scared of Isabella. As far as I was concerned, she could choke on the red lipstick she used to write the notes. I’d kept my dadupdated on everything she’d done. Or that she made Cupcake or one of her minions do. Isabella hadn’t acted on any of her threats. She was just trying to scare me out of town.
“Oh and there was that one time when she tried to kill both of us,” Kennedy said. “That was loads of fun.”
“No,” Justin gasped.
“Yeah, at homecoming. She drugged me and then abandoned Brooklyn naked in the middle of the city.”
“I was wearing underwear,” I said. I could feel my cheeks turning red.
“What?” Mrs. Caldwell said and turned to me. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
