Who We Could Be - Chelsea M. Cameron Page 0,46
time.
Once they’d left, I sat down on the couch with Mom.
“What did you kids get up to today?”
I didn’t want to talk about the wedding dress trip. Because then my mom would get all excited and she’d pull out the bridal magazines that she’d been hoarding for years and I would never hear the end of it.
“I gave her the tea set and she loved it and we went on a little road trip to the mall.” There, that was completely truthful.
“Isn’t there a huge bridal shop in that mall? We should call and make an appointment, you know.” Shit, the topic had found me anyway.
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
“You have to order your dress at least a year in advance. You can’t put this off, Tessa.” I was suddenly so very tired.
“Uh huh,” I said, getting up. “I’m going to bed.”
I lay in bed messing around on my phone before I video called Tessa.
“Didn’t we just spend all day together?” she said, smiling softly at me. She was in her room and the lights were off.
“Don’t we spend most days together? I mean, we used to spend all day at school with each other and then we’d have sleepovers. So this isn’t that out of character.”
She sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
“My mom almost found out that we went and looked at wedding dresses. I’m pretty sure when I actually go and try them on, she’s going to have a breakdown. I know I’m her only daughter, but it’s too much sometimes.”
Sure, my mom had gotten to go with all of her daughters-in-law when they’d gone to pick out their dresses, but it was different for me. Ever since I was a kid, she’d been talking about my wedding and getting married. I mean, she was half the reason I was with Gus in the first place. She’d become friends with his mom and had forced us into playdates. The first few had been weird, but then we’d bonded over love of a TV show and, like kids, we’d formed a friendship based on that one thing.
I can’t even remember the first time she told me I was going to marry him. It embarrassed me for a few years until I started ignoring it. Then we started dating and she was so damn happy. My dad and Gus got along so well, and I’d often find them hanging out in the kitchen when I didn’t even know Gus was over, talking about movies or building cabinets or hiking.
Like with Monty, Gus had been absorbed into my family and I didn’t remember a time when he wasn’t around.
“Earth to Tessa” she said, waving her hand in front of the screen. I’d drifted off.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
She leaned closer and I could tell she was studying my face. “Are you sure there’s not something you want to talk about? You’ve been off in the clouds today. More than normal.”
“Thanks,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You know what I mean. I love your clouds head.”
“Okay, that sounds like an insult.”
Her face got soft. “It’s not. I love the way you think. Why did you call?”
“I don’t know. Just wanted to see you and hear your voice. And to get me out of my own head about all this wedding shit.”
“You don’t have to do it for them, you know. Your wedding should be about you.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that only works if your family wouldn’t lose their fucking shit if you eloped. I mean, my mom has been planning this damn wedding since the day she saw Gus. We’re her OTP. Is it weird? Yes. But I’m not going to disappoint her. Let her have that day. I mean, it’s the least I can do.”
Monty was quiet for a little while, her lips pressed together. “You still don’t have to do it for her.”
“That’s nice to hear, but it’s okay. I’m fine with making myself a little uncomfortable for a day to make my family happy. And there’s Gus’s family to think about too. They also want this. It’ll be fun once we get to the reception.” Not that we had any plans for the reception because we didn’t have any concrete plans for the wedding in the first place. We should probably get on that, but Gus hadn’t brought it up and I’d been waiting for him. Maybe he’d been waiting for me, since I was the bride. Not that either of us was into that whole “the bride must plan everything while the